Well trained insurgents begin to turn up in large numbers
Sunni Arab militant groups suspected of ties to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia have established training camps east of Baghdad that are turning out well-disciplined units willing to fight American forces in set-piece battles, American military commanders said Thursday.
Officers said that in this battle, unlike the vast majority of engagements in Diyala, insurgents stood and fought, even deploying a platoon-sized unit that showed remarkable discipline and that one captain said was in \ufffdperfect military formation.\ufffd Insurgents throughout Iraq usually avoid direct confrontation with the Americans, preferring to use hit-and-run tactics and melting away at the sight of American armored vehicles.
Just when things seem to have reached bottom, a major new problem turns up. And this one is major bad news. These new insurgents appear to have been trained to military levels of dicipline and tactics, unlike the caotic mob insurgents faced before.
The only big advantage the US has over these forces is the ability to call in air strikes en mass. That however is slow and tends to kill a lot of bysanders if done in residential areas.
Jay
