Assessing Iraq's Sunni Arab Insurgency

U.S. Army Professional Writting Collection ^ | Michael Eisenstadt and Jeffrey White

[SandRat]

Three years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein, confusion and controversy still surround the insurgency in Iraq's Sunni Triangle. Part of this is due to the nontraditional character of the Sunni Arab insurgency, which is being waged by amorphous, locally and regionally based groups and networks lacking a unifying ideology, central leadership, or clear hierarchical organization.1

The ambiguities inherent in insurgent warfare also make insurgencies difficult to assess. In conventional military conflicts, we can compare opposing orders of battle, evaluate capabilities, and assess the fortunes of belligerents using traditional measures: destruction of enemy forces, capture of key terrain, or seizure of the enemy's capital city.

---snip--- very long read but well worth it

[SandRat]

Professional Reading on the Sunni Insurgency

[dodger]

Iraq should have been partitioned. A realignment of Coalition forces toward the Kurdish areas is still an option.

[Marine_Uncle]

Thanks. Think I will take time to read it in full.

[dodger]

Superb article, by the way.

[vbmoneyspender]

American KIA rates have been fairly steady during the insurgency, averaging 49/month in 2003 and 71/month in both 2004 and 2005, for an average of 65 KIA/month since the fall of Baghdad.

I think their numbers on American KIA rates are misleading. There has been a measurable decline in KIA rates since 2005. And I believe that in the last three months our KIA rates have dipped even further.

[vbmoneyspender]

military fatality rates were 2.92 per day for 2004, 2.32 per day for 2005 and 2.00 per day for 2006.

See Link

[PajamaTruthMafia]

bookmark

[vbmoneyspender]

Also, their contention that KIA rates have averaged 65 a month since the fall of Baghdad (i.e. May 1, 2003) does not jibe with the following part of their article:

According to U.S. government reporting, from the end of major combat operations (1 May 2003) to 1 February 2006, 1,665 U.S. troops had been killed in action, and 16,111 wounded in action in Iraq, for a total of 17,776 combat casualties, which represents nearly 50 killed and 500 wounded per month