Terrorist prospects fade in Iraq

According to Strategy Page, Sunni Arab terrorists are very much encouraged by the ongoing congressional debate over U.S. troop withdrawal.  They see it as an opportunity to take on the Iraqi security forces instead of the more capable American forces.  But Strategy Page predicts that the Iraqi forces will be inclined to wage war the traditional way, with massive use of firepower against civilians anywhere the Sunni Arab terrorists turn up.

In Syria, the 1982 uprising by Islamic radicals was put down, in part, by the destruction of the town of Hamat, and the massacre of over 10,000 civilians there. That was meant as a message to the rebels. This was the traditional way to deal with uprisings, and it worked. Leaders, and potential rebels, throughout the region remember Hamat, and the hundreds of other rebellious towns and cities that have suffered the same fate over the centuries. The Americans may not respect such local traditions, but once they leave, that will no longer be a problem.

So far this year, many more parts of central Iraq have been cleared of  terrorists, and the remaining ones know they have to maintain their visibility to survive. Setting off several bombs a day keeps the terrorists in the news, even if the explosions take place in a smaller and smaller area of Iraq. The terrorists play more to the international media, than they do to anyone inside Iraq. The terrorists are already hated and feared throughout the country, even in Sunni Arab areas. There, the terrorists must increasingly divert resources to terrorize Sunni Arabs, and keep them in line. They are aided by Islamic conservatives, who see all the unrest as an opportunity to impose Taliban like rules on the population. If the terrorists accomplish nothing else, they will have shown how to manipulate the mass media, and divert attention from the true origins of the terrorists, and their objectives. It's been a masterful job which, of course, the mass media will have no interest in examining anytime soon. In a generation or so, there will be books and articles about it, but the subject will never get a lot of media attention.

Comments

[Bob]

I don't think Iraqi Sunni terrorists give a yipe about the U.S. Congressional decisions. They just want kick us in the face and make us bleed out of various orifices. I think the article title is misleading. You are drinking the Neocon magic Kool-Aid of Wishful Thinking. I would like to see a survey of American soldiers who have served in COMBAT in Iraq on whether they believe that terrorism is fading. I'll bet you'd hear a different story. The Bush administration has seriously misjudged this one. Didn't Cheney say that the insurgency was the last gasp of a bunch of die-hards? Takes one to know one, Dick!

[Tom Bowler]

You're in denial if you believe the terrorists are not paying attention to the debate in Washington. You have to be positively delusional to suggest that the terrorists -- Sunni, al Qaeda, or other -- have any chance whatever of winning, other than by persuading Democrats to pull the plug and hand them the victory. In that regard the Democrats and the media have been the terrorists most important allies, continually promoting what would otherwist be the terrorists' lost cause.

[Ol' BC]

Well, Bob, I have spoken to several who indicate terrorism is fading and fading quite a bit in most parts of the country. One was a Colonel who secured Mosul and brought home every soldier who went over with him for the tour of duty. You may have heard of the iron man line (the berm around Mosul).