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US refocuses strategy in Iraq

May-10-2005 » Filed Under: Iraq News

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By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

A recent rise in suicide attacks that has left at least 300 people dead in the last 10 days, including eight US troops over the weekend, has US commanders rethinking their strategies in Iraq. The Washington Post reports that higher priority will be given to fighting "foreign troops and Iraqi jihadists."

Previously, US authorities have depicted the insurgency as being dominated largely by what the Pentagon has dubbed 'former regime elements' – a combination of onetime Baath Party loyalists and Iraqi military and security service officers intent on restoring Sunni rule. But since the Jan. 30 elections, this segment of the insurgency has appeared to pull back from the fight, at least for a while, reassessing strategies and exploring a possible political deal with the new government, senior US officers here say.

US officers in Iraq admit that the change may only be a temporary one - Sunnis may become more violent if they feel the new political process ignores them - but the rise in attacks to 70 a day over the past month is primarily being fueled by an influx of foreigners, the Post reports.

The BBC reported last Friday on how this new wave of attacks also tips the hand of the insurgency's new focus - targeting the ability of the new government to provide security.

The new US focus, as well as the weekend's heavy casualty toll, are some of the reasons the US launched a major assault in Iraq's western Anbar province, near the Syrian border, a site long believed to be a favorite point for foreign fighters to be smuggled into Iraq. More than 1,000 US troops, along with air support, are involved in the operation which may last several days.


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