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Iraq-Jordan
Iraqi Insurgency Steadily Improves
2005-01-01
The U.S. military has concluded that the Sunni insurgency has significantly improved over the last few months. Officials and analysts assert that Saddam Hussein loyalists have succeeded in forming a command and control structure and improved their combat skills in the insurgency war against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. They said both Sunni and Shi'ite insurgents have also penetrated Iraq's military and security forces. "The enemy is effective," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "The enemy's got a brain. The enemy alters its tactics. As things happen on the ground, they see what we do to respond to it. They then change their tactic." The latest U.S. assessment was voiced in wake of the killing of at least 22 people in a U.S. military base in Mosul on Dec. 22. Officials said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who wore an Iraq Army uniform and might have fought the U.S. military in Faluja in November.
Posted by:Fred

#4  Sunnis are 20% of the population. If they continue to cause so much trouble, they will become an increasingly smaller percentage of the population. The Shias and Kurds are going to run the country because they have the numbers and the skills. The Sunnis just have a backlog of crimes against humanity and a longing for the good old days when they could kill Kurds and Shias for fun.
Posted by: RWV   2005-01-01 12:26:20 PM  

#3  Here's the crucial issue: They said both Sunni and Shi’ite insurgents have also penetrated Iraq’s military and security forces

If this is true, then it means that Allawi is at best ineffectual and at worst has tilted toward his former comrades. Which means we need to re-think our attitudes toward federalism, ie a de facto Shi'a-Kurdish ascendancy, as the only means left to avoid a triumph of ba'athist-driven chaos and government collapse.
Posted by: lex   2005-01-01 12:56:14 AM  

#2  I think ME News might be US friendly, so maybe you're being too sensitive to the Rumsfeld quote.
Middle East Newsline is directed by Steve Rodan.
Steve Rodan, President of Middle East Newsline, is a veteran journalist currently based in Israel. He was a newspaper reporter in New York City before moving to the Middle East where he served as a special correspondent and editor for the Jerusalem Post.
Posted by: joeblow   2005-01-01 12:50:07 AM  

#1  Article: "The enemy is effective," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "The enemy’s got a brain. The enemy alters its tactics. As things happen on the ground, they see what we do to respond to it. They then change their tactic."

This is what Rumsfeld has consistently stated in press conference after press conference, right from the beginning. But the press is seizing on this statement as a change in Rumsfeld's position. You gotta love the reality distortion field of the media. I just wish they'd stop editorializing and opining and start reporting straight news for a change.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2005-01-01 12:32:03 AM  

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