Bad guy weapons:
1) Mostly AK47's . The entire country is an arsenal. Works better in the
desert than the M16 and the .308 Russian round kills reliably. PKM belt fed
light machine guns are also common and effective. Luckily, the enemy mostly
shoots like shit. Undisciplined "spray and pray" type
fire. However, they are seeing more and more precision weapons, especially
sniper rifles. (Iran, again) Fun fact: Captured enemy have apparently
marveled at the marksmanship of our guys and how hard they fight. They are
apparently told in Jihad school that the Americans rely solely on technology,
and can be easily beaten in close quarters combat for their lack of toughness.
Let's just say they know better now.
2) The RPG: Probably the infantry weapon most feared by our
guys. Simple, reliable and as common as dogshit. The enemy responded to our
up-armored humvees by aiming at the windshields, often at point blank range.
Still killing a lot of our guys.
3) The IED: The biggest killer of all. Can be anything from old Soviet
anti-armor mines to jury rigged artillery shells. A lot found in Jordan's area
were in abandoned cars. The enemy would take 2 or 3 155mm artillery shells and
wire them together. Most were detonated by cell phone, and the explosions are
enormous. You're not safe in any vehicle, even an M1 tank. Driving is by far
the most dangerous thing our guys do over there. Lately, they are much more
sophisticated "shape charges" (Iranian) specifically designed to penetrate
armor. Fact: Most of the ready made IED's are supplied by Iran, who is also
providing terrorists (Hezbollah types) to train the insurgents in their use and
tactics. That's why the attacks have been so deadly lately. Their concealment
methods are ingenious, the latest being shape charges in Styrofoam containers
spray painted to look like the cinderblocks that litter all Iraqi roads. We
find about 40% before they detonate, and the bomb disposal guys are unsung
heroes of this war.
4) Mortars and rockets: Very prevalent. The soviet era 122mm rockets (with
an 18km range) are becoming more prevalent. One of Jordan's NCO's lost a leg
to one. These weapons cause a lot of damage "inside the wire". Jordan's base
was hit almost daily his entire time there by mortar and rocket fire, often at
night to disrupt sleep patterns and cause fatigue (It did). More of a
psychological weapon than anything else. The enemy mortar teams would jump out
of vehicles, fire a few rounds, and then haul ass in a matter of seconds.
5) Bad guy technology: Simple yet effective. Most communication is by cell
and satellite phones, and also by email on laptops. They use handheld GPS
units for navigation and "Google earth" for overhead views of our positions.
Their weapons are good, if not fancy, and prevalent. Their explosives and bomb
technology is TOP OF THE LINE. Night vision is rare. They are very careless
with their equipment and the captured GPS units and laptops are treasure troves
of Intel when captured.
Who are the bad guys?:
Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. They operate
mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly "foreigners",
non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all over the Muslim world (and Europe).
Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the knowledge and complicity of
the Syrian govt.) , and then travel down the "rat line" which is the trail of
towns along the Euphrates River that we've been hitting hard for the last few
months. Some are virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up as
suicide bombers or in "sacrifice squads". Most, however, are hard core
terrorists from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas etc.) These
are the guys running around murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off.
The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless
and the best fighters. (they have been fighting the Russians for years). In
the Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents are Iranian inspired (and
led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian Shiia have been very adept at infiltrating the
Iraqi local govt.'s, the police forces and the Army. The have had a massive
spy and agitator network there since the Iran-Iraq war in the early
80's. Most of the Saddam loyalists were killed, captured or gave up long ago.
Bad Guy Tactics:
When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kicked every
time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were very common
earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally sacrifice 8-10 man
teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and firing Ak's and RPG's
directly at our bases just to probe the defenses. They get mowed down like
grass every time. ( see the M2 and M240 above). Jordan's base was hit like
this often. When engaged, they have a tendency to flee to the same building,
probably for what they think will be a glorious last stand. Instead, we call
in air and that's the end of that more often than not. These hole-ups are
referred to as Alpha Whiskey Romeo's (Allah's Waiting Room). We have the laser
guided ground-air thing down to a science. The fast mover's, mostly Marine
F-18's, are taking an ever increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in
the open, the helicopter gunships and AC-130 Spectre gunships cut them to
ribbons with cannon and rocket fire, especially at night. Interestingly,
artillery is hardly used at all. Fun fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly
between 45-50 thousand. That is why we're seeing less and less infantry
attacks and more IED, suicide bomber shit. The new strategy is simple:
attrition.
The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civilian
non-combatants as cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civilian
casualties and therefore schools, hospitals and (especially) Mosques are
locations where they meet, stage for attacks, cache weapons and ammo and flee
to when engaged. They have absolutely no regard whatsoever for civilian
casualties. They will terrorize locals and murder without hesitation anyone
believed to be sympathetic to the Americans or the new Iraqi govt. Kidnapping
of family members (especially children) is common to influence people they are
trying to influence but cant reach, such as local govt. officials, clerics,
tribal leaders, etc.).
The first thing our guys are told is "don't get captured". They know that if
captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet. Zarqawi openly
offers bounties for anyone who brings him a live American
serviceman. This motivates the criminal element who otherwise don't give a
shit about the war. A lot of the beheading victims were actually kidnapped by
common criminals and sold to Zarqawi. As such, for our guys, every fight is to
the death. Surrender is not an option.
The Iraqi's are a mixed bag. Some fight well, others aren't worth a shit.
Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they are
getting better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawi's use of suicide bombers, en
masse, against the civilian population was a serious tactical mistake. Many
Iraqi's were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army and the police
forces went up, along with their motivation. It also led to an exponential
increase in good intel because the Iraqi's are sick of the insurgent attacks
against civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.
According to Jordan, morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe
they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and
dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally
view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted.
They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like "Are we
losing in Iraq" on TV and the print media. For the most part, they are
satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership. Bottom line though, and
they all say this, there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake
through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough
troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians
and the Syrians just cant stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally
(with, of course, permanent US bases there).
Anyway guys, that's it, hope you found it interesting, I sure did.