| Americans complain about Iraqi resistance A week of difficult fighting in southern Iraq has forced the Americans to seek a plausible explanation for why they have not yet been able to take control of a single major enemy population center. Yesterday everything became clear - the Iraqis are “fighting dishonestly.”
The Pentagon came up with this explanation. His spokeswoman, Victoria Clark, complained that the treacherous enemy was showing a willingness to surrender and even throwing out a white flag, but in reality it was luring naive Americans into a trap. According to Ms. Clark, Iraqi soldiers disguise themselves as civilians and then shoot coalition troops in the back. When they are captured, Baghdad accuses Washington and London of violating the rights of civilians and violating the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention. The Pentagon is confident that the Iraqi authorities are lying to everyone and about everything. The Americans claim that only professional soldiers or intelligence agents shoot their soldiers in the back.
Recognizing that the Iraqis raised the “club of people’s war” over the invading forces would mean that the aggressors are fighting not the regime, but the people of Iraq. The prudent Saddam had previously created the material base for a broad guerrilla war - before the invasion, the authorities distributed 7 million machine guns to the population. Yesterday, Saddam Hussein addressed the leaders of the nomadic tribes on television: “Each of you is a military leader. Create small resistance groups, use guerrilla tactics, attack the enemy and his mercenaries.”
Alarming signs for the interventionists of the beginning of a guerrilla war appeared in the south of Iraq. According to eyewitnesses, the port city of Umm Qasr has become a “nightmare” for coalition troops. On Monday, five Iraqis, coming out to the British with white flags in their hands, snatched weapons from under their clothes, killed several soldiers and died themselves. Yesterday, small groups of people in civilian clothes carried out lightning sabotage against coalition soldiers and army communications. “The hopes that the Iraqi population would greet the uninvited guests with flowers and smiles were not justified. Moreover, the people are taking up arms to fight them,” the British BBC reported yesterday from Basra. According to the Iraqis, an American Apache attack helicopter near Baghdad was shot by a simple peasant with a carbine. This story is similar to a tale, but during the Vietnam War there was an incident when an American fighter was shot down by an arrow from a crossbow.
The situation is unlikely to become easier when the allies begin their assault on Baghdad. The defenders of the capital are digging trenches, building underground passages, and preparing firing points. The Iraqi resistance forces will most likely adopt the proven tactic of moving from fire contact to dispersal and subsequent concentration behind enemy lines. According to General Barry McCaffrey, a participant in the 1991 Gulf War, the United States and its allies could lose up to 3 thousand people in the battle for Baghdad.
The Pentagon accuses Baghdad of every conceivable military treachery; Saddam is even blamed for the passivity of the Iraqi Air Force. The coalition command assumes that the Iraqis want to lull the allies' vigilance by retaining experienced pilots and remaining vehicles for a decisive strike using chemical or bacteriological weapons. American media are spreading reports that Saddam ordered his loyal Republican Guard to use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against the allies as soon as they entered the capital.
The Iraqi leadership believes that the Americans themselves can stage a provocation using weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the use of nuclear weapons against the defenders of Baghdad. Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN |
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