Iraqis use tactics of Afghan guerrillas

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq - Iraqi guerrillas blasting U.S. military convoys with improvised bombs hidden at roadsides may have learned tactics by talking to Chechen rebels and Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan, a U.S. Army intelligence officer told The Associated Press.

Iraqi rebels have been communicating with such outsiders through e-mail, telephone and personal visits, said Maj. Thomas Sirois, chief intelligence officer of the Army's 3rd Corps Support Command, which occupies this sprawling base north of Baghdad. He declined to identify the types of communication American intelligence officers have intercepted.

"I think they share information," Sirois said. "Individuals here who are fighting against us I'm sure are reaching out to see what has been successful in other locations, and probably trying to adapt those procedures here."

Some ambush techniques observed in Chechnya against the Russians and in Afghanistan against U.S. forces by al-Qaida and former Taliban militants "we've seen employed here" in Iraq, Sirois said.

more: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/01/06/build/world/65-iraqresistance.inc

[demdave]

1. There is no Iraq - al-Qaida link.

Now or then, if then, it supports Bush's 9-11 link, if now, it would justify finishing the job.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. Finishing what job? n/t

[markses]

3. No No No

It's "the job." The more abstract the better. Easier to fit it into the prevailing conditions later, see? ;-)

[NickB79]

5. We create an Iraq-Al Qaida link by invading their country

And then, when we find neither terrorists or the WMD we dreamed up, we create an Al-Qaida link by allowing the country to fall into ruin and anarchy, conditions perfect for terrorism to flourish? By that logic, we could justify invading pretty much any country on Earth because sooner or later they too would adopt guerrilla tactics from terrorists.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. Sorry, I didn't get that.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

9. Helllooooo?

[pinto]

10. I love how "finish the job" has replaced so many other rationales

for this war. I don't buy it.

[dfong63]

4. so, are the army units in Iraq able to learn

... counter-tactics from the experiences of the army units in Afghanistan?

[htuttle]

11. The US should adopt the final Soviet strategy in Afghanistan...

...by just going home.

[IndianaGreen]

13. Perhaps the US will use poison gas in Iraq

as the British did to put down the 1923 uprising.

[ze_dscherman]

7. Bush* the Uniter

Once again proven ...

[Barrett808]

8. "The rebels' bombs have grown smaller, less complex and less deadly"

How can we believe a word these flaks say? The slope of the casualty-rate graph is absolutely unchanged:

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/USfatalities.html

And I suspect even these numbers are thoroughly cooked.

[NickB79]

14. What they don't tell you is

That the Iraqi rebels are figuring out the optimal placements of those bombs, refining their explosive capabilities so they can get the most bang-for-their-buck out of them and not need to waste bigger ones for taking out smaller vehicles. Plus, the US had been carrying out major offensives for the past 2 months, which has driven a lot of the resistance to cover and made it harder to plant larger, heavier explosives. In the short-term this might work, but the US cannot maintain large operations indefinitely. The resistance will just wait until we wind down our patrols and then start all over again. After all, this is their home; where are they gonna go?

[daleo]

12. Some U.S. occupation tactics are like German WWII occupation tactics

Does that prove a Bush-Hitler link?

By the way, I am not saying the U.S. military are equivalent to Nazis. Obviously, at some level of generality all occupations will share at least some tactics, just like at some level of generality all guerrilla movements will share at least some tactics. So, I am just pointing out the fallacy of the reasoning shown in the article above.