INDCJournal: A Rare Perspective

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November 12, 2004

A Rare Perspective

Posted by Bill

As the new refugees recounted the events of recent days and weeks, a picture of the battle from the insurgents' side began to emerge. Witnesses described an insurgency fractured by distrust and rivalries between locals and foreigners, and visibly shaken by the thunderous U.S. assault.
The foreigners found slain Thursday in southern Fallujah were described as foot soldiers with Monotheism and Jihad, a guerrilla group headed by Jordanian Abu Musab Zarqawi that now calls itself al Qaeda in Iraq. In the plans developed by insurgent leaders for a coordinated defense of the city, Zarqawi's fighters were to man bunkers in two neighborhoods, according to witnesses. Others were to be defended by various Iraqi insurgent groups, including the First Army of Mohammad and Ansar al-Sunna Army.

But residents said strains between the local insurgents and the foreigners quickly turned into a deep schism under the intense pressure of the U.S.-led offensive. When a senior Zarqawi commander was found dead of a bullet to the head during the battle, debate ensued over whether he was killed from a distance by a U.S. sniper or at close range by an Iraqi insurgent, residents said.

Residents said everyone in the city, including the insurgents, was stunned by the firepower the Americans brought to the battle. Guerrillas counted 40 armored vehicles approaching their positions as night fell Monday.

The Western press describes our side's hardship with frequency and detail because they have excellent access, but can you imagine the typically undocumented terror of being on the other side of a coordinated ground-air offensive by the US Military?

Alternately, if an insurgent wets his pants in the desert and no one is around to snap a picture, does it make a puddle?

Posted by Bill at November 12, 2004 11:15 AM | TrackBack (4)

Comments

I attended the Army/Navy game a few years ago and, as part of the pre game march on, a flock of black hawks flew over the stadium. Thump, thump, thump, thump... Man, I would NEVER want them to come to my neighborhood...

Posted by: babs at November 12, 2004 11:37 AM

Excellent news, and one of the most impartial stories I've read. Gosh, could the US actually be beating these guys?!

For a humorous take from the insurgents' POV check out Protein Wisdom's Fallujah diary. Hilarious.

Posted by: PJ at November 12, 2004 11:37 AM

An overall bad day would be pissing one's pants in the desert, being offed by a member of the US military, and then finding out there are not 72 virgins waiting after all. Something of a jihadi hat trick...

Posted by: PDS at November 12, 2004 12:32 PM

I'm glad someone's treating that story with an even hand. Just surprised it's the WaPo (though one wonders how they have such good connections with the enemy).

This morning's headline in the Houston Chronicle blared: "INSURGENTS OPEN SECOND FRONT" and the story went on about how the coalition was having to pull troops out of Fallujah to send to Mosul because the situation was out of control there. I went "oh no!" and rushed online to get more news.

I found nada. Zip. Zilch. Not news. Some of the cordon was being moved, but the main story was that we were mopping up in Fallujah, squeezing the last holdouts. Which would naturally free up troops from the cordon anyway.

Posted by: ubu at November 12, 2004 01:44 PM

Sure, they have Blakchawks and some vintage Cobra's, but do they have the big speakers that play Wagner? Don't tell me they didn't appropriate the money for Wagner. Who's running this assault anyway?

Posted by: Dacotti at November 12, 2004 05:59 PM

I can't think of any modern urban battle that the defenders won. Some would say the Russians won Stalingrad, but there are 3 caveats: 1. the Russians had a lifeline across the Volga, and hence were never surrounded; 2. the NKVD enforced deadly discipline among the Russian troops; and 3. the Russian offensive that encircled the 6th Army effectively ended the German effort within the city.

The Jews in the Warsaw ghetto put up a longer fight than the Falluja insurgents, without comparable weaponry. As did the Polish Home Army a year later. But neither were facing the firepower of the Marines.

The Belmont Club has some good summaries of battle tactics (and technology) in Fallujah.

Posted by: MD at November 12, 2004 07:46 PM

As far as modern urban defense is concerned, the first (few?) battle(s) for Grozny in the first phase of the Chechen War were pretty damned bloody for the Russians. Apparently they learned though, to apply overwhelming firepower first, then move in to mop up - they call it 'fighting American style', I've heard.

Posted by: Noah D at November 12, 2004 07:50 PM

they call it 'fighting American style',

Yeah, except they wipe out 75% of the civilian population when they do it.

Posted by: Bill from INDC at November 12, 2004 07:59 PM