CanyonCarver

Who are the bad guys?

Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. They operate
mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly
"foreigners", non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all over the Muslim world
(and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the knowledge
and complicity of the Syrian govt.) , and then travel down the "rat line"
which is the trail of towns along the Euphrates River that we've been
hitting hard for the last few months.

Some are virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up as suicide
bombers or in "sacrifice squads". Most, however, are hard core terrorists
from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas etc.) These are the
guys running around murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off. The
Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters. (they have been fighting the Russians for years). In the
Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents are Iranian inspired (and
led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian Shiia have been very adept at infiltrating
the Iraqi local govt.'s, the police forces and the Army. The have had a
massive spy and agitator network there since the Iran-Iraq war in the early
80's. Most of the Saddam loyalists were killed, captured or gave up long
ago.

Bad Guy Tactics: When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their
asses kicked every time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges
were very common earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally
sacrifice 8-10 man teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and
firing Ak's and RPG's directly at our bases just to probe the defenses.

They get mowed down like grass every time. ( see the M2 and M240 above).
Jordan's base was hit like this often. When engaged, they have a tendency
to flee to the same building, probably for what they think will be a
glorious last stand. Instead, we call in air and that's the end of that
more often than not. These hole-ups are referred to as Alpha Whiskey
Romeo's (Allah's Waiting Room). We have the laser guided ground-air thing
down to a science. The fast mover's, mostly Marine F-18's, are taking an
ever increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, the
helicopter gunships and AC-130 Spectre gunships cut them to ribbons with
cannon and rocket fire, especially at night.

Interestingly, artillery is hardly used at all. Fun fact: The enemy death
toll is supposedly between 45-50 thousand. That is why we're seeing less
and less infantry attacks and more IED, suicide bomber stuff.

The new strategy is simple: attrition.

The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civilian
non-combatants as cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civilian
casualties and therefore schools, hospitals and (especially) Mosques are
locations where they meet, stage for attacks, cache weapons and ammo and
flee to when engaged. They have absolutely no regard whatsoever for
civilian casualties. They will terrorize locals and murder without
hesitation anyone believed to be sympathetic to the Americans or the new
Iraqi govt. Kidnapping of family members (especially children) is common to
influence people they are trying to influence but cant reach, such as local
govt. officials, clerics, tribal leaders, etc.).

The first thing our guys are told is "don't get captured". They know that
if captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet.

Zarqawi openly offers bounties for anyone who brings him a live American
serviceman. This motivates the criminal element who otherwise don't give a
hoot about the war. A lot of the beheading victims were actually kidnapped
by common criminals and sold to Zarqawi. As such, for our guys, every fight
is to the death. Surrender is not an option.

The Iraqi's are a mixed bag. Some fight well, others aren't worth a
shee-it. Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but
they are getting better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawi's use of suicide
bombers, en masse, against the civilian population was a serious tactical
mistake. Many Iraqi's were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the
Army and the police forces went up, along with their motivation. It also
led to an exponential increase in good intel because the Iraqi's are sick
of the insurgent attacks against civilians.

The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.

According to this marine, morale among our guys is very high. They not only
believe they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are
stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they
almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are
despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1
and then see things like "Are we losing in Iraq" on TV and the print media.
For the most part, we are satisfied with equipment, food and leadership.
Bottom line though, and they all say this, there are not enough guys there
to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily
because there aren't enough troops in-theater to shut down the borders with
Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just cant stand the thought of
Iraq being an American ally (with, of course, permanent US bases there).