Surely such a small force, more a glorified street gang than a credible threat to American control of the country (think Hollywood-esque LA neighborhood cartels with Strella rockets and RPGs), could be crushed fairly quickly?
But now we've witnessed nearly two years' worth of incursions and re-incursions into places like Mosul, Samara, Fallujah. Each time, CENTCOM told us, in the grimly joyful tone of our proud military technocrats, that tens, hundreds, thousands of insurgents were killed.
It wasn't long before the number of reported enemy dead or captured matched or exceeded the reported number of enemy fighters.
And yet, they keep coming, each time with greater skill and ferocity it seems.
An explanation is required. Now we're told the evildoers have a force equal to the coalition's at their disposal.
I don't know how accurate this number is but considering the breadth and depth of attacks it seems truer than previous estimates.
Regardless, the stage is being set to explain American failure - the talking points are being queued for later use. There were too many; a barbarian horde of theocratic maniacs overran us like the rustics who destroyed glorious Rome. Despite our best efforts to save the Iraqi people from themselves they pushed us out, ungrateful that we liberated them from Hussein and spared the region and indeed, the world, the specter of Baathist nuclear terror.
.d.
...
Iraq battling more than 200,000 insurgents Intelligence chief says most are former baathists By Agence France Presse (AFP)
BAGHDAD: Iraq's insurgency counts more than 200,000 active fighters and sympathizers, the country's national intelligence chief said, in the bleakest assessment to date of the armed revolt waged by Sunnis.
Speaking in an interview, Iraqi intelligence service director General Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani said: "I think the resistance is bigger than the U.S. military in Iraq. I think the resistance is more than 200,000 people."
Shahwani said the number includes at least 40,000 hard-core fighters but rises to more than 200,000 members counting part-time fighters and volunteers who provide rebels everything from intelligence and logistics to shelter. The numbers far exceed any figure presented by the U.S. military in Iraq.
Shahwani pointed to a resurgent Baath Party as the key to the insurgency's might. The Baath has split into three factions, with the deadliest being the branch still paying allegiance to jailed dictator Saddam Hussein, he said.
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<http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=11487
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