Attacks in Iraq May Be Signals of New Tactics

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 17 — In a turbulent 12-hour stretch, a pipeline supplying much of Baghdad's water was blown up this weekend, a huge new fire was set off along an oil pipeline, and a mortar attack on a prison left 6 Iraqis dead and 59 wounded.

The attacks raised new concerns that the insurgents who have been singling out American soldiers may be widening their strikes to include civilian targets and economic sabotage. The explosion at the water pipeline was the work of saboteurs, investigators said, and the fire along the pipeline appeared suspicious as well.

It occurred near the spot in northern Iraq where saboteurs on Friday blew up another part of the pipeline, which carries Iraqi oil into Turkey.

The mortar attack occurred shortly before midnight Saturday at Abu Ghraib, a prison that became notorious during Saddam Hussein's rule for its terrible conditions and for the torture and execution of political prisoners. Some of its current prisoners are suspected of being part of the violent insurgency against American forces by members of the former government. Shortly before midnight, three mortar shells were fired into the prison compound, where inmates were being held in tents.

At the prison this afternoon, a Reuters cameraman identified as Mazen Dana was shot and killed by a soldier, a spokesman for the occupation said. Reuters reported that Mr. Dana, 43, a Palestinian, had been filming outside the prison when he was shot by a G.I. in a tank.

Officials said the motives for the mortar attack on the prison Saturday were unknown, as was the identity of the attacker. But they suggested that the shelling, like the sabotage of pipelines, might be part of the larger effort to destabilize Iraq and drive out Americans. Samir Shakir Mahmoud Sumaidy, a member of the new Iraqi interim government, the Governing Council, condemned the attack after visiting some of the victims who had been taken to an American military hospital.

"Attacking prisoners is just unexplainable and completely incomprehensible," he said. "The only deduction I have is that these attackers have lost their way. They have no strategy. They just want to create mayhem, create chaos.

"This will certainly not hasten the departure of coalition forces. In fact, it will probably increase the time of their staying here," he said.

The sabotage of the water pipeline was the first such strike against Baghdad's water system, city water engineers said. It happened around 7 this morning, when a blue Volkswagen Passat stopped on an overpass near the Nidaa mosque and an explosive was fired at the six-foot-wide water main in the northern part of Baghdad, said Hayder Muhammad, the chief engineer for the city's water treatment plants.

Instantly, jets of high-pressure water shot into the air and began flooding the roadway below, which links Palestine Street to the Adhamiya neighborhood. The break left residents with little or no water most of the day in about 10 neighborhoods covering a large part of the city.

Water continued to pour from the jagged two-foot-wide hole in the main this afternoon, and hundreds of children and young men were swimming and splashing.

"Most of the area will be without water, and now people will start saying the Americans did this," said a bystander, Hissan Baghdadi, 35. "But it has nothing to do with the Americans at all. It was Iraqis who did this."

The deputy mayor of Baghdad, Faris Abdul Razaq al-Aasam, said workers expected to restore water by late this evening. City engineers warned that there could be some problems for several days.

As the fire at the oil pipeline burned this afternoon in northern Iraq, sending black smoke nearly three miles high northwest of Mosul, occupation officials in Baghdad noted that they had recently signed a contract with a private firm to hire 6,500 guards for Iraq's oil facilities. After the pipeline was shut down Friday by an explosion and fire, officials said that it would take perhaps two weeks to repair the damage and that the loss of the pipeline was costing Iraq $7 million per day.

In southern Iraq, a Danish soldier and two Iraqis were killed in a firefight Saturday night about 30 miles north of Basra, Danish military officials said. It was the first military casualty for the Danish.

The firefight broke out in the town of Medina when a Danish patrol tried to prevent Iraqis from stealing electrical cables, said Lt. Col. Jens Kofoed, a Danish military spokesman. Two Iraqis were killed along with the soldier, Lance Cpl. Preben Pedersen, Colonel Kofoed said.

The incident is being investigated, and it is possible that Lance Cpl. Pedersen was killed accidentally by one of his fellow officers, Colonel Kofoed said.

More evidence that some Iraqis are tiring of these "resistance fighters":

"Near Baquoba, 45 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. forces captured 12 suspected Fedayeen Saddam militia members a few hundred yards from a U.S. base after getting a tip by an Iraqi informer, said Lt. Col. Mark Young, commander of 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

The informer, who lived near the battalion's base at a former Iraqi military camp, told U.S. troops that Fedayeen had been in the area before, trying to make residents leave so the Fedayeen could move in and attack the base, Young said. "

From http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030817/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_1590

" A US soldier was slightly wounded when his patrol came under attack in a village near the town of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, the US army said.

The patrol returned fire and a supporting helicopter fired missiles at the attackers, he said, adding that he had no reports of Iraqi casualties.

MacDonald added that US troops in the village found further IEDs after information given to them by locals."

From http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030816/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_attack_030816140623

Well, which Iraqi people are we talking about? The Iraqi people who were killed or the Iraqi people who did the killing. My guess is that the vast majority of Iraqi people, being Muslims, support these attacks against "The Infidel". Time will tell, if it hasn't already.

Good post.

The "deadenders" will be noisy for a while.

Cleanups ain't pretty.

FRegards.....

I don't think it's true that the "vast majority" of Iraqi people support these attacks. I think it's just the opposite. And remember, 90% of the country is peaceful. Nearly all of these attacks are in an area around Baghdad in the so-called "Sunni triangle". There may be certain towns and areas in that "triangle" in which the majority of people support the attacks, but if you look at the total population of Iraq, I doubt supporters of these attacks number more than 15%.

That's my gut feeling, combined with info from polls (however inexact) like a recent one conducted in Baghdad and another conducted in focus groups across Iraq (I saved it. I'll dig for it) in which no more than 5% of those interviewed supported these attacks, as well as just the evidence of the lack of attacks in the rest of the country.

I do not think they are getting desperate, they are emulating the Palestinians. The Pali's have successfully been able to operate for 20 years with the help and moral support of the UN and the Euroweenies, and the military support of Syria and Iran.

The Jordainians have shown how to treat terrorists... massive, merciless, ruthless, action. Note there are few problems with the Pali's in Jordan because they threw them out with military action and secret police raids.

Evem though it is but a few feet from where the Pali's reign virtually at will, Jordan has very few problems.. if any at all. We need to do the same in Iraq. Even if the world thinks us wrong, we need to get ruthless if we are going to put a stop to this now.

What's more, just like in Israel Syria and Iran are supplying the terrorists. We need to make it more than clear that any aid or encouragement given by either of these two countries will be immediately dealt with militarily and instantly... including actions against the rulers of these countries.

It is all the Islamies understand, pure ruthless power.. I wonder if we have the will.

/end rant

The attackers are getting desperate and the more they do things like this that hurt the Iraqi people, the more the Iraqi people will turn against them.

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They aren't desperate. They are smart. If the coalition can't control attacks on the general population, the population will need to support them in self defense.

This is the tactic that worked in Viet Nam. The Viet Cong killed 25,000 villagers and in so doing controlled a country that didn't want them.

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You are on the mark. Mohammedism trumps all else in Mohammedan regions.

"a spokesman for the occupation said."

The OCCUPATION??? Now our own American journalists and American newspaper editors are calling our military operation an OCCUPATION ??

I guess they don't feel the need to hide behind veiled anti-Americanism any longer. Jerks.

I hope the BACKLASH comes soon!! The Iraqis have to do their part in helping rebuild their nation!! Either they are with us or against us, they can't have it both ways!! The Iraqi people MUST STOP at all cost those who want to destroy and rule their nation with an iron fist! They must stand up and help our soldiers or else we should pull them out and let them fend for themselves!! In other words..HASTA LA VISTA BABYYYY!!

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