View Single Post
Old 02-08-2005, 12:41 AM   #13 (permalink)
ObieX
Pickles
 
ObieX's Avatar
 
Location: Shirt and Pants (NJ)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2005Feb5.html

Quote:
CIA Studies Provide Glimpse of Insurgents in Iraq
Analysis Describes Groups of Fighters, Gives Clearer Picture of Their Operations

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 6, 2005; Page A19

As reflected in CIA classified studies last month, U.S. military and intelligence officials are still trying to understand the various Iraqi insurgency groups that they expect will continue to fight, even after last week's election.

The CIA studies included a detailed look at an at-large Iraqi fighter who is motivated to fight because the United States is occupying his country, a senior intelligence official said.

"This person, with a tribal background, has a mix of motives including a family grievance, someone was hurt by coalition forces," said the official, who asked not to be identified because the reports are still classified. "There is also [in this Iraqi insurgent] religion and nationalism that results in a view he must fight on to get non-Muslims out of Muslim territory."

In looking in depth at one insurgent, the agency was able to describe the group to which the fighter belongs and how it operates, the official said.

The CIA last month also updated its analysis of the breadth of the Iraqi insurgency, including Iraqis that are not only former Baathists, "dead enders," but also newly radicalized Sunni Iraqis, nationalists offended by the occupying force and others disenchanted by the economic turmoil and destruction caused by the fighting.

Foreign fighters associated with Abu Musab Zarqawi and his al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group, who once were seen as the prime opponents along with tens of thousands of criminals freed by Saddam Hussein before the war began in 2003, are now described as lesser elements but still a source of danger.

Michael Scheuer, the former CIA analyst who ran the agency's Osama bin Laden section in the 1990s, said yesterday, "The administration doesn't seem to have thought through the continuing danger from foreign fighters."

He said countries such as Saudi Arabia and Algeria in the 1980s released imprisoned Islamic radicals to go fight the Soviets in Afghanistan "hoping they would die in the process." Now, Scheuer said, "Iraq is a more attractive fight for those radicals, and the Saudis currently want to unload the firebrands they have at home." The Sunni government in Riyadh is also unhappy with the prospect of a Shiite state on the border, he added, "so they think it is a great thing for their people to do."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last week on CNN's "Larry King Live" that the insurgency "has clearly been . . . more intense than had been anticipated." He said that "in many instances, the ones . . . that are fomenting this insurgency" were members of the Sunni Iraqi army division in the north that were not captured or killed because U.S. troops could not invade through Turkey.

But Rumsfeld added that the future level of fighting could depend on this question: "To what extent do Iran and Syria not cooperate and make the insurgency worse?"

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who disclosed the existence of the CIA reports during testimony last Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, could not say how many insurgents there are.

"We know the elements of the threat very well," Myers said, but "to come up with accurate estimates is just very, very difficult in this type of insurgency."

Members, however, focused on the numbers because, as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) put it: "I don't know how you defeat an insurgency unless you have some handle on the number of people that you are facing."

Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), ranking Democrat on the panel, said Gen. George W. Casey Jr., head of the Multinational Force Iraq, reported during a closed hearing two weeks ago that the coalition forces killed or captured 15,000 suspected insurgents last year, a number far larger than earlier U.S. estimates of 6,000 to 9,000.

McCain raised the question of the reliability of any figures the administration offered. "We went from a few dead enders to killing or capturing 15,000 in the period of a year, and that's why there's a certain credibility problem here as to what the size and nature of the enemy we face."

Myers said that there are classified estimates, but that it is difficult to get accurate numbers because "there are so many fence-sitters."
So they went through 15,000 just last year (about twice as many as estimated) and the violence doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. Don't forget all the fighters that got out of Falluja before we went in. We were sitting outside that city for so long waiting to go in they had plenty of time to just pick up and leave. Every single day there are new reports about bombs going off.. dozens of people being killed.. EVERY DAY. Every day dozens of people are getting killed. But it only matters if they're American soldiers though, right? Well they're getting killed too. Only the deaths realy make the news, but dont forget the tens of thousands that were wounded. The thousands that have no more legs, or a missing arm, or who saw their buddy's head splattered across their uniform.

Also don't forget. The more bombing runs we miss, the more we'll see more insurgents. With each civilian killed by a stray US bullet, the more "insurgents" we'll see. With every Iraqi child maimed by "collateral damage", the higher the chance one of our boys will be blown up by an IED.

If you think this war is going well you must not be paying attention.

Even if the Iraqis do get their government off the ground we will ALWAYS be there. Just ask Germany and Japan. If a US military boot touches the soil of your country you'd better make that soldier up a bed, he's gonna be there for a long time.
__________________
We Must Dissent.
ObieX is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360