. . . American commanders say the people fighting them appear more brazen recently, and in recent weeks they have even circulated leaflets in Hawija asking all Iraqis to join them. Grenade still in hand and with a nerve-racking politeness, this fighter steered the car's driver to a cemetery here where he said several of his comrades, killed by American soldiers, were buried.
There, in almost an hour of conversation behind a wall, keeping an unending vigil for American soldiers on patrol, the man described what he said were operations of his cell, which he said consisted of some 15 men, mostly former soldiers, who take no direct orders from anyone, but are in contact with other similar groups.
"People with more military experience than me set the targets and make the plans," he said.
"It is like, `I have a friend, who has another friend,' " he said. "We have contacts between the cells but there is no real organization." . . .
So far, he said, 10 of his comrades have been killed, and at the cemetery he knelt down to pay his respects at the flag-covered graves of two of those killed Aug. 30.
Major Vincent cited the Aug. 30 attack, in which he said two American soldiers were wounded, as the "perfect" example of the resistance's weakness.
"If they were truly winning the struggle, they wouldn't be scared to operate in the day, they wouldn't attack innocent aid organizations and Iraqi citizens, but would have the courage to face the U.S. Army directly, which they don't, because when they do, they die," Major Vincent said in an e-mail message on Thursday.
The man said the insurgents' overall strategy was just what American commanders say it is: To kill so many soldiers that America has no political choice but to leave Iraq. The recent American decision to speed up civilian control to Iraqis, he said, was one indication their strategy is working — an assertion Major Vincent and other Americans strongly reject.
"They are beginning to be defeated," the man said. "I want my message to reach the world. We will stop killing Americans if they withdraw. As we are precious to our families, American soldiers are precious to their families."
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/05/international/middleeast/05IRAQ.html>
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