Iraq's insurgents rewriting the rules of warfare

[TomClash]

Insurgency continues targeting civilians

The fighters doing battle with U.S. troops have made up a new set of deadly rules — with Iraqis as victims

BY MOHAMAD BAZZI
MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT

August 5, 2005


BEIRUT, Lebanon -- As Iraq's insurgents score one success after another, they are rewriting the rules of modern guerrilla warfare.

They have ignored the lessons that guided most rebellions of the 20th century: Try to win broad public support; create a political wing; present an alternative system of governing; and build international legitimacy. The Iraqi insurgency also has no charismatic leader, no clear chain of command, and not even a cohesive ideology.

Still, the guerrillas have managed to spread chaos across Iraq. They have nearly halted reconstruction, hamstrung the country's fledgling security forces, and squeezed the most powerful military in the world. The insurgents have shown a remarkable ability to adapt their tactics to inflict maximum damage against both civilian and military targets.

U.S. officials say guerrillas are using a variety of mechanisms to trigger bombs, applying large amounts of explosives and experimenting with new techniques to penetrate U.S. armor. In the latest example, 14 Marines were killed Wednesday by a powerful roadside bomb in western Iraq.

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But while the guerrillas are skilled at modifying their military tactics, they seem indifferent to the political models of past insurgencies. Most successful rebellions in the past century shared two traits: They had widespread public support and a well-articulated political agenda, which usually appealed to nationalist sentiment. In Iraq, the insurgents have neither.

It could be a new kind of insurgency, one that does not have enough support or a clear political program to rule Iraq but is also difficult to defeat because it does not care about civilian casualties and destroying the country's infrastructure. In this context, past experience in Vietnam and elsewhere would offer the United States few lessons about how to fight back.

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http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-worebe0805,0,501541.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

[Son of California]

1. I think the main reason for this anomoly

comes from the fact that there are so many different motives at work.

1) you have the Sunni's trying to maintain their traditional place of power by instigating civil war.
2) you have a general nationalist resistance to the occupation.
3) you have Al-Qaeda with a vested interest in weaking US military and political solidarity.
4) you have a broader, cultural/religious resistance to the occupation growing in strength all across the region.

So I would say, we are fighting not one insurgency, but about 4 at the same time.

[TomClash]

3. Only your first point really addresses the anomaly

And I'm not even sure about that.

I think the goal is simply to create chaos and make the Sunni Triangle ungovernable. I don't think any part of the insurgency wants a political solution short of complete capitulation by the interim government and the Americans. So they don't really need to build sympathy in the populace.

[BillZBubb]

2. What an ignorant article. Right wing propaganda!

Newsday! Why are you posting this trash?????

The Iraqi insurgents generally are not targeting civilians. They are targeting collaborators. Sometimes they make mistakes. How the hell does this writer know "they don't care about civilian casualties"--he doesn't even know who the insurgents are. This is pure propaganda.

This insurgency is like many before it in an occupied country. Infrastructure is destroyed to sabotage the invader's plans. Always has been. Civilians die, that is an unfortunate side effect brought on by the INVADER, not the person fighting for his country.

[TomClash]

4. Newsday is right wing propaganda?

Oh, please. Bombing cafes is targeting collaborators?

[BillZBubb]

5. How many civilians have the insurgents killed?

How many have we killed? Our rules of engagement have less regard for civilians than almost anything the insurgents have done.

Bombing cafes may well be targeting collaborators if government officials or police or military use it often. Or, it may be part of the religious civil war that is looming. If you are trying to link the resistance to the religious loonies, you are making a mistake. There is a big distinction.

And in this case, yes Newsday is right wing propaganda.

[TomClash]

6. Did I say anything about religious loonies? Or US rules of engagement?

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed - many by the insurgents. And don't give me the "collateral damage" argument - I'm not buying it - dead is dead.

[bemildred]

7. This is moronic (and/or bullshit).

The Iraq war is 100% SOP for insurgencies, with a few technical innovations. Anybody that says lots of civilians don't get killed in these things is a liar or ignorant.