Finding Only Shadows in Hunt for Insurgents (Yusufiya largely abandoned)

[Barrett808]

Finding Only Shadows in Hunt for Insurgents
By JAMES GLANZ
Published: October 15, 2004

YUSUFIYA, Iraq, Oct. 9 - Nobody tends the stalls at the main market under the big painted signs. Nothing moves on the streets. No one answers when American soldiers pound on the flimsy metal gates of the houses. No objections are raised when the soldiers peer into kitchen pantries or, their heads cocked with suspicion, pull the dust cover off a television set that is being stored in the corner of a living room.

Out of the hundreds of homes here and in a neighboring town, Mulla Fayyad, most were empty when the soldiers descended at dusk and began an overnight search, house by house, for insurgents and their weaponry. Families were at home in only a small number of houses, perhaps a few dozen.

It is not as though no one lives here. Fresh onions and tomatoes sat on a counter, some of them cut up and ready to eat. Children's sandals lay where they were kicked off on a porch or at the bottom of a stairway. Small Iraqi banknotes tumbled to the floor when a cupboard was pulled open.

But nobody was home. While terrorism suspects and militia fighters have routinely slipped away from their pursuers ever since last year's invasion, the sudden emptying of whole towns before unannounced raids appears to be a new phenomenon.

"Something happened, and they knew we were coming," said Staff Sgt. Norm Witka of the 1st Brigade, 23rd Infantry Regiment, whose unit was one of those that poured into the towns and searched nearly every room of every house.

The mystery of the disappearing populace has repeated itself during sweeps by soldiers and marines in northern Babil Province, a patch of land about 30 miles south of Baghdad. It is an area that is not only hostile to the American occupation but thought to contain important supply lines for insurgents elsewhere in the country.

(more)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/15/international/middleeast/15towns.html

[leftchick]

1. Quick someone send these guys a history book....

cripes.... "Something happened, and they knew we were coming," !!!!!
:eyes:

[The Magistrate]

2. Indeed, Ma'am

The security services of "The New Iraq" are on the job, and very efficient....

"If you repeat a lie often enough, you are a Republican."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[leftchick]

5. this is just too priceless to let drop....

Please just bring the troops home and quit faking like there is a plan?!??

[Barrett808]

6. "This isn't even a mission anymore"

Another soldier said, "This isn't even a mission anymore,'' saying he and his colleagues were "just doing whatever we want.''

That may be the scariest statement in the whole story.

[leftchick]

7. agreed... there was no mission for them...

except to guard the oil and bases... sad they have to find out there.

:(

[David__77]

3. Guerrillas would be foolish to try to hold every city they inhabit.

That is a costly strategy. A more effective strategy would be rural-based, or small town-based, with effective networking within the cities and agents within the "Iraqi government." There does seem to be a higher degree of resistance coordination, with the exception of the Zarqawi group, which is seen as intrusive to Iraqi sovereignty.

[gratuitous]

4. "They knew we were coming"

Well duh, Oddball. They heard the clatter of your Dee-troit engines from miles away. I know I'm making with the negative waves, Moriarity, but fer crissakes! How fucking dumb do you have to be to achieve command rank in the American military?

No, an outmanned, outgunned, outlogisticked force will not stand and fight you toe to toe in pitched battle. You wouldn't do it yourself, why do you expect the Iraqi resistance to do it? They'll pick their own battlefields and engagements, and avoid the ones that play to the Americans' strengths and natural advantages.

[lumpy]

8. Hear hear, gratuitous.

nt