US priority in Iraq is now fighting jihadists, not Saddam loyalists

[Barrett808]

US military officials in Iraq are now reportedly focusing more on fighting Iraqi extremists and foreign fighters than loyalists of the regime of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

The shift in priorities follows an increase in suicide attacks over the last weeks and assumes that the Iraqi extremists and foreign fighters pose a greater and more immediate threat to security, the Washington Post reported, quoting miltary sources.

US officials had earlier described armed resistance to the US-led occupation as led by "former regime elements" and "dead enders" still loyal to Saddam.

But since the elections held on January 30 those insurgents have pulled back, at least temporarily, and are looking at new strategies and exploring a deal with the government, senior US officials in Baghdad told the Post.

Several commanders however warned that the shift was still based more on intuition than solid proof, and that views differed among US intelligence experts.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050509/pl_afp/usiraqthreat

[LynnTheDem]

1. "assumes"... they still just don't get it.

"Jihadists" and "foreign fighters".

The foreign fighters in Iraq are all wearing military uniforms.

[Spazito]

2. Translation: We don't have a friggin clue!

We are blowing smoke out our asses and hope the US public buy it.

[htuttle]

3. Didn't Rummy say you have to fight the war you have, not the one you want?

More faith-based military strategy, I see.

[bemildred]

4. Gibbering and drooling, unable to focus on the toilet when they pee.

One can sense the attempted beginning of a new propaganda offensive
intended to defuse the current unseemly appearance of things in Iraq,
but it seems to consist of recycled debunked lies.

Under the radar, the Iraqis seem to have moved up to conducting large
organized attacks on US forces in an opportunistic fashion, in
addition to the guerilla style harassment that has been occurring
all along.

[Auntie Bush]

5. Weren't we warned before the war that this would happen?

But maybe bush never got the warning because he doesn't listen or fires anyone who doesn't agree with him. What a worthless idiot!

[xchrom]

6. ''based more on intuition than solid proof''

isn't that how we got into this fucked up to begin with?

without a doubt this is the funniest thing i've heard the pentagon say yet about this misbegotten adventure.

[sabra]

7. US refocuses strategy in Iraq

<<SNIP>>
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0509/dailyUpdate.html

US refocuses strategy in Iraq


Foreign fighters, Iraqi jihadists now given higher priority over 'former regime elements'.


A recent rise in suicide attacks that has left at least 300 people dead in the last 10 days, including eight US troops over the weekend, has US commanders rethinking their strategies in Iraq. The Washington Post reports that higher priority will be given to fighting "foreign troops and Iraqi jihadists."

Previously, US authorities have depicted the insurgency as being dominated largely by what the Pentagon has dubbed 'former regime elements' – a combination of onetime Baath Party loyalists and Iraqi military and security service officers intent on restoring Sunni rule. But since the Jan. 30 elections, this segment of the insurgency has appeared to pull back from the fight, at least for a while, reassessing strategies and exploring a possible political deal with the new government, senior US officers here say.

US officers in Iraq admit that the change may only be a temporary one - Sunnis may become more violent if they feel the new political process ignores them - but the rise in attacks to 70 a day over the past month is primarily being fueled by an influx of foreigners, the Post reports.

....

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that US troops have captured the "the suspected mastermind" of last month's daring daylight assault on Abu Ghraib prision in Baghdad. Ammar Adnan Mohammed Hamza al-Zubaydi, was picked up at his home on Saturday. Iraqi and US officials describe him as a "close associate" of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

<</SNIP>>

[fertilizeonarbusto]

8. We are getting around to doing this NOW?

Just who the fuck is running the show over there?
:mad:

[Dhalgren]

9. Juan Cole says that he and most experts in the area

think that the vast majority of anti-US forces in Iraq are Iraqi resistance fighters, not "foreign terrorists". But the US has got to make things look as good as possible - the American public can accept that maybe "foreign Terrorists" can humble the mighty US Army, but not lowly Iraqi scum. I mean these were the people who couldn't beat Saddam, right? Or they were the ones who supported Saddam? Man it's a good thing that incompetent Saddam was in charge back in '03, because if these fellows had been in charge, the US would still be only a few miles north of Basra, dug into the dunes...

[The Stranger]

10. This war was never about weapons of mass destruction, democracy,

or even terrorism. It is about Supremacy (key word here), and those who continue to support the war despite the lack of any remaining pretense do so candidly on the basis of Supremacy.

And it is no coincidence that White Supremacists are re-emerging into the light everywhere, with hardly a yawn from the war's backers.

[gratuitous]

11. This war is about empire

I do find it odd, however, that the military is letting loose some irresponsible talk of "refocusing" its strategy. That sort of implies that their previous strategy was not 100% effective and successful, and as we all know from the stellar frontline reporting in the American media, the brilliant leadership of our popular wartime president has made military planning and intelligence obsolete.

[Roland99]

12. Makes it easier to perform future operations like Fallujah

Belittle and demean the resistance and make them faceless and without reason and the American public will accept more and more atrocities.

[getmeouttahere]

13. Agreed, just another in a long line of smokescreens....

both here and in Iraq!

[Roland99]

15. Ayup...and this thread exemplifies what the military is doing

and how the media is complicit:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3623430

[oneold1-4u]

14. Right from the first *made plans

I knew they had no real plan, no knowledge of the people, or any idea of the huge "snake pit" they were stepping off into. The radical islamics and jihads have been used by the power mongers since mohamed. They are truly the rulers, even in Saudi Arabia, the monarchy pays millions to the jihads (al qaeda) just to keep themselves in the picture for some respect of the rest of the world. None of those islamic powers will ever allow the west to gain a foothold without unending death! They give birth to millions daily to die for their causes, and have done so for more than ten thousand years.
The rest of the world may have to create "baby farms" just to combat these hordes in this century! They are already spred over the world competing for business, money, power, and food.

[keopeli]

16. ...again

This is what I mean when I say that the MSM covers for Bush* by not reporting accurately and truthfully. Why, in the name of God's green earth, would this headline NOT contain the word "again" at the end of it, at least!? Or, more accurately, "...for the XXth time".

Because they want to pretend, along with Bush*.

[wookie294]

17. The Post article said foreign fighters are still a small part of Iraq

The Post article said: "Even with the reported rise in foreign fighters, several senior officers said, the number estimated to be coming into the country each month is still relatively small -- in the neighborhood of several score. In numerical terms, they said, the insurgency remains essentially homegrown. Iraqi members of extremist Islamic factions, such as the Ansar al Sunna Army, continue to account for many insurgent attacks."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/08/AR2005050800838_2.html

[PATRICK]

18. Mr. Magoo

never refocused. They must be losing their nerve because they certainly aren't working on improving their vision.

[roughandtumble]

19. We had a strategy? But why change when things are going so well

Strategy is like competence in the chimpy administration.

You have to once have been competent to become incompetent. There is no evidence at hand to indicate that the Crawford Crackhead ever has been competent.

Like wise, there was no strategy in Iraq. A better headline would be, “WE NOW HAVE A STRATEGY IN IRAQ”.