U.S. Turns to Iraqi Insiders in Battle Against Insurgency
TIKRIT, Iraq — Rather than trying to defeat the insurgency in Iraq militarily, U.S. commanders now taking charge here say they are focused on developing better intelligence and using unorthodox tactics to chip away at militant cells with help from Iraqi security forces.
As part of that strategy, commanders and their Iraqi allies say they have had informal contacts with Sunni Muslims who either support the insurgency or are active participants. Some of these Sunnis want to take part in the country's fledgling political process, intelligence officers say.
The overall strategy reflects the Pentagon's emphasis on turning over security responsibilities to Iraqis. The commanders say intelligence developed by Iraqi security forces is disrupting some insurgent cells while also leading to roundups of low- and mid-level insurgents.
"We won't be the ones to defeat this insurgency. It'll be the Iraqis themselves," said Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto, who took over command late last month of four provinces north of Baghdad in the so-called Sunni Triangle. "This insurgency can go on low grade for a long time, and the Iraqis will eventually have to put it out."
After a brief dip following Jan. 30 elections, insurgent attacks have returned to preelection levels, intelligence officers say. Commanders concede that the core of the insurgency will fight indefinitely.
The insurgents are still able to "conduct spectacular attacks, suicide attacks that create mass casualties," Taluto said. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers, police and government officials have been killed or wounded.
"Nobody here is minimizing the insurgency," Taluto said from his spacious office at Saddam Hussein's former palace complex in Tikrit, the deposed leader's hometown. "We certainly respect it. These people are smart and committed. On the other hand, they're not 10 feet tall."
Commanders acknowledge that past U.S. intelligence efforts have been spotty, particularly in the early months of the insurgency in late 2003 and early 2004. They say top-level insurgent leaders are still able to direct a network of largely independent local cells whose attacks have crippled reconstruction efforts.
But they say several cells have been broken up by using Iraqi soldiers as undercover infiltrators. Cell members who are captured are told, falsely, that they were turned in by other cell members, intelligence officers said. They said the tactic had prompted some insurgents to provide the names of other cell members.
