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Fred Bloggs
Guest
Squeezing jello in Iraq
By Scott Ritter
The much-anticipated US-led offensive to seize the Iraqi city of Falluja
from anti-American Iraqi fighters has begun. Meeting resistance that,
while stiff at times, was much less than had been anticipated, US
Marines and soldiers, accompanied by Iraqi forces loyal to the interim
government of Iyad Allawi, have moved into the heart of Falluja.
Fighting is expected to continue for a few more days, but US commanders
are confident that Falluja will soon be under US control, paving the way
for the establishment of order necessary for nation-wide elections
currently scheduled for January 2005.
But will it? American military planners expected to face thousands of
Iraqi resistance fighters in the streets of Falluja, not the hundreds
they are currently fighting. They expected to roll up the network of Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi and his foreign Islamic militants, and yet to date have
found no top-tier leaders from that organization. As American forces
surge into Falluja, Iraqi fighters are mounting extensive attacks
throughout the rest of Iraq.
Far from facing off in a decisive battle against the resistance
fighters, it seems the more Americans squeeze Falluja, the more the
violence explodes elsewhere. It is exercises in futility, akin to
squeezing jello. The more you try to get a grasp on the problem, the
more it slips through your fingers.
This kind of war, while frustrating for the American soldiers and
marines who wage it, is exactly the struggle envisioned by the Iraqi
resistance. They know they cannot stand toe-to-toe with the world's most
powerful military and expect to win.
While the US military leadership struggles to get a grip on a situation
in Iraq that deteriorates each and every day, the anti-US occupation
fighters continue to execute a game plan that has been in position since
day one.
President Bush prematurely declared "mission accomplished" back in May
2003. For Americans, this meant that major combat operations in Iraq
had come to an end, that we had won the war. But for the Iraqis, it
meant something else. In Iraq, there never was a Missouri moment',
where the government formally surrendered. The fact is, Saddam Hussein's
government never surrendered, and still is very much in evidence in Iraq
today in the form of the anti-US resistance.
While we in America were declaring victory, the government of Saddam was
planning its war. The first battles were fought in March and April
2003. Token resistance, no decisive engagement. The Iraqis fought just
enough to establish the principle of resistance, but not enough to
squander their resources.
Since May 2003, the resistance has grown in size and sophistication.
Some attribute this to the incompetence of the post-war occupation
policies of the United States. While this certainly was a factor in
facilitating the resistance, the fact remains that what is occurring
today in Iraq is part of a well-conceived plan the goal of which is to
restore the Baath Party back to power. And the policies of the Bush
administration are playing right into their hands.
The terror attacks carried out against the United Nations and other
international aid organizations succeeded in driving out of Iraq the
vestiges of foreign involvement the Bush administration relied upon to
present an international face to the US-led occupation. In the chaos and
anarchy that followed, the United States was compelled to use more and
more force in an attempt to restore order, creating a Catch-22 situation
where the more force we used, the more resistance we generated,
requiring more force in response.
The cycle of violence fed the resistance, destabilizing huge areas of
Iraq that are still outside the control of the Iraqi government and US
military. High profile operations in Najaf, Sadr City and Sammara did
little to bring these cities to bear.
Today, fighters in Iraq operate freely, continuing their orgy of death
and destruction in order to attract the inevitable heavy-handed US
response. Falluja is a prime case in point. While the US is unlikely to
deliver a fatal blow to the Iraqi resistance, it is succeeding in
levelling huge areas of Falluja, recalling the Vietnam-era lament that
we had to destroy the village in order to save it.
The images from Falluja will only fuel the anti-American sentiment in
Iraq, enabling the anti-US fighters to recruit ten new fighters for
every newly-minted 'martyr' it loses in the current battle against the
Americans.
The battle for Falluja is supposed to be the proving ground of the new
Iraq Army. Instead, it may well prove to be a fatal pill. The reality is
there is no Iraqi Army. Of the tens of thousands recruited into its
ranks, there is today only one effective unit, the 36th Battalion.
This unit has fought side by side with the Americans in Falluja, Najaf,
and Samara. By all accounts, it has performed well. But this unit can
only prevail when it operates alongside overwhelming American military
support. Left to fend for itself, it would be slaughtered by the
resistance fighters. Worse, this unit which stands as a symbol of the
ideal for the new Iraqi Army is actually the antithesis of what the new
Iraqi Army should be.
While the Bush administration has suppressed the formation of militia
units organized along ethnic and religious lines, the 36th Battalion
should be recognized for what it really is a Kurdish militia,
retained by the US military because the rest of the Iraqi Army is
unwilling or unable to carry the fight to the Iraqi resistance fighters.
The battle for Falluja has exposed not only the fallacy of the US
military strategy towards confronting the resistance in Iraq, but also
the emptiness of the interim government of Iyad Allawi, which is so far
incapable of building anything that resembles a viable Iraqi military
capable of securing its position in Iraq void of American military support.
Falluja is probably the beginning of a very long and bloody phase of the
Iraq war, one that pits an American military under orders from a
rejuvenated Bush administration to achieve victory at any cost against
an Iraqi resistance that is willing to allow Iraq to sink into a
quagmire of death and destruction in order to bog down and eventually
expel the American occupier.
It is a war the United States cannot win, and which the government of
Iyad Allawi cannot survive. Unfortunately, since recent polls show that
some 70% of the American people support the war in Iraq, it is a war
that will rage until the American domestic political dynamic changes,
and the tide of public opinion turns against the war.
Tragically, this means many more years of conflict in Iraq that will
result in thousands more killed on both sides, and incomprehensible
suffering for the people of Iraq, and unpredictable instability for the
entire Middle East.
By Scott Ritter
The much-anticipated US-led offensive to seize the Iraqi city of Falluja
from anti-American Iraqi fighters has begun. Meeting resistance that,
while stiff at times, was much less than had been anticipated, US
Marines and soldiers, accompanied by Iraqi forces loyal to the interim
government of Iyad Allawi, have moved into the heart of Falluja.
Fighting is expected to continue for a few more days, but US commanders
are confident that Falluja will soon be under US control, paving the way
for the establishment of order necessary for nation-wide elections
currently scheduled for January 2005.
But will it? American military planners expected to face thousands of
Iraqi resistance fighters in the streets of Falluja, not the hundreds
they are currently fighting. They expected to roll up the network of Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi and his foreign Islamic militants, and yet to date have
found no top-tier leaders from that organization. As American forces
surge into Falluja, Iraqi fighters are mounting extensive attacks
throughout the rest of Iraq.
Far from facing off in a decisive battle against the resistance
fighters, it seems the more Americans squeeze Falluja, the more the
violence explodes elsewhere. It is exercises in futility, akin to
squeezing jello. The more you try to get a grasp on the problem, the
more it slips through your fingers.
This kind of war, while frustrating for the American soldiers and
marines who wage it, is exactly the struggle envisioned by the Iraqi
resistance. They know they cannot stand toe-to-toe with the world's most
powerful military and expect to win.
While the US military leadership struggles to get a grip on a situation
in Iraq that deteriorates each and every day, the anti-US occupation
fighters continue to execute a game plan that has been in position since
day one.
President Bush prematurely declared "mission accomplished" back in May
2003. For Americans, this meant that major combat operations in Iraq
had come to an end, that we had won the war. But for the Iraqis, it
meant something else. In Iraq, there never was a Missouri moment',
where the government formally surrendered. The fact is, Saddam Hussein's
government never surrendered, and still is very much in evidence in Iraq
today in the form of the anti-US resistance.
While we in America were declaring victory, the government of Saddam was
planning its war. The first battles were fought in March and April
2003. Token resistance, no decisive engagement. The Iraqis fought just
enough to establish the principle of resistance, but not enough to
squander their resources.
Since May 2003, the resistance has grown in size and sophistication.
Some attribute this to the incompetence of the post-war occupation
policies of the United States. While this certainly was a factor in
facilitating the resistance, the fact remains that what is occurring
today in Iraq is part of a well-conceived plan the goal of which is to
restore the Baath Party back to power. And the policies of the Bush
administration are playing right into their hands.
The terror attacks carried out against the United Nations and other
international aid organizations succeeded in driving out of Iraq the
vestiges of foreign involvement the Bush administration relied upon to
present an international face to the US-led occupation. In the chaos and
anarchy that followed, the United States was compelled to use more and
more force in an attempt to restore order, creating a Catch-22 situation
where the more force we used, the more resistance we generated,
requiring more force in response.
The cycle of violence fed the resistance, destabilizing huge areas of
Iraq that are still outside the control of the Iraqi government and US
military. High profile operations in Najaf, Sadr City and Sammara did
little to bring these cities to bear.
Today, fighters in Iraq operate freely, continuing their orgy of death
and destruction in order to attract the inevitable heavy-handed US
response. Falluja is a prime case in point. While the US is unlikely to
deliver a fatal blow to the Iraqi resistance, it is succeeding in
levelling huge areas of Falluja, recalling the Vietnam-era lament that
we had to destroy the village in order to save it.
The images from Falluja will only fuel the anti-American sentiment in
Iraq, enabling the anti-US fighters to recruit ten new fighters for
every newly-minted 'martyr' it loses in the current battle against the
Americans.
The battle for Falluja is supposed to be the proving ground of the new
Iraq Army. Instead, it may well prove to be a fatal pill. The reality is
there is no Iraqi Army. Of the tens of thousands recruited into its
ranks, there is today only one effective unit, the 36th Battalion.
This unit has fought side by side with the Americans in Falluja, Najaf,
and Samara. By all accounts, it has performed well. But this unit can
only prevail when it operates alongside overwhelming American military
support. Left to fend for itself, it would be slaughtered by the
resistance fighters. Worse, this unit which stands as a symbol of the
ideal for the new Iraqi Army is actually the antithesis of what the new
Iraqi Army should be.
While the Bush administration has suppressed the formation of militia
units organized along ethnic and religious lines, the 36th Battalion
should be recognized for what it really is a Kurdish militia,
retained by the US military because the rest of the Iraqi Army is
unwilling or unable to carry the fight to the Iraqi resistance fighters.
The battle for Falluja has exposed not only the fallacy of the US
military strategy towards confronting the resistance in Iraq, but also
the emptiness of the interim government of Iyad Allawi, which is so far
incapable of building anything that resembles a viable Iraqi military
capable of securing its position in Iraq void of American military support.
Falluja is probably the beginning of a very long and bloody phase of the
Iraq war, one that pits an American military under orders from a
rejuvenated Bush administration to achieve victory at any cost against
an Iraqi resistance that is willing to allow Iraq to sink into a
quagmire of death and destruction in order to bog down and eventually
expel the American occupier.
It is a war the United States cannot win, and which the government of
Iyad Allawi cannot survive. Unfortunately, since recent polls show that
some 70% of the American people support the war in Iraq, it is a war
that will rage until the American domestic political dynamic changes,
and the tide of public opinion turns against the war.
Tragically, this means many more years of conflict in Iraq that will
result in thousands more killed on both sides, and incomprehensible
suffering for the people of Iraq, and unpredictable instability for the
entire Middle East.
o you know the difference between a battle and a war?