[Marxism] resistance: intelligent tactics and heroism

["acpollack2@xxxxxxxx" <acpollack2@xxxxxxxx>]

Yesterday in the Times the account below was at the bottom of an inside page. 
Note the description of "insurgents" who know that if they stood back far 
enough from a window they can both protect themselves and still have effective 
range for their own shoot.

In the same vein this weekend one of the British papers had a description of 
resistance fighters watching and critiquing videos of other fighters, and 
noting the merits and demerits of the tactics of each.

All this puts paid to the hollow claims of US officers today that the 
resistance is not putting up a fight and/or incompetent.

Finally, I would note that the mainstream media admits most fighters left 
Fallujah. One said there was a decision to leave half behind.

The half that stayed behind are the true heroes in this battle.
--------

November 9, 2004
THE WEAPONS
Machines of War Grope in the Dust and Shadows
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 8 - The Americans had tanks and bombs. The insurgents had 
the shadows.

Hours after American troops captured the peninsula just across the Euphrates 
from downtown Falluja early Monday morning, outgunned insurgents continuing 
shooting, and taking constant fire from the Americans' far more powerful 
weapons.

On the peninsula, the Americans had tanks, Bradleys, .50-caliber machine guns, 
long-range sniper rifles and a new type of Humvee-mounted Gatling gun that 
soldiers say can fire up to 2,000 7.62-millimeter rounds per minute. Overhead, 
Cobra helicopter gunships and jets swooped in to shoot missiles and drop bombs.

The insurgents' weapons were comparatively timid: mortars, Kalashnikov rifles 
with their firecracker-like pop, and rocket-propelled grenades with a 400-meter 
effective range.

The Americans were 500 meters to 600 meters away - close enough for the 
insurgents to strike, but only with a high trajectory, and luck.

But the insurgents had another ally: the dark crevices and shadows of the two- 
and three-story buildings along the eastern edge of the Euphrates that they 
used to cloak themselves from American shooters and tank crews.

Insurgent snipers hiding in the back of rooms facing the river still have 
"height and coverage from the building, where it's hard to see the muzzle 
flash," said Sgt. Maj. Lee Hatfield of the Marines. "Because he doesn't come up 
close to the window, he's got some standoff from the window, so it's really 
hard in a darkened room to see him."

Lt. Col. Steve Dinauer of the Marines, whose troops had seized control of the 
two Falluja bridges across the Euphrates around midnight, said it was often 
hard to target the insurgents, even with the advanced thermal-imaging 
technology his troops possess.

"You got a whole urban frontage, and they just stand back from the window maybe 
five feet in the shadows and it's very hard to pick them up," he said.

But an insurgent who reveals himself may have made his last mistake.

An insurgent allowed himself to be spotted by the crew manning the 
Humvee-mounted Gatling gun after his grenade-launcher kicked up enough dust to 
allow them to see his silhouette in the building. The Americans' high-speed gun 
fired. "It cut him apart," said a soldier who witnessed the exchange.

The insurgents across the river appeared to be shuttling from building to 
building, allowing them to dodge some of the heaviest doses of American fire. 
"I would estimate from the volume and different types of fire and the different 
points along here that we may have 10 guys" firing at them, Colonel Dinauer 
said.

By Monday morning, Colonel Dinauer's troops had secured the entire peninsula 
just south of downtown Falluja, where troops had set up a checkpoint to prevent 
people from leaving or from entering the city, he said.



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