Articles 10.02.2004

An article in the Washington Post (Free Registration Required) discusses Iraqi spies in the Anbar provence:

"There are other problems in Anbar province besides Abu Musab Zarqawi. Officials say it is likely that the Iraqi national guard, a force of about 40,000, has been infiltrated by spies for Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein loyalists.
Weeks ago, the police chief in Ramadi was fired for collaborating with insurgents. On Sunday, the U.S. command announced that a top national guard officer in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, was also accused of collaborating.
"This leads me to believe they have a tremendous operational security problem, because we're so dependent on local information sources and we have very little to verify the credibility of any of that," said Dan Gallington, a former aide to Mr. Rumsfeld and an analyst at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies."
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A 7.23.2004 article from the Christian Science Monitor provides an overview of the situation in Ramadi that the 2nd BCT found. Some quotes:

"The escalation of violence in this Sunni city about 70 miles west of Baghdad presents a difficult Catch-22 for US commanders here who are working to reduce the visibility of US troops, empower Iraq's new government, and get security forces to take charge."

"Balancing the political imperative of scaling back the US troop presence - and its lingering images of occupation - with the military campaign against insurgents and terrorists, is perhaps nowhere as critical as here in Anbar Province, the largest and possibly most restive part of Iraq's Sunni Triangle."

"Indeed, the Marines fighting here question not only the effectiveness, but the loyalties of Iraqi security forces. In this week's fighting, rarely were police or Iraqi National Guard forces visible on Ramadi streets. "They are very good at running and hiding," says Staff Sgt. Joseph Rappazzo, of Boston. Other Marines say they have been shot at by men wearing Iraqi police uniforms."