Holy Crap! Iraqi insurgents now dressing up as US soldiers and speaking English

[n2doc]

From Larry Johnson:

At the very moment we are surging troops into Baghdad, who will be scattered in small outposts throughout the city and will have to rely on Iraqi soldiers to protect them, we learn belatedly that someone in Iraq is dressing up in US military uniforms, carrying US weapons, and speaking English like a gringo. You know what this means? U.S. soldiers who were already skeptical about the trustworthiness of their Iraqi counterparts will now also have to question whether the U.S. soldier coming towards them is really a U.S. soldier.

The planning evident in this operation is sophisticated and points clearly to the uncomfortable fact that someone within the Iraqi military, who was knowledgeable about the meeting, tipped off the bad guys. It could have been Iranians retaliating for the earlier U.S. attacks on Iranian diplomats inside Iraq or maybe it was someone with a militia group with a grudge to settle. Regardless, it is bad news all around.

Equally disturbing is the fact that someone in the U.S. military chain of command lied about what happened and put out false information to the press and the American people. It is one thing to lie in order to preserve operational security. It is another thing to lie simply to cover your ass so you do not look like a complete fool. Unfortunately, when the lie is uncovered the charge of being a "fool" is the least of the blowback. An incident like this also raises an important question, "Can the military be trusted to tell the truth?" If the American people begin to doubt they are getting the straight information about the situation on the ground in Iraq, the ebbing public support could turn into a complete rout.

Maybe the soldiers who put out the lie about what happened in Karbala took their clue from Dick Cheney, who triumphantly announced to Wolf Blitzer earlier this week that things in Iraq are going swimmingly and we are enjoying enormous success. I guess the U.S. military decided that this attack was just another benchmark of our glorious Iraqi success. Break out the champagne and wave the victory flag. Mission Accomplished!!!! Meanwhile, the families of five U.S. soldiers are weeping for their loved ones and preparing to bury them. And they died for what?

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/jan/26/a_growing_military_credibility_gap

[formercia]

1. A lot of them have lived in the States

Universities are addicted to the tuition they pay. We trained most of the world's WMD experts too.

..oh, yeah, those IEDs...we taught them how to build those too, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

[Nikki Stone1]

2. Academic blowback

k & r

[Dover]

You mean like the Brits did in Basra?

Dressed up like Arabs and fired on Iraqis? Seems to be alot of that going on...

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. I immediately thought about that. The Brits then took down the police station with a tank to rescue

the criminals.

[Dover]

3. You mean like the Brits did in Basra?

Dressed up like Arabs and fired on Iraqis? Seems to be alot of that going on...

[mopinko]

4. where are they getting uniforms?

and the black suv's they have been driving? maybe i don't know what i am talking about. but do people in the desert really drive big BLACK vehicles? people besides us and our spooks?

[LiberalFighter]

9. Would Halliburton KBR employees be supplying them?

[mopinko]

11. that or blackwater.

i seriously cannot get my tinfoil hat off my swollen head.

[LiberalFighter]

26. Keep the hat on

As long as you don't hook it up to any type of power you will be safe.

[frogcycle]

16. "people in the desert" ????

what the hell is your image of Iraq? some scene from Lawrence of Arabia? they aren't all nomads and camel drivers.

That said, the black SUVs no doubt came from one of our no-bid contractors like Blackwater or Halliburton. They buy them by the hundreds, issue them to all the employees, even clerks who live and work in the same building in the green zone and have nowhere to go in them. They do that because their "cost plus" contracts guarantee them a chunk of money in the "plus" portion every time they buy one. That's how they pay their CEO's bonuses in the tens of millions of dollars.

Oh, be sure to get your taxes paid on time - they need more SUVs now that these got "lost".

A lot of stuff gets "lost". It gets written up as "destroyed" or "taken in hostile action" or something so another one can be bought.

Did you know that when a truck gets a flat tire, they blow it up and order another?

[TahitiNut]

23. I think it relates to the (sub)tropical latitude and sun's heat more than 'desert.'

The difference in the interior heat of a white vehicle and a black vehicle caused by sun is quite significant. At the same time, a 'desert' LOSES heat more rapidly as well ... and many arid parts of Iraq have very wide temperature ranges, including quite cold. A range of 25F° between the daily high and low is common in Iraq. More arid, a range of 30F° is common in Saudi(sic) Arabia.

[frogcycle]

27. you're right

I stand corrected. Seemed a strange comment. Makes sense on re-read.

[bluerum]

5. Yeah - what a surprise eh? It's not like we are supplying their equipment

and uniforms or anything.

And for those who don't think the military supplies that we provide the Iraqi military have direct channels to the Iraqi underground, remember this: This war is not about oil.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Yes, but they're going to be easy to spot, because, wait for it...

they're dark skinned!

So, the perfect Bush solution would be to send anglo-caucasian troops!

I'm sorry, that was just too easy. Of course it's sarcasm!

[Hugh Jorgan99]

7. All Is Fair In Love And War

I think we have gotten beyond the basic argument of just getting the troops out of Iraq. Unfortunately we are now facing the sad reality that even if the United States had entered a war, any war, that was actually supported by the majority of the American people that we would still fail miserably. Mr. Johnson's article hits the nail on the head in articulating that as a fighting force this enemy is smarter, more resilient, adaptive, and thus appears to be way ahead of us. I hope North Korea isn't paying attention...or we are in deep trouble.

[NNN0LHI]

12. The "enemy" has no place to go. They are Iraqis who's country we invaded and occupied

We have a multitude of options while their options are limited.

Its either death or victory for them.

If our country were invaded and occupied by a foreign army some Americans would do the same as these Iraqis are doing. Others would collaborate.

Welcome to DU.

Don

[Bucky]

17. You are conveniently ignoring all the foreign fighters who may well number in excess of

2% of the insurgents fighting our occuption. I'm sorry, but foreign fighters just have no place in a civil war.

[NNN0LHI]

20. Are you getting that 2% figure from the same folks who gave us Winnebagos Of Death?

And Mushroom Clouds Over New York? Or is it coming from people who fell for that tripe?

Just who is saying this?

Call me skeptical.

Don

[Bucky]

21. Again I have paid the price for boycotting the loathsome sarcasm smily

I've seen various figures on Juan Cole, CNN, and NYT websites. For all the talk of foreign fighters in the mix, the Iraqi insurgency is composed about 98% by native Iraqis. The link compared that figure to foreign fighters in our own civil war (about 25%). I think my point is obvious. But if you really need, I could explain some more.

PS: okay, Don, "You are skeptical"

[NNN0LHI]

25. I thought that is what it was but I have been doing other stuff around here...

...and my mind was occupied with that more than DU today.

I should have asked or known better...or clicked on the link you supplied.

I feel like a dummy.

Don

[itsmesgd]

8. we are leaving "fodder troops" scattered throughout the country in an attempt to draw Iranian fire.

As far as the reporting that they wore US uni's drove American.....
Does anyone know the whereabouts of all of the Blackwater PSD's in the region?

Another scenario: Let's say there's a "school" that teaches terrorists to be really good terrorists, this same school arms them with US weapons and vehicles and provides cover for them.
Let's call the training camp the "School of the Americas" and let's say that it is in Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia. We know that John "death squad" Negroponte has put these state sponsored groups in several countries to start revolutions that favor US policy and US corporations.

I can think of other scenaries that might seem to fit this situation.
I dont think that your average Iraqi insurgent was able to get a GMC Yukon, US bdu's, automatic weapons, and happen to learn English on cd all just to attack our troops.
Maybe one day we will know the truth, but I hope and pray that it is before we are able to start another war.

[frogcycle]

10. cross post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=54731&mesg_id=54731

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

13. How about the group that just downed a group of our soldiers while driving black SUVs? Now who the

heck in Iraq can have SUVs????

[bbgrunt]

15. ....as Malloy says: when it looks like a duck and quacks,

you have to think it may be a duck. How do we know that they were Iraqis?

[Bucky]

18. We have now officially sustained this war long enough to train them to "fight over here"

Now they can pass themselves off as Americans. They still hate us, but they're better able to blend in.

Their next move is obvious. The karma from this war is going to come home.

[Robbien]

19. Iraqis train their guys to speak English, but we still have

very few people who speak Farsi.

No wonder we are on a losing course.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Iraqis don't speak Farsi; they speak Arabic.

Farsi is the language of Iran -- but that's a whole 'nother problem...

[TahitiNut]

22. I'd think it'd please the "English as the official language" advocates.

:evilgrin:


:popcorn:

[entanglement]

29. LOL

:rofl:

[Horse with no Name]

24. Or perhaps they are Blackwater or other black ops

pretending to be Iraqis who are pretending to be Americans.