http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news1/latimes48.htmlSAMARRA, Iraq — Eight months after the fall of Baghdad, U.S.-led forces in Iraq are facing a prolonged campaign against insurgents who have shown increasing sophistication in tactics, strategy and intelligence-gathering, according to military officials and analysts.
An insurgency that kicked off with frenzied pot shots and stray bombings by seemingly ragtag gunmen has coalesced into an effective, guerrilla-style war of attrition featuring a daily drumbeat of attacks interspersed with sensational strikes.
The insurgents have learned to mount targeted bombings, crippling sabotage, helicopter shoot-downs and — in this volatile city north of Baghdad — a synchronized urban ambush with scores of fighters firing machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells at U.S. formations.
"There was coordination — to say otherwise would make no sense," said Col. Frederick Rudesheim, commander of the 3rd Combat Brigade here, which said its forces killed as many as 54 insurgents in the Nov. 30 firefight, a figure widely disputed by residents. "They put together an attack. And they didn't do it overnight."
In an effort to assess where the U.S.-led occupation stands at the end of the year, two reporters spent several weeks interviewing commanders, regular soldiers and pro- and anti-American Iraqis throughout the battle zone. Although U.S. officials remained confident of victory, they and almost everyone else agreed that an already bloody conflict is about to get worse.
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