Some notes on Iraq
Military enthusiasts
CNN: Attackers in Karbala, responsible for the deaths of five US service personnel, were able to pose as US military officials to get past Iraqi guards.
This level of sophistication in disguise is worrisome. But, what might be more worrisome is how many authentic (or authentic-looking) military items are on eBay. That link leads to BDU trousers.
Read all about it
The Christian Science Monitor reports that handbills were a useful tool for one armored brigade.
Sectarian strife
The substantial attack today, claiming scores of lives, occurred in a Shiite market, the Washington Post.
The Associated Press reports that intelligence linking Sadr's militia to death squads has lead Maliki to turn on the radical cleric.
Maybe it would be more accurate to say that it left him with no other option but to turn. It's been relatively obvious who was the driving force behind death squads for some time. At least it seems obvious to the Sunni insurgents who respond in their carbomb fashion.
Nationalism
I read a few months back in the Los Angeles Times that Shiite leaders in southern Iraq touted their fight against the British in a ceremony when the Americans handed over control of security for a city to the native population. In Rory Stewart's book on the occupation of Iraq after Saddam's fall, he encounters the same pride in what happened in the 1920s. This should not be too surprising then.
Asia Times Online:
CNN: Attackers in Karbala, responsible for the deaths of five US service personnel, were able to pose as US military officials to get past Iraqi guards.
This level of sophistication in disguise is worrisome. But, what might be more worrisome is how many authentic (or authentic-looking) military items are on eBay. That link leads to BDU trousers.
Read all about it
The Christian Science Monitor reports that handbills were a useful tool for one armored brigade.
Sectarian strife
The substantial attack today, claiming scores of lives, occurred in a Shiite market, the Washington Post.
The Associated Press reports that intelligence linking Sadr's militia to death squads has lead Maliki to turn on the radical cleric.
Maybe it would be more accurate to say that it left him with no other option but to turn. It's been relatively obvious who was the driving force behind death squads for some time. At least it seems obvious to the Sunni insurgents who respond in their carbomb fashion.
Nationalism
I read a few months back in the Los Angeles Times that Shiite leaders in southern Iraq touted their fight against the British in a ceremony when the Americans handed over control of security for a city to the native population. In Rory Stewart's book on the occupation of Iraq after Saddam's fall, he encounters the same pride in what happened in the 1920s. This should not be too surprising then.
Asia Times Online:
"People here have always hated the US and British occupation of Iraq, and remembered their grandfathers who fought the British troops with the simplest weapons," said Jassim al-Assadi, a school principal from Kut. Assadi was referring to the Shi'ite resistance that eventually played a key role in expelling British forces from Iraq during the 1920s and 1930s.
Armed resistance against the occupation in the south was slow to begin with because religious clerics instructed their followers to give the occupation time to fulfill promises made by the US and British administrations, Assadi said. "But now they do not believe any cleric's promises anymore. They have started fighting, and that is that."
posted by Bravo 2-1 at 11:45 AM
1 Comments:
Ths isn't the first war where spies have been good at disguise. Hopefully they will dream up some additional ways to indentify as they have in the past.
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