From my time there I can say that you can divide the anti-coalition forces into four distinct groups.
1. Militia’s such as Muqtar Al Sadr’s est. 3000+ men. There are many militias in Iraq.
2. Criminal activity. As the regime fell all prisons were opened. As with lighting the oil wells on fire in 1991, Saddam wanted to cause havoc for the coalition forces taking Iraq in 2003. Furthermore, contrary to CNN’s accounts (Which are limited to the confines of the Baghdad and Palestine hotel complex while I was there) Iraq was ALWAYS a violent place, even under Saddam. The point is that a lot of what we are fighting is simple criminal activity.
3. The insurgent who gets all the MSM attention is but one part of the bigger picture. You can further subdivide the insurgency into two groups:
a.) The Iran/Syria sponsored terrorist who is acting on orders. This is a form of warfare where our enemy does not officially declare war, they know they can’t beat us in a maneuver war on a battlefield, but hope to score a victory but playing the guerilla warfare game.
b.) The religious fanatic who comes from as far away as Sudan to fight us. For them Iraq is a battlefield to fight Christians, the West and the US. These people are a mix of all kinds. Even Chechens were caught by us in Najef April 2003. They are the group to which AQ belongs to.
4.) The Regime loyalists. Loosing power, money, influence and status with the toppling of this regime some are very unhappy to say the least. This group is what the MSM focused on in 2004 when they tried to make it appear as if all Iraqis are in arms against us because we failed to deliver some promise, which the MSM decided we made. This group is comprised of former Ba’athists and Military officers primarily. This group is where your Faydayeen is part of. Between 20,000 and 30,000 men were trained (Only a very small portion is active), equipment and explosives pre-positioned, a terrorist “cell type” organization was created so that a guerilla war would be fought against us the next time we would come.
The Ba’athist regime learned a lot in 1991. They realized that ANY open confrontation is a maneuver style war will end in a quick and decisive victory for us. They applied lessons learned from 1991 in 2003 which was evidenced by their attempts to fight in urban areas in smaller groups, thereby not giving us an amassed enemy. A part of what we are fighting today is nothing more than the remnants of this Ba’athist guerilla force.
At times we fight different groups. The composition of the enemy may vary from one place to another. There is by now cross talking between these categories of anti-coalition forces. Example: Iran may sponsor a Militia, or AQ may be working with the former Ba’athists. The lines of division are blurred by now. All (Except the criminal element) have one thing in common; they know that the ONLY way they can win is by breaking the “will” to fight. That’s why attacks are timed so that they make it into the 1900 (7 PM) US news (Primetime). That’s why on US holidays expect more activity. That’s why sponsored protests were in front of the Palestine-Sheridan hotels since it was known the MSM lives there. That’s why Muqtar took refuge in a Shia shrine. It is ENTIRELY an Information Operations war at this point.
What you get in the MSM is a snapshot of reality. Shallow at best, these reports are nothing more than a small angle view of a 26,000,000 person country over a short duration.
Red6
Great post.