US Army Admits Iraqi's Outnumber,
Foreign Fighters As It's Main Enemy.

by-Toby Harnden In Ramadi
filed: 04/12/2005
The Telegraph (UK)

Iraqi's, rather, than foreign fighters, now form the vast majority of the Insurgents who are waging a ferocious guerrilla war against United States forces in Sunni Western Iraq, American commanders have revealed.

Their conclusion, disclosed to the Sunday Telegraph in interviews over 10 days in battle-torn Anbar province, contradicts the White House message that outsiders are the principal enemy in Iraq.

Of 1,300 suspected Insurgents arrested over the past five months in and around Ramadi, none has been a foreigner. Col John Gronski, senior officer in the town, Anbar's provincial capital, said that almost all Insurgent fighting there was by Iraqi's. Foreigners provided only money and logistical support. "The foreign fighters are staying North of the [Euphrates] River, training and advising, like the Soviets were doing in Vietnam," he said.

Col Gronski identified Mohammed Bassim Hazim, a former Ramadi taxi driver known as Abu Khattab, as the leader of the town's Insurgency, and he has been responsible for most of the 1,770 attacks against US and Iraqi forces in the past three months.

Ramadi, unlike neighbouring Fallujah, where 10 Marines were killed by a bomb on Friday, has never been taken over by the Rebels. But it remains disputed turf at best. thirty-four troops have died there since the beginning of September.

American troop strengths have doubled in the past year with a US Army armoured battalion now supplementing a US Marine light Infantry battalion.

Lt. Col Michael Herbert, a brigade Intelligence officer, said Abu Khattab has become an almost mythical figure. "He is the face of the Insurgency in Ramadi. He has been behind the majority of the attacks."

The Insurgents have the support of most locals. "They have the ability to move freely around the city," said Capt. Twain Hickman, the commander of India company of the 3/7 Marines battalion. "That means they can attack at a time of their choosing."

Col Gronski said the local nature of the Insurgency meant that even the few civic leaders prepared to work with the Americans view the fighters as legitimate. "They see them as Resistance. They don't view the local guys placing IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and firing mortars at us as Insurgents."

For most, the Insurgency is about removing the occupiers, Col Herbert said. "Their family and tribal honour has been impugned if we're on their ground. They're almost duty bound to fight."

The Pentagon plan for the country is to hand over "battle space" to Iraqi forces once they are capable of combating the Insurgency so that American forces can withdraw. But this scheme has been beset by problems in Ramadi.

But the commander of one of the Iraqi battalions who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said it would be "at least two or three years" before his men were ready to fight alone. "We are getting better but the Iraqi army is still weak and we need equipment. We always rely on the Americans to do the hardest Jobs for us."

"These Insurgents have a great deal of tactical and operational patience," said Col Gronski. "They will continue to look for the time and the place, because time is on their side."

Courtesy Of:
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