'In The Same Old Way'

Those Iraqis busy engaging in the majority of attacks in Iraq - attacks upon the American army of occupation and it's green zone government allies, continue to make life difficult. The most effective way of doing this is as I wrote in "Attacking the Tail" back in February: "Attacks upon supply convoys which are incapable of defending themselves have now been going on for a long time, now however the incidence, already high, is increasing markedly. The use of such indefensible convoys is a direct result of Secetary Rumsfeld's "reform" of the US armed forces logistical wing. I won't insult my readers' intelligence by explaining the signifcance, or what it means for the "withdraw to bases" plan." There's a reason why professional soldiers have the following proverb, "Amateurs study strategy professionals study logistics." The reason is simple an unsupplied soldier is a dead or captured soldier. If you don't want to take my word for it go read what two militarily very experienced American commentators Joe Galloway, and Pat Lang have to say. Today there's this report from Xinhua* : "Gunmen attack truck convoy in northern Iraq, killing two drivers Unknown gunmen attacked a convoy of trucks near a northern Iraqi town on Sunday, setting ablaze two trucks and killing two Iraqi drivers, a local police source told Xinhua. The armed men opened fire at the convoy carrying supplies for U. S. troops on the main road near Ishaqi, a small town about 110 km north of Baghdad, said the source of nearby Samarra City. In March, the town witnessed the horrific images of 11 Iraqi civilians who were killed after being captured by U.S. soldiers in a raid. But the U.S. military denied the responsibility after a military investigation, saying that U.S. forces were following rules of engagement. " The convoy was carrying barbed wire by the way. You need rather a lot of barbed wire if you're a foreign soldier occupying a country illegally. You need it to help stop the enraged brown people who actually live there and are furious at what you've done their home, their family, and their neighbours, from making clear their displeasure by capturing or killing you. Attacks on convoys are escalating. They're escalating in intensity, scale, and sophistication, that's why the US is resorting more and more to air supply and people who actually know what they're talking about like Joe Galloway and Pat Lang have been sounding the alarm. Supplying by air is unsustainable and is a loser's strategy. You've lost leave. I'll finish with a quotation from a British military genius, the Duke of Wellington: "They came on in the same old way, and we sent them back in the same old way" I doubt if any of the fighters who've wrecked the American logistical effort in those parts of Iraq where having a good logistical tail is essential to survival have heard either version of Wellington's aphorism but I've no doubt whatsoever that they'd nod vigorously in agreement if you quoted it at them. Then they'd go back to attacking the tail "in the same old way." markfromireland