IRAQI INSURGENTS DEADLY STRATEGY

This is not a surprise...

MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 26 - American troops have discovered 32 bodies here in the past two days, the latest sign that insurgents in the north are increasingly focusing their efforts on killing and terrorizing vulnerable Iraqis, especially those working with American forces. Seventeen bodies were found Friday, after 15 were discovered Thursday, according to a military spokesman here. In the past eight days at least 65 bodies have been found, and one American commander says more than 20 have been confirmed as members of the new Iraqi security forces. No identification has been made of the newest bodies or whether they were Iraqi soldiers or national guardsmen, said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Paul Hastings. But he called the new killings part of the insurgents' "campaign of fear, intimidation and murder, and doing whatever they can to disrupt operations here." Many of the bodies found Friday were strewn about a cemetery in western Mosul, said First Lt. Eric Joyce. Some had been shot in the head, and one was decapitated, he said. The bodies appeared to be of men between 25 and 35 years old, Lieutenant Joyce said. Five were shrouded with blankets; four others, all shot in the head, were face down. Most of the bodies were bloated, "so you know they'd been dead for a while," he said. "But a couple were brand-new. You could see the fresh blood."

In recent weeks, insurgents in Mosul have had little luck attacking American troops head on, as their rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and roadside bombs typically do little damage to the 19-ton Stryker light armored vehicles that the Americans have been using in the city.
Instead, the insurgents have settled on a gruesome alternative intended to destabilize and terrorize, focusing their efforts against the one thing Americans have counted on as the linchpin of an exit strategy from the country: the new Iraqi security forces. The insurgents are picking their fights carefully while taking refuge, commanders believe, in places like Old Mosul, an ancient district in the city center. Its narrow, twisting streets and alleyways make it a perfect place for insurgents to stage hit-and-run strikes and then blend in among the district's 500,000 residents, all packed into a single square mile. Insurgents are abducting Iraqi troops at taxi stands as they return from leave and seek transportation to bases in northern Iraq, the commanders say. And infiltration of the new security forces remains a major concern. Three Iraqi soldiers were recently detained for collaboration with insurgents; one was caught at an illegal checkpoint helping insurgents identify others in his unit. Many of the bodies found over the past week had been shot in the head, burned, mutilated, decapitated and, according to an American commander, labeled with notes that warn, "This is what happens to Iraqi National Guard soldiers." Other members of the security forces have had their identification cards pulled from their pockets and placed prominently on their bodies.

The insurgents "have learned that if they go head to head with us, they'll lose big time," said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the commander of a battalion that oversees much of western Mosul. "Instead they are going after the Iraqi security forces." In one battle on Nov. 11, he said, about 40 insurgents from a force of 60 or 70 were killed by American troops. By contrast, insurgent attacks on American Stryker convoys have been ineffective. Since last month, convoys from Colonel Kurilla's battalion have been hit with 20 rocket-propelled grenades and 9 powerful bombs - all "without loss of life, limb or eyesight," he said.

Read the whole thing.