More than a dozen rockets fired from donkey carts slammed into Iraq’s Oil Ministry and two hotels Friday — attacks dismissed by a U.S. general as “militarily insignificant” but which also exposed weaknesses in gathering intelligence on insurgents.
The brazen, coordinated strikes at some of Baghdad’s most heavily protected civilian sites defied a U.S. crackdown.
Two other donkeys — one pulling a rocket launcher and another rigged to a bomb — were found within hours, one 30 yards from the Italian Embassy. U.S. officials said the targets were the headquarters of a Kurdish political party and a law school.
A civilian contractor was seriously injured at the Palestine Hotel, where many foreign journalists and U.S. workers are staying. No other casualties were reported at the Palestine or at the Sheraton Hotel across the street, and police said no one was hurt at the ministry.
“They’re trying to break our will. They’re trying to seize the headlines … but they’re militarily insignificant,” Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. military deputy director for operations, said at a news conference.
But he conceded that the insurgents were playing off American weaknesses, specifically in terms of gathering intelligence that could have prevented the attacks.
Am I the only one who sees this as a sign of weakness of the enemy? Their only option is to have a few jackasses strap a rocket to a jackass and then attack soft targets? This is spun as a sign that we are losing? I don’t get it.
Meanwhile, Matt Yglesias recycles a few lies and in the process finds the real enemy in Iraq- James Lileks:
First we were assured that the Iraqi people would welcome us in every way and western war opponents were castigated for being insufficiently attentive to the needs of Iraqis. Now Iraqis face condemnation for being insufficiently supportive of our policies.
A.) No one stated the Iraqi people would welcome us in every way- this is more nonsense from the quagmire crowd. You can almost hear Yglesias itching to say ‘cakewalk.’
B.) No one is condemning Iraqis for being insufficiently supportive- Lileks was responding to a rather obnoxious, short-sighted, petulant, and assinine letter from Salam Pax:
To tell you the truth, I am glad that someone is doing the cleaning up, and thank you for getting rid of that scary guy with the hideous moustache that we had for president. But I have to say that the advertisements you were dropping from your B52s before the bombs fell promised a much more efficient and speedy service. We are a bit disappointed. So would you please, pretty please, with sugar on top, get your act together and stop telling people you have Iraq all figured out when you are giving us the trial-and-error approach?
Then again- that does sound like something from the DNC, so I understand why Matt is endorsing it. At any rate, has Matt apologized for this out and out lie yet?
*** Update ***
Baldilocks asks a question. The answer, Baldilocks, is because some people are idiots.
JC
Obviously, you’ve never heard of Algeria. Heck, it doesn’t sound like you’ve even heard of the legend of David and Goliath. Your consistent bleating of “weakness, weakness” only becomes sillier with every attack.
Read some books on guerrilla tactics.
John Cole
Umm. This is the first time I have ever ‘bleated’ about weakness.
I have read lots of books about guerilla tactics. I have also read the polls from Iraq, where all these attacks on innocents are doing is hardening the resolve of every day Iraqi citizens. I still think that if this is the best they can do, Iraq is well on the road to reconstruction and independence.
You could try not being a condescending ass and having a coherent argument when you comment.
The False God
I’d say the donkeys are braver than the “splodeydopes for Allah” based on current jihadi tactics.
Maybe they’ve realized that there’s not much of a job future in being a human bomb or an easy target, and recruitment has dropped. I could see why they’d need to employ pack animals to counter losses.
JC
Boy, you just don’t read.
Dean
JC:
Having read a fair bit on guerilla warfare, I’d venture that, from an insurgency perspective, AT BEST the jury is still out on the Iraqi resistance, and more likely, they are not doing well.
Mao, for example, notes that the guerilla must blend into the population. Outside the Sunni triangle (which is one-third of Iraq), do you think that the Shi’ites OR the Kurds support the anti-coalition insurgency?
The experience of many, if not most, guerilla movements, based on Asbrey, often require an external base area for resupply, refit, rest, as well as an external patron (e.g., the US in Afghanistan, China and the USSR in Vietnam). What is the external base area and external support?
Choosing the French example is problematic both because of the poor French experience in counterinsurgency, and as important, the lack of French resources (it is worth noting that the French withdrew much of their military from Algeria after a case of draftees being slaughtered, effectively reducing their available forces significantly).
Finally, it is also worth remembering that, while David defeated Goliath, Goliath first defeated quite a few Hams, Japthahs, Sauls, and the rest, else he didn’t have the reputation that he did. So, what is to say that the Iraqis are David and not Ham?
But I’m curious: What is the historical track record of GUERILLA movements actually winning the war WITHOUT resorting to conventional means?
JC
Dean, again I ask that you simply read this
Gregory Litchfield
Salam’s Stupid Screed – The sheer hyprocrisy of it all is truly staggering. I am derided as a chickenhawk, because I supported the Iraq war, despite the fact that my asthma prevents me from ever serving in any branch of the armed forces, or even the Coast Guard. My flat feet, scoliosis, poor hearing and rampant marijuana and alcohol use don’t help, either.
If we are to be intellectually consistent, than Salam has no right to be critical of current US actions in Iraq, since as soon as he was able he feld to London. Who the hell is he to be denigrating the efforts of the occupation forces? Hell, he doesn’t even know what’s going on over there, other than what he reads in The Guardian.
If I can’t support the war for not having fought in it, Salam can’t criticise the reconstruction for having fled the region. Fair is fair.
Of Donkeys and Terrorism – So now that poor, innocent donkeys are being abused by terrorists, will PETA throw their support behind the Bush Administration? I won’t be holding my breath.
Slartibartfast
Gee, do you think there’s a little uncertainty surrounding Iraq? Or do they just like the word?
Said as if it’s a new thing, too. I’ve never read anything wordier that could be boiled down to “we have no idea”.
Dean
JC:
Read the link (and I’ve heard Cordesman speak on the subject as well).
Your point? Where is the David in Cordesman’s writing that is going to defeat Goliath? Where is the parallel w/ Algeria?
As Slartibartfast noted, yeah, there’s uncertainty. Cordesman sees it. The Administration, believe it or not, sees it. Bremer sees it.
But you do not see it. You see David defeating Goliath and Algeria (i.e., us playing the French and losing). That’s not uncertainty—the exact opposite.
Hoooo-kay.
JC
Kind of puts perspective on the whole confidence exuding on the right, doesn’t it? Note that this report was prepared with unfettered access to Bremer and Kay as well as their staff.
But I’m glad the warbloggers know better than those on the ground.
Kimmitt
From an insurgency perspective, the Iraqi insurgency is a qualified success. It has definitely achieved one of its aims — delay, more or less indefinitely, the establishment of a democratic Iraqi state.
That said, yay for guys named Kimmitt!
Slartibartfast
Glad to see next summer is now in the indefinite future. I’m tired of totting up those extra birthdays.
Kimmitt
One show-election to select US friends (who do you think is going to be allowed to run/campaign?) does not a democratic country make. A Constitution, respect for the Rule of Law, and a combination of majority rule with minority rights makes such a country, and that has been more or less permanently shelved.
Slartibartfast
“…and that has been more or less permanently shelved.”
It has? When did that happen?
Robin Roberts
Beyond kimmitt’s imagination … it hasn’t. That was the point of President Bush’s speech in Whitehall.
Clearly, in Iraq, we have a donkey gap.
Kimmitt
We’ll see, of course.
Andrew Lazarus
ABC, 2/25
On Feb. 20, Rumsfeld thus:
Cheney got into the act too:
Knight-Ridder newspapers reported in July that not only was the Big Welcome the public story, it also, unfortunately, dominated internal planning:
I did omit the original cakewalk claim, because on re-reading I think it COULD be construed as applying only to the defeat of the regular Iraqi armed forces. Frankly, this was enough to show that, YES, you are missing something.
Slartibartfast
An estimated 5000 insurgents and Mr. Lazarus generalizes that to the entire population. I guess this sort of thing is only to be expected from folks who think the entire GOP is a racist cabal.
John Cole
It really is unbelievable- we were hailed as liberators, the majority of the population thinks things are getting better and are working with us, yet Salam Pax, while smoking Gauloise and conversing with the Eurotrash is not quite happy with the pace of reconstruction.
And before anyone calls me a hypocrite, I never linked to Salam, I always thought he was a snotty member of the lower levels of the Ba’ath party, and the only time I think I even mentioned him was in response to a David Warren column about him.
I think I have a pretty realistic outlook on IRaq. It is going to take a while, it will be tough, and there will be obstacles. Obstacles that in clude the insurgnets, the former Ba’ath party thugs, the Iranians, the hardened criminals released from jail just prior to the war, the intransigence of some on the international community (think France and Russia- still smarting from losing all of their business deals), and the Democratic party, who has yet to offer one solid proposal, other than mouting the words UN and naysaying every other development in the region for transparent domestic political gain.
Arash
This is spun as a sign that we are losing?
If somebody would spin this, the spin would be that this was progress, John.
Arash
Read the details on Salam’s Baathist background.
(And for the record, I’m with the lower levels of the Taliban.)
John Cole
I just knew it, Arash.
Andrew Lazarus
Slart, the CIA says 50,000 insurgents. Probably they’re measuring in different ways (e.g., armed vs. support). But even if it were only FIFTEEN insurgents, it seems to be enough to wreak havoc and kill people. I’m very skeptical of whether our plans for how to apprehend or neutralize them (and without getting more Iraqis to join their ranks) is adequate.
And there is absolutely no question that the situation on the ground is not what the Administration anticipated and is not what they publicized would happen.
Harry
What it reads like is that the terrorists in Iraq are suffering somewhat from an attrition of men, material, and tactics that actually work. It seems that in the last week they are attacking Iraqis nationals and foreign workers in a bid to turn the population against our occupation by strongarm extortion rather than attacking American forces outright. Operation Iron Hammer may be affecting both the material capabilities and the morale of the terrorists lessening their ability to mount effective operations against harder targets as well as coalition soldiers and military equipment. When terrorists start using donkeys and fruitstands instead of Toyota Landcruisers as bombs and weapons platforms you are no way in hell going to convince me that they are winning. And if you think a donkeybomb is a winning strategy then you deserve to be on the losing side.
Andrew Lazarus
Here’s an idea, Harry: maybe the message is “You thought it was enough to keep track of pickup trucks, but NO, you’re going to have to spend time and aggravation checking donkey carts too.”
I don’t know how many donkey carts are in use in Baghdad. But if they’re common, stopping and searching them stretches our manpower thinner.
It was obvious the Japanese switched to wooden airplanes because we had destroyed so many metal ones. I’m not so sure here.
M. Scott Eiland
“And if you think a donkeybomb is a winning strategy then you deserve to be on the losing side.’
Well, it does have one rather nasty side effect–we’ll have to hear the PETA dimwits whining about the loss of innocent donkeys in the attacks. One perk of being a terrorist is that it’s really hard to picket you.
Slartibartfast
Interesting, Andrew. Abizaid says 5000. The 50,000 number comes from a purportedly leaked CIA report. And, really, only reported in the British papers.
Admittedly, this could be an indication that we really have no idea. Still, I can’t find a single mention in U.S. papers (those of you whose Google kung-fu is better might be able to dig this out), and that is a little odd.
Kimmitt
“we’ll have to hear the PETA dimwits whining about the loss of innocent donkeys in the attacks. ”
I shit you not, things like that have happened before. I’m all for having some kind of sane animal cruelty laws, but PRIORITIES, PEOPLE.
Slartibartfast
Wonder if they protested the exploding penguins. I wouldn’t put it past them.