- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
troops are facing a classic guerrilla war in Iraq spearheaded by Saddam
Hussein loyalists, and American forces need to adapt their tactics to crush
this increasingly organized resistance, the head of the U.S. Central Command
said on Wednesday.
-
- This contrasted with an assessment given by Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld on June 30 that it was not "anything like a guerrilla
war or an organized resistance."
-
- But Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid, who commands
U.S. forces in Iraq, said a guerrilla war is exactly what U.S. troops are
confronting.
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- "It think describing it as guerrilla tactics being
employed against us is, you know, a proper thing to describe in strictly
military terms," Abizaid said during a Pentagon briefing.
-
- He said U.S. forces are fighting remnants of Saddam's
Baath Party throughout Iraq.
-
- He said mid-level officials of Saddam's government, including
from the old intelligence and security agencies and the Special Republican
Guard, "have organized at the regional level in cellular structure."
-
- Abizaid said they "are conducting what I would describe
as a classical guerrilla-type campaign against us. It's low-intensity conflict
in our doctrinal terms, but it's war however you describe it."
-
- "The level of resistance, I'm not so sure I would
characterize it as escalating in terms of number of incidents. But it is
getting more organized and it is learning. It is adapting -- it is adapting
to our tactics, techniques and procedures. And we've got to adapt to their
tactics, techniques and procedures," Abizaid said.
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- © 2003 Reuters
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