The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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I would day that the claim that 300 soldiers die in Iraq every month is an exaggeration. The website concerned www.islamonline.net has alot of interesting stories, but its been common for these virtually unheard of groups claiming huge casualties that they have inflicted, normally without any verification, through this outlet. Some press reports have surfaced, however, that US central command have conceded that over 1,000 US troops have been wounded in combat since the invasion in March, but this includes those that are able to return to duty fairly quickly. Nevertheless, recent claims that the focus of resistance has shifted from attacks on US troops to softer targets such as UN and embassy buildings don't seem to hold up. Its just that the media outlets don't report them as much because of their focus on these recent other attacks which inflict more casualties at any one time, and involve civilians. 3 US soldiers have been killed in action since Monday, plus many more wounded in separate attacks. In fact since the deaths of uday and qusay hussein a month ago, at least 20 US soldiers have died in combat. The wire services often release short pieces of these attacks, but they normally don't see the light of day in newspapers if it results in soldiers wounded, not killed. To me this seems that the attacks on US troops is multifaceted, involving disparate groups who have different motives for their insurgency, and are using different methods. I think they can be broadly categorized in to four different groups 1)supporters of the Baathist regime still willing to fight on 2) newly formed, or rejuvenated Sunni Iraqi Islamist groups who disliked the former regime but also dislike being under occupation 3) nationalist sentiment among some Iraqis, not necesaarily pro-Baathist, and acts of revenge against deaths or humiliation or damage to property caused by US troops, and 4) Foreign Islamists who have entered Iraq to fight American troops, the same way that many Arabs flooded in to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight the Russians. As far as the latter group is concerned, the recent calls for alarm about "infiltration" into Iraq by Al Qaeda and/or its sympathisers is indeed ironic, given that it was the invasion of Iraq that has set this trajectory in motion. The elimination of Saddam Hussein's regime was supposed to have dealt a knockout blow to Al Qaeda -- because it was said that Saddam and Bin Laden were clearly linked -- and made the world safer from terrorism. In fact the opposite has happenned, and now we should all be terribly worried. Its a bit like deliberately knocking over a pot plant on the floor and then complaining about the mess it makes. Peter Kiernan _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk