I am enjoying my vacation in the Bay Area quite nicely thank you, and I’m taking these precious few computer moments to spawm another thread with an ambiguous and obvious answer.
I’ll start with the answer. “A little of all of them.”
The question is, who are the “Iraqi insurgents”?
They tend to get lumped into groups by both sides (mainly by the side intent on killing them and taking their land, but some lefties group them as well).
The righties claim that they are remnants of Saddam’s elite Republican guard. My theory on that is that they appreciate the word “Republican” and assume it means something good. My assessment is that the Iraqi army crumbled like an oragami duck the second an American boot set foot on it. They had no real loyalty, and have no real purpose in fighting for… well, whatever they would be fighting for (I dunno, the release of Saddam?) In my estimation, I think they seeped out and joined up with whichever militia suited their desires, religiously, ethnically, tribally, economically, whatever. Each person is different. So, there may indeed be ex-Iraqi army soldiers fighting in Iraq, but they are not united in any way whatsoever and may as well be considered part of the general populace (albeit ones slightly more trained in field munitions than the rest).
Ah, the militias. The second Saddam fell, the militias, as in Afghanistan, swept down like vultures upon Iraq, strong-arming cities, frequently waging tribal warfare. Some took land to hold and fight off hte Americans, some let the Americans pass by and work as more of a mafia than an army, behind US lines. I’ve read many accounts of towns being raided by these militias with thefts and assassinations of local leaders being the goals.
The foreign terrorist. The “professional” from some other Muslim country who by plot or will snuck into Iraq and are seeking to destabilize the “sovereign” government, and sometimes to lead a radical Muslim revolution. Their goal is to make the situation look as messy as possible, and they are primarily responsible for attacks on industrial and infrastructure components.
The Shi’a or Sunni muslims fighting for domination over Iraq once American leaves (approx 2056)
Then you have the “pissed off Iraqi”… the guy who wasn’t a big fan of Saddam, but got by, sees the opportunity opening up for Iraq, but doesn’t want an American-imposed government, especially one that is secular (he is, after all, probably Muslim). He isn’t a big fan of the other groups, but America has become his sworn enemy. He has seen family members die by direct or indirect forces of the invasion. He wants America gone and Iraq to take care of its own problems (though he lacks foresight in how a so divided Iraq could possibly achieve what it needs to - unless without a lot of UN aid and funding).
And several other groups with similar interests. The thing that binds them together is hatred of Americans in Iraq. They know they can not fight the Army or Marines, and certainly not the Air Force, so they resort to the only method that can work against such forces - insurgency and “terrorism”.
A critical error in the US policy is not distinguishing these groups properly, and not establishing control by allowing the various militias to enforce their own order.
Anyway, the Big Game is about to start. Fiat Lux, Stanford Sucks. We’ll crush 'em (and hopefully not leave behind a trail of disaster and misfortune like the US)
