Saddam regime may have planned insurgency before it fell

By John J. Lumpkin
Associated Press


Anti-U.S. violence in Iraq comes from multiple directions and sources, but Pentagon intelligence officials believe they have divined the most sophisticated: a group of Iraqi intelligence and security officers who dispersed around Iraq, preparing for guerrilla war, even as Saddam Hussein’s regime fell.
Figuring out the enemy in Iraq has been a key struggle for the U.S. military ever since Saddam was toppled. And it has come to a head as American officials try to deal with an entrenched insurgency in Fallujah.

The insurgents fighting in Fallujah are thought to be a mix of several groups, Marine Maj. Gen. John Sattler, director of operations for the U.S. Central Command, said this week.

“We believe that there’s a combination of former Baathist, some foreign fighters, some extremists, a combination of some Iraqi Republican Guard elements that were out there in the vicinity of Fallujah, some terrorists who have moved in from outside the country,” he said.

Other groups are capable of almost as much violence as the group of Iraqi intelligence and security officers that U.S. officials have identified. Those others include supporters of Jordanian extremist Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Ansar al-Islam extremist group, and various militias that have emerged since the fall of Saddam, American officials say.

Attributing particular acts to specific groups is often difficult without a full investigation or a cooperative prisoner. But some patterns in attacks have emerged.

The group of Iraqi intelligence officers come from the Directorate of Special Operations and Antiterrorism, known as M-14, according to defense officials at the Pentagon who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

That was a part of Iraq’s intelligence service, the Mukhabarat — the same organization the U.S. government says tried to assassinate former President Bush in Kuwait in 1993.

Officials said they think members of the organization are working independently and probably in little communication with one another. The officials cited a recent report by the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency.

The nature and extent of their connection to other violent groups in Iraq is unclear, although officials said their specialty is to train, fund and plan operations by others willing to carry them out.

Interviews with prisoners provided some information on M-14. But defense officials said another clue to its operations comes from similarities in certain bomb designs found around the country.

They also suspect some of these security officers are agitating in Fallujah, where Marines face an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 insurgents. Military officials say they see the insurgents using Soviet-style defense-in-depth military tactics, instead of the hit-and-run ambushes favored by Islamic mujahideen who fought in Afghanistan.

That suggests leadership by former members of Saddam’s Soviet-style military, instead of foreigners, officials said.

The DIA report also blames the group for an April 14, 2003, attack that killed three U.S. soldiers, the official said. It said the group probably is working with other anti-U.S. groups and individuals to conduct some of their attacks.

Some reports put Zarqawi, an associate of Osama bin Laden, in Fallujah, as well.

Beyond Fallujah, intelligence and military officials suspect, in particular, that he is behind attacks in other regions of Iraq that appeared aimed at causing violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and others aimed at driving U.S. allies, such as Italy, out of Iraq.

Officials cite an intercepted letter of his as evidence of his goals.

However, Zarqawi is thought to be more interested in bombings than in firefights.

“To what extent, if any, he is involved in Fallujah fighting is unclear,” one counterterrorism official said.

Another active group is Ansar al-Islam, which officials also associate with Zarqawi. Members of the group, formed in the Kurdish parts of Iraq, have served as fixers for other Sunni Muslim extremists entering Iraq, U.S. officials believe. They also have experimented with chemical weapons in the past, and defense officials worry they could try such an attack inside Iraq.

Defense officials say the threat of violence from various militias is on the rise. The best known is the al-Mahdi Army, made up of followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric holed up in Najaf.

Still another group is Mohammed’s Army, which is believed to be composed of former security and military officials from Saddam’s regime.


The American Marine Division has the highest combat effectiveness in the American armed forces. It seems not enough for our four divisions to surround and annihilate its two regiments.

---Mao Tse Sung to General Song, prior to Chosin Reservoir

Dragon is a troll

---Gyrene

Hmmm....rather long article to expound on a simple phrase: Ooopss..we are in the deep doodoo.








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I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.
--Dan Quayle

But dude Bush already said the War was already completed lol

LOL, is Saddam's regime still blamed for the violence?
Man, some people just don’t know when to give up, like when the
Bush Administration still pretends that Iraq had Weapons of mass Destruction!
LOL


“IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? ... TRESSPASS HERE AND FIND OUT”






CIA agent Geoffrey Kemp talking about Saddam Hussein:

“WE KNEW HE WAS A SON OF A BITCH, BUT HE WAS OUR SON OF A BITCH”

lol