UZIEL Fighting System: Police & Military CQC/H2H FEBRUARY 2014 | Page 14

13
Assessment
This paper covered some of the IED TTPs of Iraqi insurgents and their ability to fight an asymmetrical war
against the US & CF. AQI in Iraq are adapting to the new IED countermeasures and technologies by shifting their
focus from Military targets to the ISF and civilian populations. The Sunni & Shia spilt which occurred during the
first Islamic “Fitnas” (sedition or civil war) was a precursor to what is happening again in modern day Iraq. 41
Neither group can agree on a “Caliph” (leader) the correct path Islam should navigate moving forward or the proper
interpretation of the Quran since the death of their prophet Mohammed in 632 AD. The ancient terrorists of this time
period the “Al Khwarij” who broke away from mainstream Islamic jurisprudence to form a right-wing extremist
sect, have been reborn again in Al Qaeda.
In May 2003 the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) passed into law, orders 1 & 2 dissolving the Iraqi
Military and prohibiting Baath party members (Sunni) from government office. Sunnis made up over 20% of the 27
million Iraqis and there was no conciliatory approach to find some common ground integrating a form of power
sharing policy between Sunnis and Shias. The CPA orders acted as a catalyst to disenfranchised Baathists who
almost overnight formed heavily armed resistant cells as they had prior knowledge of Military weapon caches, and
the necessary ordinance to plan a long war strategy against the US and CF.
These denominational (religious) and ethic differences between these two factions of Islam overshadow
any fear of the creation of a new pan –Islamic Middle East and are the heart of the escalating IED problems in Iraq.
Influential Muslim clerics on both sides have used the Quran as an accelerant i.e. Sunni Imam Yusuf al Qaradawi
use of the term "Shiitization" in his sermons referring to what he states as the Shias attempt to control the Middle
East. 42 To complicate the geo-political landscape even further in Iraq, the addition of foreign fighters, criminals,
warring tribal factions and Jihadist cults like AQ, make it difficult to know who is behind the increase in the use of
IEDs as there are many hidden machinations with all the actors involved.
The famed communist leader Mao Tse-Tung said that “The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a
fish swims in the sea” which provides insight into the success of the ongoing IED campaign in Iraq. 43 The solution
may ultimately not be found in new technology or counter-measures but in isolating the terrorists from the rest of the
Muslim community (Ummah). South Vietnam President (1955–1963) Ngo Dinh Diem conceptualized that “One
must get all the little fishes (terrorists) out of the water (populace) and keep them out; then they die. 44” A recent
example of this philosophy being put into practice occurred in 2006 in Anbar Province (Iraq) when indigenous
Sunni tribesman began seeking out and killing AQ members for attempting to control their long held ancestral
territories. The US DOD capitalized on the momentum of this new Islamic movement’s victories over AQ and by
2009 had over 100,000 of these tribesmen actively working for them. 45
The lack of security and general instability due to IEDs specifically suicide bombers is impacting Iraq’s oil
production, infrastructure development, and ability to export natural resources abroad. The British Medical Journal
released a study in 2011 providing a quantitative analysis of the threat of IEDs in Iraq and their ramifications. The
report states that since 2003 over 30,644 Iraqi civilians have been injured another 12,284 killed by suicide attacks
alone. 46 The withdrawal of US forces in 2011 has not helped this situation with the cities of Fallujah and Tel Afar
once controlled by CF, now once again under the command of AQ groups.

41

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