Aggressive action thwarts attacks in Iraq
Attacks against US forces have been cut in half because of action taken to go after former Baath Party members.
"...Thousands of suspected Iraqi fighters were detained over the six-week period, many temporarily, in hundreds of U.S. military raids, most of them conducted in the dead of night. In the expansive region north of Baghdad patrolled by the 4th Infantry Division, more than 300 Iraqi fighters were killed in combat operation, the military officials said. In the same period, U.S. forces in all of Iraq have suffered 39 combat deaths. The continuing casualties -- such as the four soldiers killed Saturday -- are the direct result of the intensified U.S. offensive, the military officials added."
"...At the beginning of June, before the U.S. offensives began, the reward for killing an American soldier was about $300, an Army officer said. Now, he said, street youths are being offered as much as $5,000 -- and are being told that if they refuse, their families will be killed, a development the officer described as a sign of reluctance among once-eager youths to take part in the strikes."
"...there is general agreement among Army leaders here that in recent weeks both the quality and quantity of intelligence being offered by Iraqis has greatly improved, leading to such operations as the one last Tuesday in Mosul that killed Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay."
"...On June 7, a patrol of U.S. military police drove into the town of Thuluya, on a big bend in the Tigris River southeast of Tikrit. Iraqis there told them to leave, and warned that if they came back, they would be killed, said a U.S. commander. It was then that "we started to kick down doors," recalled a senior Central Command official.
"Instead of leaving, at 2 a.m. the next morning, hundreds of U.S. troops cordoned off Thuluya and hundreds more conducted searches throughout the town. F-15 fighters and Apache helicopters whirred overhead, ready to launch missiles on ground commanders' call. U.S. military speedboats patrolled the Tigris River, cutting off an escape route. The aggressive operation set the tone for the new phase of the war.
"Since then, the Army has sought to keep up an unrelenting pace. 'The reality is that in this company, we've been doing raids and cordon searches nearly every day' since early June, said Capt. Brian Healey, commander of an infantry company based near Baqubah, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. Over the past six weeks, he said, sitting on a cot in an old Iraqi military base, his unit alone has detained nearly 100 people."
This is exactly what needs to be done continously in areas where resistance is seen.
"...U.S. officials say they began to see a significant payoff from the series of operations early this month, when the number of attacks began to decline and Iraqis began to provide more information about the resistance. "When you have one operation after another, there is a cumulative effect," the Army official said. "The effect of all these operations was that walk-in humint" -- human intelligence -- doubled from early June to mid-July. What's more, he said, "it was very good quality."
"Tips began paying off so quickly that officials would launch one raid before another was completed, allowing troops to catch some targets off guard because they didn't know that fellow resistance fighters had been apprehended. Iraqi resistance fighters in the Sunni triangle at first tried to attack U.S. forces directly with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. While some killed U.S. troops, many attempts were ineffective. So in recent weeks, military officers said, Iraqi fighters have turned to other weapons.
"'They've gone to standoff weapons -- mines and mortars, and IEDs' -- improvised explosive devices, or bombs -- said Capt. John Taylor, the intelligence officer for the base near Bayji."
Then there was action, reaction and rereaction.
"...Iraqi fighters have adjusted their tactics in other ways. Upon learning that their homes were being targeted for raids, Baath Party operatives often moved their weapons, cash and documents into the homes of neighbors, military officials said. In turn, U.S. forces expanded the scope of their raids. "The past six weeks, our patrols have gotten more aggressive, much more frequent,' said Healey, the infantry company commander. 'Instead of doing one house, for example, we'll do a whole street.'
"Likewise, Iraqi fighters learned the U.S. military is most comfortable operating at night, when it stands to gain the most from its technical advantages, such as night-vision goggles. Some fighters started going back to their homes in midday, and even holding meetings then, U.S. military officials said.
"But in military operations, for every action there is a reaction. Hogg, the 2nd Brigade commander, noted this as he sat in a Humvee on Wednesday afternoon, clenching the butt of a Dominican cigar in his teeth. 'The knuckleheads kind of figured out that we like to operate at night, so they started operating during the day, so we starting hitting them during the day,' he said as he waited for one of his battalions to launch a daylight raid. 'It's harder, because of the crowds, but it's also effective.'"
This Washington Post articles is the best one yet on the "guerilla" phase of the war to liberate Iraq.
Attacks against US forces have been cut in half because of action taken to go after former Baath Party members.
"...Thousands of suspected Iraqi fighters were detained over the six-week period, many temporarily, in hundreds of U.S. military raids, most of them conducted in the dead of night. In the expansive region north of Baghdad patrolled by the 4th Infantry Division, more than 300 Iraqi fighters were killed in combat operation, the military officials said. In the same period, U.S. forces in all of Iraq have suffered 39 combat deaths. The continuing casualties -- such as the four soldiers killed Saturday -- are the direct result of the intensified U.S. offensive, the military officials added."
"...At the beginning of June, before the U.S. offensives began, the reward for killing an American soldier was about $300, an Army officer said. Now, he said, street youths are being offered as much as $5,000 -- and are being told that if they refuse, their families will be killed, a development the officer described as a sign of reluctance among once-eager youths to take part in the strikes."
"...there is general agreement among Army leaders here that in recent weeks both the quality and quantity of intelligence being offered by Iraqis has greatly improved, leading to such operations as the one last Tuesday in Mosul that killed Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay."
"...On June 7, a patrol of U.S. military police drove into the town of Thuluya, on a big bend in the Tigris River southeast of Tikrit. Iraqis there told them to leave, and warned that if they came back, they would be killed, said a U.S. commander. It was then that "we started to kick down doors," recalled a senior Central Command official.
"Instead of leaving, at 2 a.m. the next morning, hundreds of U.S. troops cordoned off Thuluya and hundreds more conducted searches throughout the town. F-15 fighters and Apache helicopters whirred overhead, ready to launch missiles on ground commanders' call. U.S. military speedboats patrolled the Tigris River, cutting off an escape route. The aggressive operation set the tone for the new phase of the war.
"Since then, the Army has sought to keep up an unrelenting pace. 'The reality is that in this company, we've been doing raids and cordon searches nearly every day' since early June, said Capt. Brian Healey, commander of an infantry company based near Baqubah, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. Over the past six weeks, he said, sitting on a cot in an old Iraqi military base, his unit alone has detained nearly 100 people."
This is exactly what needs to be done continously in areas where resistance is seen.
"...U.S. officials say they began to see a significant payoff from the series of operations early this month, when the number of attacks began to decline and Iraqis began to provide more information about the resistance. "When you have one operation after another, there is a cumulative effect," the Army official said. "The effect of all these operations was that walk-in humint" -- human intelligence -- doubled from early June to mid-July. What's more, he said, "it was very good quality."
"Tips began paying off so quickly that officials would launch one raid before another was completed, allowing troops to catch some targets off guard because they didn't know that fellow resistance fighters had been apprehended. Iraqi resistance fighters in the Sunni triangle at first tried to attack U.S. forces directly with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. While some killed U.S. troops, many attempts were ineffective. So in recent weeks, military officers said, Iraqi fighters have turned to other weapons.
"'They've gone to standoff weapons -- mines and mortars, and IEDs' -- improvised explosive devices, or bombs -- said Capt. John Taylor, the intelligence officer for the base near Bayji."
Then there was action, reaction and rereaction.
"...Iraqi fighters have adjusted their tactics in other ways. Upon learning that their homes were being targeted for raids, Baath Party operatives often moved their weapons, cash and documents into the homes of neighbors, military officials said. In turn, U.S. forces expanded the scope of their raids. "The past six weeks, our patrols have gotten more aggressive, much more frequent,' said Healey, the infantry company commander. 'Instead of doing one house, for example, we'll do a whole street.'
"Likewise, Iraqi fighters learned the U.S. military is most comfortable operating at night, when it stands to gain the most from its technical advantages, such as night-vision goggles. Some fighters started going back to their homes in midday, and even holding meetings then, U.S. military officials said.
"But in military operations, for every action there is a reaction. Hogg, the 2nd Brigade commander, noted this as he sat in a Humvee on Wednesday afternoon, clenching the butt of a Dominican cigar in his teeth. 'The knuckleheads kind of figured out that we like to operate at night, so they started operating during the day, so we starting hitting them during the day,' he said as he waited for one of his battalions to launch a daylight raid. 'It's harder, because of the crowds, but it's also effective.'"
This Washington Post articles is the best one yet on the "guerilla" phase of the war to liberate Iraq.
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