'Smart' rebels outstrip US
Pastor Dale Morgan
'Smart' rebels outstrip US*
Top American generals make shock admission as Iraq leader pleads with
neighbouring countries to seal off their borders
Paul Beaver in Fort Lauderdale and Peter Beaumont
Sunday March 11, 2007
The Observer
The US army is lagging behind Iraq's insurgents tactically in a war that
senior officers say is the biggest challenge since Korea 50 years ago.
The gloomy assessment at a conference in America last week came as
senior US and Iraqi officials sat down yesterday with officials from
Iran, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in Baghdad to persuade Iraq's
neighbours to help seal its borders against fighters, arms and money
flowing in. During the conference the US, Iranian and Syrian delegations
were reported to have had a 'lively exchange'.
In a bleak analysis, senior officers described the fighters they were
facing in Iraq and Afghanistan 'as smart, agile and cunning'.
In Vietnam, the US was eventually defeated by a well-armed, closely
directed and highly militarised society that had tanks, armoured
vehicles and sources of both military production and outside
procurement. What is more devastating now is that the world's only
superpower is in danger of being driven back by a few tens of thousands
of lightly armed irregulars, who have developed tactics capable of
destroying multimillion-dollar vehicles and aircraft.
By contrast, the US military is said to have been slow to respond to the
challenges of fighting an insurgency. The senior officers described the
insurgents as being able to adapt rapidly to exploit American rules of
engagement and turn them against US forces, and quickly disseminate ways
of destroying or disabling armoured vehicles.
The military is also hampered in its attempts to break up insurgent
groups because of their 'flat' command structure within collaborative
networks of small groups, making it difficult to target any hierarchy
within the insurgency.
The remarks were made by senior US generals speaking at the Association
of the US Army meeting at Fort Lauderdale in Florida and in
conversations with The Observer. The generals view the 'war on terror'
as the most important test of America's soldiers in 50 years.
'Iraq and Afghanistan are sucking up resources at a faster rate than we
planned for,' one three-star general said. 'America's warriors need the
latest technology to defeat an enemy who is smart, agile and cunning -
things we did not expect of the Soviets.'
Other officers said coalition rules of engagement were being used
against the forces fighting the insurgency. 'They know when we can and
cannot shoot, and use that against us,' said one officer, reflecting the
comments of US soldiers in the field. Another said recent video footage
of an ambush on a convoy, posted on the internet, was evidence that
insurgents were filming incidents to teach other groups about American
counter-measures.
The concerns emerged as Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, issued a
stern warning that unless Iraq's neighbours - including Iran and Syria -
united to help to shut down the networks supplying both Sunni and Shia
extremists, Iraq's sectarian bloodshed would engulf the Middle East.
Speaking at the beginning of the conference of regional and
international powers in Baghdad, Maliki warned: 'Iraq has become a
front-line battlefield. It needs support in this battle, which not only
threatens Iraq, but will also spill over to all countries in the
region.' Shortly after he spoke, mortar shells landed near the
conference site and a car bomb exploded in a Shia stronghold across the
city.
Maliki asked for help in stopping financial support, weapons smuggling
and 'religious cover' for the relentless car bombings, killings and
other attacks that have increasingly been inflicted on Iraq, as the
minority Sunnis, who dominated the country under Saddam Hussein, have
fought the Shia majority who now run the government.
Terrorism, Maliki said, 'was an international epidemic, the price of
which was being paid by the people of Iraq'. He also warned Syria and
Iran not to use Iraq as a proxy battlefield against the US: 'Iraq does
not accept that its territories and cities become a field where regional
and international disputes are settled.'
Maliki said he hoped that today's conference could be a 'turning point
in supporting the government in facing this huge danger'. The one-day
gathering is also seen as a chance for conversations on its fringe
between Iran and the US over the deepening Iranian nuclear crisis -
opening the way to end the 28-year diplomatic impasse between America
and Iran since the US hostages crisis. The chief US delegate has left
open the door for possible one-on-one exchanges about Iraq.