Iraq Insurgents Can Conduct 60 Strikes Daily -Pentagon

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=1&u=/nm/20050217/ts_nm/iraq_congress_dc_1

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has found that Iraqi insurgents can conduct up to 60 strikes a day and occasionally more, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Thursday.


"We've tracked the number of attacks per day and what they can do is 50 to 60 attacks that they are able to conduct countrywide, with spikes. And that seems to be their capacity," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers told the Senate Armed Services Committee.


Myers, who testified with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, characterized the insurgency fighting some 150,000 U.S. forces in Iraq (news - web sites) as "a limited capacity."


He said it was difficult to determine the number of insurgents in Iraq because "they don't have a central organization ... so as you pick up insurgents and you debrief them and you find what they have in their rooms and on their computers, you don't find the wiring diagram."

more

[solinvictus]

1. That's called operational initiative...

and it means we are not able to effectively control or keep the peace in that country. I imagine with each offense committed against an Iraqi civilian, we're creating more insurgents, not to mention the part timers who work for us by day and against us at night.

[tridim]

2. Are there 60 insurgent attacks per day

In California?

[UL_Approved]

3. The U.S. is starting to feel the effects of Viet Nam II

We started a political war with no clear objective or enemy.

This always fails, and the Iraq war is no exception. When will the American people stop taking the bait?

[teryang]

4. The limited capacity that caused 7000 serious casualties

...and wiped out $200,000,000,000.00 in American resources.

During January, it was reported there were over two hundred attacks a day.

[saigon68]

5. "BRING EM ON", shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

"My friends at Halliburton are going to make a fortune", he continued.

[TexasLawyer]

6. Credibility Gap

So have attacks per day actually gone down over the last few months? Who knows.


Iraq's Burgeoning Insurgency
by Kenneth Katzman 21 Nov 2004


http://www.ecssr.ac.ae/CDA/en/FeaturedTopics/DisplayTopic/0,1670,333-0-4,00.html

<snip>

Throughout 2004, Sunni resistance activity escalated and expanded and a Shiite uprising led by radical 30-year-old cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's faction flared periodically. US forces now face approximately 80 attacks per day, according to US commanders, up from nearly 40 per day in mid 2003. Since April 2004, Sunni Arab insurgents have asserted partial dominance or essential control over several cities, beginning with Fallujah, by attacking representatives of the Interim Iraqi Government.

In late April 2004, Fallujah fell under full insurgent control, run by a council of insurgents (Mujahedin Shura). Then, in early November 2004, coalition forces initiated a campaign to recapture Fallujah, thus far resulting in the qualitatively most trying combat US commanders have recorded since the Vietnam War. The capital of the al-Anbar province, Ramadi, also came under virtual insurgent control, although US forces are still present in parts of that city. Sunni insurgent factions also took root in other predominantly Sunni Arab cities, including Baqubah, Mosul, Samarra, Latifiyah, Mahmudiyah, and Tal Affar, with some degree of popular support.

In response, US forces conjoined with Iraqi forces and began operations in September 2004 to restore Iraqi government control to these cities, beginning with Samarra. Ongoing operations are still being conducted in attempt to retake Fallujah and Ramadi in an effort to assert law and order throughout these restive areas and pave the way for the National Assembly elections scheduled to take place in January 2005. Most experts, however, believe that it will be very difficult—if not impossible—to hold legitimate elections unless these cities can be brought under Iraqi-coalition control. The legitimacy of the elections depends all but entirely upon substantial participation by Sunni Iraqis.

<snip>