In northern Iraq, Sunni Arab terrorists have changed their tactics recently, moving about in the open much more frequently. This has made them vulnerable to attack by helicopter gunships. As a result, in the last two weeks of March, U.S. AH-64 helicopter gunships made 25 attacks on these armed groups, killing at least 25 and wounding many more. When attacked, the terrorists will scatter, aborting any operations they were in the midst of.
The alternative explanation could be that the terrorists are moving up the resistance ladder from terrorism to small combat units. But this would normally be done when the government security forces are paralyzed by the terrorism and stretched taut and demoralized. Clearly, no such thing has happened to allow the enemy to do this.
So, the enemy is doing it despite their relative weakness. This is a tremendous risk and they are doing it anyway. So what great goal are they seeking to achieve to justify the price they are paying? What objective could offer to them the possibility of reversing their losses and make the casualties they endure to reach that objective worth it? Are they working with the Iranians for another coordinated campaign? Or is it even a coordinated effort? Are these simply groups moving out for smaller separate missions?
Even if the enemy is seeking one big television moment to save themselves (and the obvious target is the Petraeus testimony next week), that does not mean they are correct in their judgment, mind you. They could truly believe some action will lead to victory when it is nothing of the sort. But plenty of innocents could die for their errors. And who knows, our opponents of the war could deliver them victory by portraying whatever failed enemy effort as an enemy victory.
On a more practical level, how many groups have escaped our detection and reached their positions for whatever they have in mind?
Until we can answer these questions, by all means kill them when we see them.
