Washington -- The new commander of American forces in Iraq said Wednesday that U.S. troops there were facing a "classical guerrilla-type campaign," the first high- level acknowledgment that anti-U.S. attacks in Iraq reflected organized resistance and not just isolated acts of violence.
In Iraq, a grenade attack on an American convoy near Baghdad killed a U.S. soldier and wounded three others. The soldier's death raised the number of combat deaths in the Iraq war to 146, just one shy of the combat death toll of American soldiers in the 1991 Gulf War.
In other incidents, attackers fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. C- 130 transport plane plane as it landed in Baghdad but missed, and a pro- American mayor in a northwestern Iraqi town was gunned down in his car.
Gen. John Abizaid, the new head of the U.S. Central Command, discussed the nature of the Iraqi conflict in his first appearance before Pentagon reporters since assuming his new position last week. He blamed the guerrilla campaign on mid-level members of deposed leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, as well as "foreign terrorist elements."
The general's characterization of the conflict as a guerrilla campaign contradicts repeated assertions by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, including a statement made late last month that it was not "anything like a guerrilla war."
Abizaid said guerrilla warfare was the right term. "It's low-intensity conflict in our doctrinal terms, but it's war however you describe it," Abizaid said.
Abizaid, a Lebanese American who speaks Arabic, said the growing sophistication in attacks against coalition forces in the country was a reaction to what he described as the successful U.S. effort to stabilize the country.
"You have to understand that there will be an increase in violence as we achieve political success, because the people that have a stake in ensuring the defeat of the coalition realize that time is getting short . . ." he said.
Abizaid said that "at the tactical level, they're better coordinated now. They're less amateurish, and their ability to use improvised explosive devices and combine the use of these explosive devices with some sort of tactical activity . . . is more sophisticated."
U.S. commanders believe the resistance is coming from mid-level Baathists, former Iraqi intelligence service operatives and members of the Special Security Organization and Special Republican Guard who have organized in regions around the country in six- to eight-person cells receiving financial backing from regional leaders.
Abizaid also said that a small number of foreign terrorists were attacking U.S. troops, including members of Ansar al-Islam, an al Qaeda-associated terrorist group whose camp in the north American forces struck and destroyed early in the war.
Attacks continued Wednesday on U.S. troops, including a surface-to-air missile fired at a C-130 transport near Baghdad International Airport. Abizaid said it was the second such incident in the last two weeks -- and that the first one had involved a plane he was on. The pilot banked hard to the right and fired off flares used to divert the heat-seeking missiles, Abizaid recounted.
"These were guys from the Oklahoma National Guard, and they actually thought it was fun," he said. "I was terrified."
American forces braced for possible further attacks today, the anniversary of the 1968 Baathist coup that elevated Hussein to power. The July 17 holiday was banned this week by the new Governing Council, along with five other holidays created by the ousted regime.
Iraqi officials said Mohammed Nayil al-Jurayfi, who had worked with U.S. forces as mayor of Haditha, 150 miles northwest of Baghdad, had been killed when his car was ambushed by attackers using automatic rifles. The Associated Press quoted Haditha police Capt. Khudhier Mohammed as saying one of the mayor's sons had also been killed.
According to Mohammed, the mayor was slain because he was "seizing cars" from Hussein loyalists who used to work in Haditha, a city in the "Sunni Triangle" that remains a stronghold for supporters of the ousted regime.
The American soldier was killed and three others were injured in a rocket- propelled grenade attack west of Baghdad, U.S. military officials said.
Shortly after that attack, two soldiers were seriously wounded and their vehicle was demolished in Saidiya, in the southern part of Baghdad, apparently by a land mine, as they drove on a patch of land near a highway interchange.
In a separate attack, an 8-year-old Iraqi child died when an assailant threw a grenade into a U.S. military vehicle guarding a bank in west Baghdad. The American driver was wounded along with four Iraqi bystanders.
Also Wednesday, the military said a U.S. Marine had died in the southern city of Hilla when he fell from the roof of a building he was guarding.
U.S. soldiers have continued to sweep through areas north and west of Baghdad, the region that has spawned most of the deadly strikes, to root out insurgents still loyal to the ousted dictator.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/17/MN15697.DTL
In Iraq, a grenade attack on an American convoy near Baghdad killed a U.S. soldier and wounded three others. The soldier's death raised the number of combat deaths in the Iraq war to 146, just one shy of the combat death toll of American soldiers in the 1991 Gulf War.
In other incidents, attackers fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. C- 130 transport plane plane as it landed in Baghdad but missed, and a pro- American mayor in a northwestern Iraqi town was gunned down in his car.
Gen. John Abizaid, the new head of the U.S. Central Command, discussed the nature of the Iraqi conflict in his first appearance before Pentagon reporters since assuming his new position last week. He blamed the guerrilla campaign on mid-level members of deposed leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, as well as "foreign terrorist elements."
The general's characterization of the conflict as a guerrilla campaign contradicts repeated assertions by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, including a statement made late last month that it was not "anything like a guerrilla war."
Abizaid said guerrilla warfare was the right term. "It's low-intensity conflict in our doctrinal terms, but it's war however you describe it," Abizaid said.
Abizaid, a Lebanese American who speaks Arabic, said the growing sophistication in attacks against coalition forces in the country was a reaction to what he described as the successful U.S. effort to stabilize the country.
"You have to understand that there will be an increase in violence as we achieve political success, because the people that have a stake in ensuring the defeat of the coalition realize that time is getting short . . ." he said.
Abizaid said that "at the tactical level, they're better coordinated now. They're less amateurish, and their ability to use improvised explosive devices and combine the use of these explosive devices with some sort of tactical activity . . . is more sophisticated."
U.S. commanders believe the resistance is coming from mid-level Baathists, former Iraqi intelligence service operatives and members of the Special Security Organization and Special Republican Guard who have organized in regions around the country in six- to eight-person cells receiving financial backing from regional leaders.
Abizaid also said that a small number of foreign terrorists were attacking U.S. troops, including members of Ansar al-Islam, an al Qaeda-associated terrorist group whose camp in the north American forces struck and destroyed early in the war.
Attacks continued Wednesday on U.S. troops, including a surface-to-air missile fired at a C-130 transport near Baghdad International Airport. Abizaid said it was the second such incident in the last two weeks -- and that the first one had involved a plane he was on. The pilot banked hard to the right and fired off flares used to divert the heat-seeking missiles, Abizaid recounted.
"These were guys from the Oklahoma National Guard, and they actually thought it was fun," he said. "I was terrified."
American forces braced for possible further attacks today, the anniversary of the 1968 Baathist coup that elevated Hussein to power. The July 17 holiday was banned this week by the new Governing Council, along with five other holidays created by the ousted regime.
Iraqi officials said Mohammed Nayil al-Jurayfi, who had worked with U.S. forces as mayor of Haditha, 150 miles northwest of Baghdad, had been killed when his car was ambushed by attackers using automatic rifles. The Associated Press quoted Haditha police Capt. Khudhier Mohammed as saying one of the mayor's sons had also been killed.
According to Mohammed, the mayor was slain because he was "seizing cars" from Hussein loyalists who used to work in Haditha, a city in the "Sunni Triangle" that remains a stronghold for supporters of the ousted regime.
The American soldier was killed and three others were injured in a rocket- propelled grenade attack west of Baghdad, U.S. military officials said.
Shortly after that attack, two soldiers were seriously wounded and their vehicle was demolished in Saidiya, in the southern part of Baghdad, apparently by a land mine, as they drove on a patch of land near a highway interchange.
In a separate attack, an 8-year-old Iraqi child died when an assailant threw a grenade into a U.S. military vehicle guarding a bank in west Baghdad. The American driver was wounded along with four Iraqi bystanders.
Also Wednesday, the military said a U.S. Marine had died in the southern city of Hilla when he fell from the roof of a building he was guarding.
U.S. soldiers have continued to sweep through areas north and west of Baghdad, the region that has spawned most of the deadly strikes, to root out insurgents still loyal to the ousted dictator.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/17/MN15697.DTL
