The War in Iraq is taking an interesting turn, in terms of purely military matters. The New York Times (U.S. Fights Highly Trained Militants in Iraq—By Edward Wong--Published: November 23, 2006) reports that some Iraqi Insurgent/Resistance groups are appearing on the battlefield with greatly improved battle training, tactics, discipline, and weaponry. In Diyala Province, east of Baghdad, (and near the porous Iranian border), “liberated” zones are now in insurgent control. With more freedom to organize and move about the province, the insurgents have set up military training camps where their fighters are training. Unsaid in the article is who is conducting the training; are they Baathist veterans of Saddam’s military, are they al-Qaida fighters with experience from the Afghan training camps, are they Iranian agents adding to the Coalition’s troubles?
The U.S. Army officers, who faced the newly improved enemy in battle near the town of Turki, were impressed by the quality of their foes. Also unsaid in the article is whether this portends to be a greater danger to Coalition forces, or a greater opportunity to hurt the enemy. The danger is obvious, with greater training comes greater lethality on the insurgent’s part. However, if the insurgents and the various militias are encouraged to engage in more set-piece battles, such as those fought in Falluja and Ramadi, the U.S. military may have a much greater opportunity to inflict damage on their enemy, taking advantage of their air superiority and heavier firepower.
These challenges are evident in the casualty figures for the Battle of Turki: a reported 72 insurgents died, while two U.S. Army officers perished. Some in the U.S. military have actually hoped for a turn toward conventional (as opposed to guerrilla) warfare in the war against the insurgents, but they should be wary of actually getting this wish; the French military hoped for the same turn of events in their war in Indochina in 1954. What they got was the set-piece battle they dreamed of in a little valley forever immortalized in its own special place in the long list of French defeats: Dien Bien Phu!
7:55:32 PM 
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