| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Insurgency seen as forcing change in Iraq strategy |
| 2005-06-10 |
| Military operations in Iraq have not succeeded in weakening the insurgency, and Iraq's government, with US support, is now seeking a political reconciliation among the nation's ethnic and tribal factions as the only viable route to stability, according to US military officials and private specialists. Two years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the Iraq conflict has evolved into a classic guerrilla war, they argue. Outbreaks of fighting are followed by periods of relative calm and soon thereafter, a return to rampant violence. Despite significant guerrilla setbacks and optimistic predictions by a host of American commanders earlier this year, the Sunni-backed insurgency remains as strong as ever, forcing American officials and their Iraqi allies to seek a political solution to the bloodshed. Pentagon officials and current members of the military interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity. ''We are not going to win the unconditional surrender from the insurgents and have no choice but to somehow bring them into society," said retired Army Colonel Paul Hughes, an Iraq war veteran who is now at the government-funded US Institute for Peace. ''To think there will be one climactic military event to end this is foolish. Those who cling to that don't understand." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #8 I suppose Hanoi Jane subscribes to both. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-06-10 15:22 |
| #7 There has indeed been a strategy shift, but the shift is from Iraqi terrorists. They know they can't survive a standup fight against US and US trained forces, so they are going against the toughest targets they can: woman and children. Just another piece bemoaning the lack of American dead. The Glob and the Post all want the same thing: dead Americans and if they can convince the "insurgency" that all is not lost, then they will get their wish. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-06-10 13:39 |
| #6 this article is wrong. It posits a change in strategy. I think the notion of negotiating a political solution, with major elements of the Sunni Arabs, including elements of the insurgency, has been part of coalition strategy at least since June of 2003, when Allawi became PM. Indeed that was one of the reasons Allawi was selected. Why are negotiations more serious now - primarily because of the political success of the elections. Its clear that there is a political process going on that cannot be derailed, and that the Sunnis will be better off getting on board now. OTOH its also clear that the insurgents CAN make things very difficult for the new govt, and they and their Sein Fein like agents in AMS are bargaining for the best deal they can get. Beyond that its the usual rugdealing. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-06-10 12:39 |
| #5 Youre right matt, the boston globe should maybe consider mass suicide since we have lost the war on terror and don't deserve to live anyway. They should do the right thing and To the editor of the boston globe: Everyone besides you and the washington post seem to think we are making progress in Iraq. What do you have against democracy? Why would you begrudge others this godgiven right? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-06-10 11:04 |
| #4 ... and the great military strategist, Congressman Marty Meehan also weighs in. Which ways the wind blowing today, Marty? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-06-10 10:54 |
| #3 The Boston Globe: All Is Lost. |
| Posted by: Matt 2005-06-10 10:49 |
| #2 Military operations in Iraq have not succeeded in weakening the insurgency...Sunni-backed insurgency remains as strong as ever And how would you know? This is just another swell of MSM defeatism. My GOD, they haven't stop murder, rape, and robbery right here in River City. That must mean our state and local government efforts to reduce crime have failed. Failed I tell you. We're lost! A little perspective - "...The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there and the marks of a recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting the enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his. The lesson was valuable." Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. When the enemy has to trick men into going to Iraq, when they take the dupes' passports away to insure they stay around, when they have to lie that they'll be blowing up Americans and not Iraqi women and children, when they have to enforce discipline by threat of death, I doubt very seriously that outside the MSM, the terrorist can lay claim to succeeding in their operations. When you can look at what the Zman has to do just to stay around, it doesn't look like cake walk for them in the least. There is only one group who can defeat us and that is us. |
| Posted by: Jert Flinert7749 2005-06-10 10:47 |
| #1 But since the Jan. 31 Iraqi elections, the insurgents, relying on steady streams of funding and weapons, new recruits, and staging areas in Syria and possibly Iran, have struck back with a vengeance and US force levels have remained constant. Sounds like the U.S. is making a Vietnam-style mistake in the vein of Cambodia. And everyone knows what the outcome of that conflict was. Specialists say they believe Iraq's estimated 5 million Sunnis fear that the country's government, dominated by Shi'ites and Kurds, will exact revenge on them for decades of Hussein's brutal rein. Keep on killing civilians indiscriminately boys, and it'll happen. And when it does, there will be few tears shed over it. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-06-10 10:21 |