- BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- U.S.
forces in Iraq have launched their fiercest military campaign since major
combat ended in May, but experts fear the aggressive "show of force"
may inflame an anti-American insurgency rather than douse it.
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- In the past 10 days, fighter jets have dropped 500 lb.
(230 kg) bombs, satellite-guided missiles have been fired, and tanks have
pounded suspected guerrilla hideouts in a display that may be spectacular
but could ultimately backfire.
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- "I don't think this present campaign is going to
produce what the Americans want, which is security on the ground for Iraqis
and U.S. forces," said Phillip Mitchell of the International Institute
for Strategic Studies in London.
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- "It's only going to ensure that the population becomes
more allied with the pro-Saddam, anti-American insurgency... The risk is
that these sort of actions will actually inflame hatred."
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- The tougher line began earlier this month, after the
downing of two helicopters -- a Chinook transporter and a Black Hawk --
in the space of five days with the loss of 22 soldiers.
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- In response, the 4th Infantry Division based around Saddam
Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, launched
Operation Ivy Cyclone, sending F-16s to bomb several abandoned warehouses.
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- At the same time, M1A1 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles
rumbled through the streets of the small city, where a curfew has been
reimposed, and a taskforce of soldiers raided a handful of homes, rounding
up some suspected Saddam loyalists.
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- HEAVY HAND
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- Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Russell, who commands the 1-22
Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division and has led many of the raids around
Tikrit, declared the new, harder line a success and the right sort of tactics
for the task at hand.
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- "We will not let these insurgents dance on our territory,"
he said after a midnight raid last week. "We need to maintain an offensive
stance and let the enemy know that we will come down with a heavy hand
when we want to."
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- Since Ivy Cyclone, U.S. forces have also launched Operation
Iron Hammer in and around Baghdad, and Ivy Cyclone Two, which has involved
firing GPS-guided missiles at suspected insurgent camps, including one
on an island in the Tigris river.
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- Hazy green television images of the attacks, shot through
night-vision lenses, have been broadcast worldwide and created the impression
of a bold and intense new campaign.
-
- But there so far appears to be relatively little to show
for the new tactics in terms of the capture of high-ranking Saddam loyalists
or intelligence on the minds behind the insurgency.
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- "These are operations of the 'search and destroy'
type which are very spectacular and designed primarily to occupy television
airtime for the U.S. public back home," said Francois Gere, director
of France's Institute for Diplomacy and Defense.
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- "This is like using sledgehammers to swat flies.
This is not how you fight guerrillas. For that, you need inside intelligence
from the Iraqis themselves -- and these are just the type of operations
which encourage people to think they are dealing with a brutal army of
occupation," he said.
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- OFFICERS DEFEND OVERWHELMING FORCE
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- Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the newly appointed chief
spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, defended the new policy on Monday, saying
all operations had a specific military purpose with the intention of defeating,
not intimidating, the enemy.
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- Using tanks and other heavy equipment "provides
overwhelming fire power and gives us the capability to make the enemy realize
he is overmatched and should surrender," he said.
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- But analysts say many moderate Iraqis who might have
been won over by a "hearts and minds" campaign are feeling increasingly
alienated.
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- "The very small percentage of Iraqis who are bent
on killing U.S. and British forces will never change their minds, they
are immune from the hearts and minds campaign," said Ellie Goldsworthy
of Britain's Royal United Services Institute.
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- "If the American forces go down an openly belligerent
route there is a risk that more and more Iraqis will take up the belligerent
route. There is a risk that this will make the situation even more dangerous
for U.S. forces on the ground."
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- - Additional reporting by Peter Graff in London and Mark
John in Paris
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