Change of tactics in Iraq is the need of the hour.
Date Written : Dec 22, 2004
Date Modified : Dec 22, 2004
An explosion tore through a crowded U.S. military mess hall at Forward Operating Base Marez, near the Mosul airport on Dec 22, 2004; killing at least 22 people and wounding about 60. Fifteen of the dead were U.S. soldiers, and most of the casualties were Americans who had just sat down to lunch.
Following things need to remembered :
1. In the attacks carried out in past few months, more Iraqis were killed than the US troops; but this time 15 US soldiers were killed in a single attack.
2. A Islamic terrorist organisation, Ansar al-Sunna has described it as "a suicide operation" whereas other sources say that it was a rocket attack. Ansar al-Sunna was also behind the killings of 12 Nepalese workers and claimed responsibility for other violence in the Mosul area.
3. This attack becomes significantly tragic and should set the alarm bells ringing. The major difference between the latest attack and the earlier incidents is that this was an attack on a U.S. base in Marez, rather than on troops in transit.
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Following things need to be investigated :
1. The Islamic terrorists are changing their tactics as time goes by. Over the past 20 months, the terrorists have learned a lot about how the U.S. military operates and where its vulnerabilities lie. Why was the US intelligence not able to track the activities of the terrorists ?
2. This attack was carried out in daylight against the largest facility on a military base when largest number of soldiers would be present for having their meals. We still do not know whether it was a blast inside the camp or a Rocket attack or both. In any case, the attack(s) indicate that it was well-planned and professionally executed.
3. The US miltary bases seem to be infiltrated by the Iraqis. It might be possible that the Iraqi Soldiers are acting as agents for the Islamic terrorists. Else such co-ordinated attacks are near to impossible.
It is foolish to think that the terrorists are desperate to stop the elections etc...Terrorists are there to stay in Iraq with the active support of other Islamic countries, Syria-via-Pakistan for Human resource and Saudi Arabia for the Financial support.
US needs to change the tactics. Instead of having bases in the whole of country, US needs to have one or two heavly guarded bases, without the support of Iraqi police. These bases should act like launching pads for any attacks and most of these should be air attacks, not the ground attacks.