Forcing resistance
Washington has resorted to a show of force against insurgents in Iraq. But will it help crush resistance, asks Salah Hemeid
Amid deteriorating security Iraq's Governing Council this week announced a new plan for the country's political transition that could end the US-led occupation by 1 July and facilitate a significant withdrawal of US troops by next year.
During a week that saw attacks against occupying troops and counter measures spiral, American officials were optimistic that transferring power would help quell anger over the occupation and reduce attacks on US forces.
The worst incident occurred on Saturday when two American Black Hawk helicopters collided in midair and crashed in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 17 of the American soldiers aboard and injuring five others. American officials said the collision occurred when one of the helicopters came under hostile fire and swerved upward to avoid it, hitting the second helicopter.
As the guerrilla war continued to rage US forces reacted with a massive show of force, launching air strikes against suspected insurgents in the Sunni triangle north and west of Baghdad. US jets dropped satellite- guided bombs on suspected targets in Baghdad and elsewhere and fired a satellite-guided missile carrying a 500-pound warhead at a target 16 kilometres south of Tikrit, the second use in as many days of the powerful weapon.
With tank and mortar backing US forces attacked dozens of suspected hideouts in Saddam Hussein's hometown before dawn Monday, killing six fighters and capturing others. On Monday Fourth Infantry Division soldiers killed six alleged insurgents in the Tikrit area as they continued to search for Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, the former Saddam deputy believed to be orchestrating the attacks. The US military has also begun levelling houses and buildings used by suspected Iraqi guerrilla fighters in Tikrit.
Further south, in Samara, F-16 fighter aircraft dropped two bombs on Tuesday on targets near the town. Troops carried out more than 40 attacks between Sunday night and Wednesday morning, razing 15 suspected safe houses, three training camps and 14 mortar firing points.
"They need to understand that it's more than just Humvees that will be used against them. We will crush the resistance," said Lt Col Steven Russell, a battalion commander in the Fourth Infantry Division which controls the Tikrit area.
In Baghdad troops mounted the most extensive search for weapons to date in the mostly Sunni populated area of A'dhamiya, netting 21 suspects along with 30 Kalashnikov AK- 47 automatic rifles, a dozen shotguns and 10 handguns. Elsewhere in the capital US soldiers hit five targets near Baghdad airport with mortar fire on Friday. The military also announced that soldiers in the city of Ramadi west of Baghdad had arrested a Fedayeen Saddam militia commander allegedly responsible for bomb attacks against US forces.
The show of force failed to halt the upsurge in attacks against American soldiers in central and northern Iraq, the majority involving roadside bombs, ambushes and mortar attacks. While attacks against Americans are aimed largely at influencing domestic US opinion, forcing the administration to pull out, Iraqi officials and policemen have also been targeted in an attempt to deter Iraqis from working with the US-backed Iraqi administration.
As violence escalated a tape purportedly made by Saddam urged the rebels to step up attacks against the occupation and "agents brought by foreign armies", an apparent reference to the US-appointed Interim Governing Council. Saddam's defiant statement came as senior US commanders dismissed suggestions the former Iraqi leader might be running the insurgency.
"Saddam Hussein is one of the most incompetent military leaders in history," said Gen John AbiZaid, the senior US military officer in the region. "To give him any credit, to think that somehow or other he planned this is absolutely beyond my comprehension."
Though the number of attacks on occupying forces has more than doubled in the past two months to between 30 and 35 a day, AbiZaid insisted the insurgents number no more than 5,000 fighters operating without any overall command. He conceded, however, that a growing command- and-control structure is emerging, linking foreign fighters and loyalists to the ousted regime.
On Sunday President Bush promised an intensification of US military operations in Iraq in a bid to clamp down on attacks against the occupying troops.
"We're not leaving until the job is done, pure and simple," Bush insisted. Washington's show of political resolve and its increasing use of military force appear to be timed to weaken resistance as it prepares to hand over political power to a new Iraqi provisional government by the end of June. It is a strategy, though, that could easily backfire, not least because it risks further alienating an Iraqi population already seething with resentment.
