Pentagon Estimates About 16,000 Insurgents In Iraq (only 3% foreign)

[Monkie]

http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/quotes_news.asp?cpath=20050208\ACQDJON200502081320DOWJONESDJONLINE000582.htm&selected=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.nasdaq.com/asp/gmWorldNews.asp&headl

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The Pentagon estimates there could be around 16,000 insurgents operating in Iraq, Cable News Network reported Tuesday.

"Citing a senior U.S. military official, CNN said the Pentagon believes there are between 12,000 and 15,000 Sunni Baathist insurgents. Of these, between 5,000 and 7,000 are considered hardcore fighters "committed long term to the insurgency."

The military official said there are about 1,000 insurgents loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of an al-Qaida group, CNN said.
The military official said there were about 500 foreign fighters in Iraq.

by my maths thats only 3% foreign fighters
with the pentagon now admitting this i think nobody can deny this is a resistance to occupation and not an insurgency and that it is homegrown and all the talk about al-qaida and terrorism can be put to rest.

[sabra]

1. Estimate is way too low... n/t

[ixion]

10. it's in their formula

final double_SPIN_FACTOR = .05;


finalNumberOfInsurgents = (realNumberOfInsurgents*_SPIN_FACTOR);

[sabra]

12. LOL

I think your program compiles with no errors!

[Bouncy Ball]

2. Last time I heard there were more like 250,000 insurgents in Iraq

I think there are FAR more than just 16,000.

But yeah, as to your last point, agreed. These are Iraqis. And who can blame them?

[Redstone]

3. But, but, but,

didn't they tell us before that it was MOSTLY "foreigners?"

Nah, can't be.. that'd mean they were lying to us, and they wouldn't do that, would they?

Redstone

[Earth_First]

4. 150K American troops cannot quell 16K 'insurgents'

Please. I have heard this number revised from Rumsfeld's comments on being "a band of thugs" to 20K+

Can I get a "We don't know." 'We don't know' going once, 'we don't know' going twice...

[12345]

5. in another thread, said that the Iraqi Intelligence Service Director said

200,000

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1576465

[kevinmc]

6. RE; (only 3% foreign)"

When "The Bush" and his clan talk about foreign fighters the countries Iran and Syria are used, yet the majorities identified have been from Saudi Arabia. Even the Saudi’s acknowledged that the other day in their fighting Terrorist conference. The only news broadcast that I saw that reported it was the PBS Newshour.

[Calico Jack Rackham]

7. As I recall from my Anti-Terrorism

classes and training. For every ONE active guerrilla or cadre in the field there is 50 support personnel or sympathizers which provide political, logistical, and tactical support to insurgent operations. I believe this was stated by terrorism expert Yusef Bodansky.

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. When was the last time a "senior government official" told the truth?

Sometime before 2001 I think.

[GoldenOldie]

9. And we are to believe the Pentagon, because???

Only a few days ago it was reported that the majority of the insurgents crossing the Iraq borders are Saudi. Haven't heard anything more since that initial report..... Remember the Saudi Royals which include Bin Laden are long time friends of the Bush's.

[NYC]

14. Because now we want to leave.

If there are so few insurgents, we can ditch Iraq, and attack Iran. That's my guess. After all, if there are so few insurgents, the Iraqis can deal with them themselves.

I heard about Saudis in Iraq on Ch. 2 news yesterday, I think. I was very surprised by that.

[pinniped]

11. They took a freakin census or something?

I guess that explains why this so-called international terror mind is blamed for every single attack.

--The military official said there are about 1,000 insurgents loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi--

[Redstone]

15. Of course they took a census

Sample questions:

1) Do you insurge? If yes, continue below. If no, skip to questions 2.

1a) How frequently do you insurge? Daily - Weekly - Whenever I can.

1b) Reason for insurging: Holdout Baathist - Foreigh jihadist - Other.

1c) Do you prefer to insurge with: IED - Mortar - Belt of explosives.

I could go on, but that'e enough for one night.

Redstone

[MrSlayer]

13. More like 16 million.

They aren't fooling anyone. Most people in that country want the occupation to end and I have no doubt a great majority of them are helping the "insurgents" in any way possible.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

16. Let's muddy this picture some more

AINA
WASHINGTON (CNN) --

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. John McCain criticized Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for lacking a readily available estimate of the armed opposition.
<snip>
Told by Myers that some numbers exist but are classified, McCain said, "I think the American people should know the extent of the enemy we are facing."

The numbers are considerably higher than the 5,000 fighters that Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, estimated in November 2003. The Pentagon cautioned, however, that trends are difficult to track.

The official who provided Tuesday's estimate said the U.S. military believes it killed between 10,000 and 15,000 guerillas in combat last year -- perhaps as many as 3,000 during the November push to retake the western Iraqi city of Falluja from insurgents.
But because others join the insurgency to replace those killed, Pentagon analysts have difficulty matching the current number against previous assessment
<snip>
http://www.aina.org/news/20050208155111.htm

By their math there were 5000 in Nov 2003.
They killed 10,000 - 15,000 last year.
Yet there's 12,000 - 15,000 remaining.

Let's just assume that these are the correct numbers. They then indicate that they've made NO movement forward. It would imply that we're stuck in an unending circle.

It's the war that never ends, it just goes on and on my friend...

[Blower]

17. When do you start calling it "ethnic cleansing"? n/t

[bvar22]

18. Just a nod from Sistani,

and the insurgency will surge to several MILLION overnight.

Will bush* have the stupidity to contest the overwhelming win by Sustani supporters?