The Iraqi resistance are the groups fighting against the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the U.S.-installed interim government of Iraq. The insurgent groups see themselves as repelling foreign occupiers so that the people of Iraq can settle their own affairs. This point is disputed by the interim government of Iraq under a plan approved by the United Nations, which asserts that the best way for a people to be free of foreign interference and to manage their own affairs is by holding elections as a Western-style liberal democracy.

The resistance advocates violent and non-violent actions against the multinational force in Iraq, which these parties regard as an occupation force. While the few statements that these parties have made allege that the foreign forces that ousted Saddam Hussein are not liberators, but are more interested in the country of Iraq for economic reasons or—literally or symbolically—to hold Iraqis under anachronistic colonial subjugation, they appear to have shown little regard for the lives of Iraqi civilian collaborators and are attempting to make conditions difficult for elections. A primary goal of some of the insurgent groups was to prevent the January 2005 national assembly elections from taking place, which they failed to accomplish.

Some elements in resistance movement were just as much opposed to the U.S.-led invasion as to the occupation and the period of the interim government of Iyad Allawi. Also, many regard Iraqi citizens who support the interim government as "collaborators with the enemy". Elements of the insurgency, along with the occupation forces, appear to have shown little regard in their attacks for innocent civilian bystanders, and groups such as that of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have deliberately attempted to stir up ethnic strife by bombing Christian Churches and Shi'a wedding ceremonies.

The collective term "Iraqi resistance" usually denotes the various guerrillas and insurgents battling and opposed to the presence of the U.S.-led coalition forces and Iraqi security forces during the occupation that followed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March, 2003. As of the limited transfer of power to the Iraq interim government, forces controlled by the interim government have also become targets of the militants. Not all those opposed to the occupation and interim government use violent means; there are various Iraqi groups and political parties advocating peaceful, non-violent resistance.

Although the Bush administration claimed that the transition to Iraqi rule on June 28, 2004 would be characterized by falling human and economic costs, the period since the handover has been marked by the highest rates of U.S. military casualties and non-Iraqi contractor deaths since the war began.

Composition

Iraqi insurgents celebrate while riding through the streets of Falluja, May 1, 2004.

The Iraqi resistance is composed of over a dozen major resistance organizations and countless smaller cells. Due to its clandestine nature, the exact composition of the Iraqi resistance is difficult to determine. It is often subdivided into several main ideological strands, some of which are believed to overlap:

• Ba'athists, the armed supporters of Saddam Hussein;
• Nationalists, mostly Sunni Muslims who fight for Iraqi independence;
• Sunni Islamists, the indigenous armed followers of the Salafi movement;
• Foreign Islamist fighters, largely driven by the similar Sunni Wahabi doctrine, as well as the remnants of Ansar al-Islam; although it includes a broad range of religious/ethnic and political currents united by their opposition to the occupation;
• Militant followers of Shi'a Islamist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr; and
• Non-violent groups that resist the foreign occupation through peaceful means.

Ba'athists

The Ba'athists are former Ba'ath Party officials, the Fedayeen Saddam, and some former agents of the Iraqi intelligence elements and security services, such as the Mukhabarat and the Special Security Organization. Their goal, at least before the capture of Saddam Hussein, was the restoration of the former Ba'athist regime to power. The pre-war organization of the Ba'ath Party and its militias as a cellular structure aided the continued pro-Saddam resistance after the fall of Baghdad, and Iraqi intelligence operatives may have developed a plan for guerrilla war following the toppling of Saddam Hussein from power. Following Saddam's capture, the rhetoric of the Ba'athist insurgents gradually shifted to become either nationalist or Islamist, with the goal of restoring the Ba'ath Party to power as it once was seemingly out of reach. Many former Ba'athists have adopted an Islamist façade in order to attract more credibility within the country, and perhaps support from outside Iraq.

Nationalists

The nationalists, largely hailing from the Sunni Arab regions, are drawn from former members of the Iraqi military as well as some ordinary Iraqis. Their reasons for opposing the occupation vary between a rejection of the foreign presence as a matter of principle to the failure of the occupation force to keep its promises to restore public services and to quickly restore complete sovereignty. Many Iraqis who have had relatives killed by coalition soldiers may also be involved in the nationalist resistance, as part of the Iraqi code of tribal revenge. Beyond the expulsion of coalition troops from Iraq, there is no coherent political goal being pursued by the Iraqi guerrillas fighting under the banner of nationalism—only references to self-rule and even elections. Most likely, the majority of the low-level members of the indigenous Sunni resistance (such as foot soldiers) fall under this broad category.

Iraqi Shi'ites arrive in Najaf in a show of support for Moqtada al-Sadr in August 2004

Moqtada al-Sadr

Supporters of the young Shi'a Islamist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are largely young, unemployed and often impoverished men from the Shi'a urban areas and slums in Baghdad and the southern Shi'a cities. The armed wing of the al-Sadr movement and al-Sadr's personal militia, known as Jaish-i-Mahdi or the Mahdi Army, is thought to have been funded and armed by Iran. The Mahdi Army area of operation stretches from Basra in the south to the Sadr City section of Baghdad in central Iraq (some scattered Shi'a militia activity has also been reported in Baquba and Kirkuk, where Shi'a minorities exist).

Moqtada al-Sadr is suspected by the coalition to have ordered the assassination of the moderate Muslim Imam Abdul Majid al-Khoei, who returned from his exile in Britain and was stabbed to death in Najaf on April 12, 2003 by a group wielding knives and bayonets. Some members of the group claimed to have received their orders directly from al-Sadr. On March 29, 2004, the Coalition Provisional Authority shut down al-Sadr's daily newspaper, al-Hawza, claiming it was an incitement to violence, and on April 5, 2004, the coalition issued a warrant for al-Sadr's arrest in connection with al-Khoei's assassination. These acts, along with the arrest of one of Sadr's top aides and other motions to suppress the movement, resulted in thousands of people turning out to protest. The ensuing riots soon escalated into organized armed attacks by the Mahdi Army that initially led to the deaths of one Salvadoran and several American soldiers, as well as scores of insurgents and civilians.

Supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr are driven by a variety of beliefs and grievances which combine both the nationalist and ultra-conservative religious tendencies of the movement. They believe that the members of the coalition are foreign occupiers and oppressors, that they have failed to live up to their promises, and that Islamic law must eventually be established in Iraq. Al-Sadr's movement also opposes any breakup of Iraq according to ethnic, religious, or other lines.

The Mahdi Army is believed to number between 3,000 and 10,000 guerrillas.

Sunni Islamists

The Sunni Islamists are composed of Iraqis belonging to the Salafi branch of Sunni Islam, which advocates a return to the pure Islam of the time of the Prophet Mohammed and opposes any foreign non-Muslim influence. The beliefs of Salafi Islam are roughly similar to the Wahabi sect of nearby Saudi Arabia (of which Osama bin Laden is a member), one difference being that Salafis in Iraq do not usually condone intolerance towards the Shi'a. Hard-line clerics and remaining underground cells of the Muslim Brotherhood in Iraq have helped provide support for the indigenous militant Islamist movement. Emerging as the most public face of this faction of the Iraqi insurgency, and the most influential of the hard-line Salafi clerics, is the founder of the ultra-conservative Association of Islamic Scholars, Sheikh Hareth al-Dhari.

Foreign Fighters

The term "foreign fighters" has been used by the Iraqi resistance to refer to the U.S. and U.K. occupation force of over 150,000 soldiers supplemented by 20,000 or more "civilian contractors".

Some of the insurgents are technically foreigners, although they are, like the majority of Iraqis, Arabs and see themselves as defending the Arab (or Islamic) nation, and not the rather artificial construct which is Iraq.

The term is primarily used in the Western media to refer to these insurgents, who are mostly non-Iraqi Arabs and Muslims from neighbouring countries, who have entered Iraq, primarily through the porous desert borders of Syria and Saudi Arabia, to assist the Iraqi resistance in repelling the U.S. occupation. Some elements of the Western media have painted these fighters as anti-democratic Wahabi fundamentalists who see Iraq as the new "field of jihad" in the battle against U.S. forces. It is generally believed that most are freelance fighters, but a few members of "al-Qaeda" and the related group Ansar al-Islam, members of whom are suspected of infiltrating into the Sunni areas of Iraq through the mountainous northeastern border with Iran, may be involved. The U.S. and its allies point to Jordanian-born suspected "al-Qaeda" operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the key player in this group. Al-Zarqawi is believed to be the head of an insurgent group called Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad ("Unity and Holy Struggle"), which according to U.S. estimates numbers in the low hundreds.

The extent of al-Zarqawi's influence is a source of controversy. The coalition military describes him as the single most dangerous and capable insurgent operative working against the U.S.-led coalition and its Iraqi allies, responsible for a large number of major terrorist-style attacks. There are signs that an increasing rift is developing between supporters of al-Zarqawi, including both foreign guerrillas and some Iraqis who have adopted a hard-line Wahabi philosophy, and the nationalists and more moderate religious elements of the insurgency. The main source of the divide is over the suicide bombings that have inflicted heavy Iraqi civilian casualties, along with disagreements about whether to cooperate with the Shi'a and their resistance.

Non-violent groups

Apart from the armed resistance, there are important non-violent groups that resist the foreign occupation through other means. The National Foundation Congress set up by Sheikh Jawad al-Khalisi includes a broad range of religious, ethnic, and political currents united by their opposition to the occupation. Although it does not reject armed resistance, which it regards as any nation's right, it favors non-violent politics and criticizes the formation of militias. It opposes institutions designed to implement American plans, such as the Iyad Allawi government and the U.S.-organized national conference designed as the antecedent to a parliament. [1] (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0716-12.htm)

Although the CPA enforced a 1987 law banning unions in public enterprises, trade unions such as the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and Iraq's Union of the Unemployed have also mounted effective anti-occupation opposition. [2] (http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2004/0407upsurge.html). Trades unions have, however, themselves been subject to attacks from the resistance. Hadi Saleh of the IFTU was assassinated in circumstances that pointed to a Ba'athist resistance group on the 3rd of January 2005. No trades unions support the armed resistance. [3] (http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=fb8395c4d2b0853d7f8fe2c2017f8f16)

Some observers, such as political scientist Wamidh Nadhmi, believe that the major division in Iraq is not between religious/ethnic groups nor between the general population and violent groups, but between those who collaborate with the foreign occupation and those who resist it.

Resistance Tactics

For most attacks, the Iraqi guerrillas operate in small teams of 5–10 men in order to maintain mobility and escape detection. Since April, 2004, attacks involving larger groups of insurgents have become more common, although large units also appeared in a few instances beforehand, such as a battle near the Syrian border town of Rawa on June 13, 2003 and a large ambush of a U.S. convoy in the town of Samarra on November 30, 2003.

Assaults involving IEDs, RPGs, mortars, and car bombs all at once have increasingly appeared. Heavier and more sophisticated weapons that could deal more damage to U.S forces backed by armor and air power have not appeared in the insurgent arsenal, both because they are difficult to move around without detection and would compromise the mobility of the guerilla bands.

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)

Many Iraqi guerrilla attacks against coalition targets have taken the form of attacks on convoys and patrols using improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. These explosive devices, made from former Iraqi military armaments and/or home-made materials, are concealed or camouflaged along main roads and detonated either by remote control or by wire when a convoy or patrol passes. The devices come in a wide variety of forms, but usually take the form of 155 mm artillery shells, rigged with plastic explosives, and attached to a detonator that is triggered by a cell phone signal or through a garage-door opener.

IEDs are often hidden behind roadside rails, on telephone poles, buried in the ground or in piles of garbage, disguised as rocks or bricks, and even placed inside dead animals. This has emerged as the most lethal method the insurgents have developed to attack coalition forces.

Ambushes

In addition, Iraqi guerrillas frequently launched ambushes of U.S. convoys and patrols, along with those of Iraqi security forces, using AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Soft-skinned humvees are most commonly targeted. The congested and constricted terrain of the urban areas, and in the rural areas, palm groves and other crops, offer cover and concealment for insurgents launching ambushes. These attacks are usually broken off before support can be called in, in traditional guerrilla fashion. There have been isolated cases of larger ambushes, such as an attack on a coalition convoys in Samarra on November 30, 2003 that involved 100 fighters and a massive ambush of a coalition convoy in Sadr City on April 4, 2004 by Mahdi Army militiamen numbering over 1,000 men.

Mortar and rocket strikes

Another common form of attack involves hit-and-run mortar strikes on coalition bases, or on specific buildings in urban areas associated with the Iraqi government or coalition forces. Insurgents fire a few mortar rounds or rockets and quickly escape before their position can be identified and effective counter-fire directed. Insurgents use urban areas heavily populated by civilians as firing positions to discourage counter-fire, and in the countryside, palm groves and orchards are used for concealment.

This method is very inaccurate and rarely hits the intended target, since the guerrillas don't have time to aim properly, but casualties are still periodically inflicted by incoming mortar rounds and rockets (reportedly, due to the volume of fire). Improvised multiple-rocket launchers have also been used to target buildings in urban areas.

Attacks on helicopters

Since the beginning of November, 2003, helicopters have also been increasingly targeted. The insurgents, often concealed in palm groves, lie in wait for the helicopters and then, usually, attack the helicopter from the rear. The weapons used include rocket-propelled grenades and heat-seeking shoulder fired missiles such as the SA-7, SA-14, and in one case the SA-16. Countermeasures taken by helicopter pilots, such as flying very low at a high speed, have considerably reduced the number of helicopters shot down by reducing the accuracy of the heat-seeking missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.

An Iraqi policeman guards a blazing oil pipeline after a sabotage attack in southern Iraq on July 3, 2004.

Sabotage

Insurgent saboteurs have also repeatedly assaulted the Iraqi oil industry. Guerrillas, using either rocket-propelled grenades or explosives, regularly destroy portions of oil pipeline in northern Iraq, and had expanded to southern Iraq by April, 2004. This sabotage has set back reconstruction efforts by Iraq and the multinational coalition by reducing oil revenues. Coalition officials contend the sabotage is intended to set back reconstruction efforts and to push back progress toward democracy in Iraqi society.

In the early months of the occupation, oil pipelines repeatedly came under attack. The northern oil pipeline to Turkey was destroyed immediately following the U.S. announcement of the intent to ship oil out via that route, and on June 23, 2004 a major pipe junction leading to Syria and Lebanon was destroyed. Together these attacks crippled much of the ability to transport northern Iraqi oil. In the south, an attack on June 22, 2004 destroyed the main oil pipeline leading from southern oil fields to the Baghdad oil refineries. In addition, widespread looting, which contractors believe to be systematic and intended as sabotage, has crippled the attempt to bring production in the supergiant Rumaila oil field back up to speed. By April 2004, after the establishment of Iraqi oil pipeline police, production in the north and south oil fields had returned back to pre-war levels. The overall production was still 600,000 barrels (95,000 m³) per day below the pre-war level, and 2.8 million barrel (450,000 m³) per day below U.S. plans for 2004. A series of attacks in early June, 2004 again crippled production to near zero.

There have also been allegations of attacks on water pipelines and the electrical grid by the Iraqi insurgents, although there is controversy as to whether the incidents in question did indeed represent intended sabotage. Among the reasons the resistance gives for the sabotage is to prevent an American seizure of Iraqi oil, which some opponents of the occupation believe was one of the main reasons for the invasion.

Suicide bombers

Since August, 2003, as coalition forces gradually strengthened their defences, suicide car bombs have been increasingly used as weapons by guerrilla forces. The car bombs, known in the military as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, have emerged as one of their most effective weapons, along with the roadside improvised explosive devices. They have a number of benefits for the resistance: they deliver a large amount of firepower and inflict large amounts of casualties at little cost.

Relatives mourn over the bodies of victims of a massive suicide car bomb in Baquba, north of Baghdad, which left a scene of carnage in its wake, mostly among civilians.

Non-military and civilian targets

There have also been several attacks on non-military and civilian targets, especially since August, 2003. These include the murder of Iraqis cooperating with the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Governing Council, and suicide bombings targeting the U.N., the Jordanian Embassy, Shi'a mosques and civilians, the International Red Cross, the Iraqi police, Kurdish political parties, the president of the Iraqi Governing Council, hotels, Christian churches, and a restaurant. Militants target private contractors and mercenaries working for the coalition, as well as other non-coalition support military personnel. The number of these attacks on "soft targets" has steadily increased. The origin of these devastating bombings remains a mystery. The main suspects are foreign fighters, former Iraqi intelligence operatives, or perhaps a combination of the two.

Coalition officials and some analysts suspect that the aim of these attacks is to sow chaos and sectarian discord. Coalition officials point to an intercepted letter suspected to be from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in which he makes the case for attacking Shi'a in order to provoke an anti-Sunni backlash and thereby galvanize the Sunni population in support of the insurgents, as evidence. While hardcore Wahabi mujahideen among the resistance may indeed desire a sectarian war, other insurgents charge that the coalition is attempting to instill a fear of civil war as part of a divide and conquer strategy.

Assassinations and kidnappings

Assassination of local and government officials, translators for coalition forces, employees at coalition bases, informants, and other (so-called) collaborators has been a regular occurrence. Assassinations have taken place in a variety of ways, from close-range small arms fire and drive-by shootings to suicide car-bombers ramming convoys.

Kidnapping, and in some cases, beheadings, have emerged as another insurgent tactic since April. Foreign civilians have borne the brunt of the kidnappings, although U.S military personnel have also been targeted. After kidnapping the victim, the insurgents typically make some sort of demand of the government of the hostage's nation and give a time limit for the demand to be carried out, often 72 hours. Beheading is often threatened if the government fails to heed the wishes of the hostage takers. Several individuals, including an American civilian (Nicholas Berg) and a South Korean (Kim Sun-il), among others, have been beheaded. In many cases, tapes of the beheadings are distributed for propaganda purposes.

The goal of the kidnappings appears mainly to be to terrify foreign civilians into immobilization and to attract media attention and possibly inspire recruits. Most kidnappings have been conducted by radical Sunni groups, but a Shiite group, possibly indirectly linked to Jaish-i-Mahdi, kidnapped an American journalist in August of 2004. Aides of Moqtada al-Sadr successfully lobbied for the individual's release. The Mahdi Army, as well as the nationalist and more moderate religious elements of the Sunni resistance, have rejected kidnapping as a legitimate tactic.

Attacks on the police

Insurgent tactic that has been increasingly used since April of 2004 include assaults and raids on police stations and compounds of Iraqi security forces, whom insurgents view as collaborators, involving platoon-sized elements or larger, oftentimes up to 150 men.

Raids and larger attacks

Assaults combining the following weapons and tactics, involving IED's, RPG's, mortars, and car bombs all at once, have increasingly appeared. Such raids and larger attacks have been advanced by Sunni insurgents in cities such as Fallujah, Ramadi, and Baquba and by Shiite Mahdi Army militiamen in Baghdad, Najaf, Kufa, al-Kut, Nasiriyah, and other central and southern cities. These attacks are usually coordinated and are meant to kill soft targets, to throw the Iraqi security forces into disarray, to conduct psychological warfare, and to draw out the coalition occupation forces. Guerrillas have also conducted large ambushes, including a coordinated ambush on U.S convoys in Sadr City by the Mahdi Army in April of 2004 that involved nearly 1,000 militiamen. However, these ambushes usually fail to result in heavy casualties for US troops, since most of the insurgent's weapons (such as most notably AK-47s and RPG-7s) cannot dent US tanks or supply vehicles.

Analysis and polls

A great deal of attention has been focused on how much support the guerrillas have among the Iraqi population and on winning hearts and minds. It appears as though the Iraqi resistance retains a degree of popular support in the Sunni Triangle, especially in cities like Fallujah. The tribal nature of the area and its concepts of pride and revenge, the prestige many received from the former regime, and civilian casualties resulting from intense coalition counterinsurgency operations have resulted in the opposition of many Sunni Arabs to the occupation.

Polls indicate that the greatest support for the insurgency is in al-Anbar province, a vast area extending from the Syrian border to the western outskirts of Baghdad. This is for a number of reasons; many residents received employment and opportunities from the former regime, the area has a history of strong tribalism and suspicion of outsiders, it is religiously conservative, and it has seen civilian casualties from coalition counterinsurgency operations.

Outside the Sunni Triangle and in the Shiite and Kurdish areas, violence is largely eschewed. Many, however, especially in the Shiite community, although supportive of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, are very unhappy with the occupation. Farther north in the Kurdish areas, there is a great deal of pro-American sentiment and an almost unanimous distaste for anti-coalition violence. The situation is more complicated in the Shiite regions. There has grown a sizeable support for Moqtada al-Sadr (a radical cleric who has advocated violent resistance) from about 1/3 of the Shiite community (mainly young and unemployed men in urban areas), and that support has grown dramatically, once numbering little more than 2%. Sadr's support varies region by region; while likely drawing little more than 10% support in Najaf, a stronghold of the clerical establishment (which ironically has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting), his support among the Shiites of Baghdad likely stands at 50%. However, support for violent resistance is notably less enthusiastic in the Shiite than the Sunni community who, like the Kurds, saw persecution under the Ba'ath regime and from the Sunnis. Shiites therefore have been more hesitant, along with having a moderate clerical establishment under Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani that has advocated caution.

Spontaneous peaceful protests have appeared in Shiite areas against the occupation. The Shiite intellectuals and the upper classes, as well as the inhabitants of rural regions in the south and followers of more moderate clerics such as Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, tend to cooperate with the coalition and the Iraqi interim government and participate in peaceful protest instead of violence. Many Shiites and Kurds suffered heavy persecution under the rule of Saddam Hussein's regime, which may cause a reluctance to use violence against Coalition forces. This is in contrast to the more radical Moqtada al-Sadr, who draws his support from the lower classes, the uneducated, and the Shiite urban population.

A series of polls have been conducted to ascertain the position of the Iraqi public further on the insurgency and the Coalition occupation. A poll in late 2003 showed that about one-third of all Sunni Arabs are staunch supporters of the guerrillas and consider armed attacks on occupying forces acceptable. In al-Anbar province, which includes the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, solid support for the Iraqi resistance stood at 70%. Only about 10% of the Shiite Arab population supported violent resistance. Support was very minimal for attacks on coalition forces among the Kurds. Curiously, the poll (which was supposed to cover an even distribution of the Iraqi population) showed more people stating that they are Sunnis (44%) than Shiites (33%), leading to speculation that the poll's sample was skewed. [4] (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/03/30/2003108502). The poll was also conducted before the spring 2004 occupation crackdown on the insurgency in Fallujah and the fighting in the Shiite heartland which was widely condemned by Iraqis, including normally pro-US members of the governing council, and turned more people against the occupation.

In another instance, in late January and early February 2004, a joint statement was distributed in leaflet form by a dozen resistance organizations vowing to take control of Iraqi cities after occupation forces withdraw, and portraying the U.S's planned withdrawal as a defeat. Iraqi civilians' reaction to the statement were reported to vary widely, from being "hailed as the manifesto for a legitimate resistance movement" to being dismissed "as mere bravado."

U.S./Middle East historian Juan Cole assesses the recent outcome of the Najaf standoff of August 2004 as follows: The Americans (becoming more unpopular) and the Allawi government (viewed more as the indecisive neo-imperialist's puppet) are losers. Sistani has gained nationalist credentials as a national hero saving Najaf. Muqtada has neither lost nor gained. His southern cities slums movement is intact, even with a weakened paramilitary. [5] (http://www.juancole.com/)

Scope and size of the insurgency

The most intense Sunni insurgent activity takes place in Baghdad and a triangle stretching west from the capital to the town of Ramadi and north to Tikrit in an area known as the Sunni Triangle. Guerrilla activity also takes place around al-Qaim in western Iraq and around the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk to the north, as well as some other areas of the country. Although estimates of the total number of Iraqi guerrillas vary, and the number itself likely fluctuates, the latest assessment put the number at 20,000, including both the Sunni and Shiite insurgencies. In November of 2003 the Coalition military and the U.S. CIA put the total number of core fighters at 5,000, along with a network of 20,000 to 50,000 active supporters. This included only the Sunni insurgents, since the Mahdi Army uprising had not yet occurred. The Iraqi police and insurgents have certain factors in common: they include a large number of veterans of the elite former military and security services, they are traditionally religiously conservative, and they have histories of strong tribalism. At various points, the U.S has provided estimates on the number of fighters in specific regions (although these numbers likely fluctuate).

In Fallujah, a major safe-haven and base area for the guerrillas and considered the center of the Sunni insurgency, it was estimated in April of 2004 that 2,000 guerrillas were present. There were reportedly over 2,000 in Samarra. In Baquba, another Sunni city north of Baghdad considered a major flashpoint, a June 2004 estimate put the number of insurgents at 1,000. In December of 2003, the Coalition military reported that it believed there were 1,000 insurgents in Baghdad (this number has likely grown larger, especially including the Shiite insurgency) and 2,000 in Samarra, another Sunni guerrilla center about 25 miles south of Tikrit.

Guerrilla activity also takes place in a number of other areas. One is the city of Ramadi, which has seen some of the heaviest and most skilled resistance and is under guerrilla control, with the exception of about half a dozen small forts operated by the U.S. Marines. Another is the region around al-Qaim, a Sunni city near the Syrian border believed to be a foreign fighter infiltration route. Insurgents are also contesting control of the ethnically diverse northern city of Mosul, and both Sunni and Shiite insurgents have been known to operate in Kirkuk, another northern city with religious and ethnic tensions. The rural belt of land along the Tigris river stretching north of Baghdad to Tikrit has also seen concentrated Sunni guerrilla activity.

Rate of attacks and Coalition casualties

Main article: Invasion and occupation of Iraq casualties

The total number of guerrilla attacks on coalition forces from June 2003 to March 2004 generally remained steady at between 12 and 20 attacks per day, with the exception of a surge of attacks in November 2003 during which as many as 50 attacks per day were reported on some days. The average number of attacks spiked to 70 a day during April, before stabilizing to 35–50 a day after the beginning of May, where it has remained since. As of September 8, 2004, 1,129 Coalition soldiers have been killed since the war in Iraq began, 1002 of them American. From the beginning of the war to August 14, 2004, 6,497 U.S coalition soldiers were wounded in action, with many more injured in non-hostile incidents such as vehicle accidents.

History of the Insurgency

Main article: History of Iraqi insurgency

Beginning

Supporters of Iraqi ex-President Saddam Hussein march in the streets of the northern city of Mosul on July 4, 2004 in protest of the Iraqi Special Tribunal.

In May of 2003, after the war to topple Saddam Hussein had officially ended and the Iraqi conventional forces had been defeated, the Coalition noticed a gradually increasing flurry of attacks on U.S troops in various regions of the so-called “Sunni Triangle,” especially in Baghdad and in the regions around Fallujah and Tikrit. These consisted of small groups of suspected guerrillas firing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at Coalition patrols and convoys in attacks that were often poorly planned and demonstrated poor marksmanship and training. In many cases the insurgents were killed in the return fire. The attacks were blamed on remnants of the Ba’ath Party and the Fedayeen Saddam militia, and it now seems likely that these were the forces driving the budding insurgency at that time.

On December 13, 2003, Saddam Hussein was arrested, removing the leader of the Ba'athists, the Fedayeen Saddam, and others agents. On June 30, 2004, Saddam Hussein, along with 11 senior Ba'athist officials, were handed over legally to the interim Iraqi government to stand trial for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other offences. The first legal hearing in Saddam's case was held before the Iraqi Special Tribunal on July 1, 2004. Broadcast later on Arabic and Western television networks, it was his first appearance in footage aired around the world since his capture by Coalition forces the previous December.

Early 2004

The period from the end of November 2003 to the beginning of March 2004 marked a relative lull. It is believed that although some real damage was done to the underground insurgency, especially to the Saddam Hussein loyalists that had not yet given up the fight, this was mainly a period of reorganization during which new Coalition tactics were studied and a renewed offensive planned.

A burst of tracer rounds emanate from U.S. Marine positions during fighting near Fallujah.

In the spring of 2004, some Iraqi security forces refused to fight against the insurgency and, in some cases, joined them in their uprising against the occupation. Though this period saw fewer guerrilla attacks, it was fraught with terrorist bombings taken to an entirely new scale. Attacks on Iraqi security forces increased both in brazenness, number, and lethality. Although the guerrilla attacks were less intense, the terrorist offensive, possibly connected to the followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, only increased. Hundreds of Iraqi civilians and police were killed over this period in a series of massive bombings. The bombings indicated that as the relevance of Saddam Hussein and his followers was diminishing, radical Islamists, both foreign and Iraqi, were stepping in to fill the vacuum.

The Coalition military had failed to develop significant and reliable human intelligence capability, while the insurgents continued to undermine efforts to do so by exploiting Coalition missteps for propaganda and through intimidation. A Sunni insurgency, with nationalist and Islamist motivations, was becoming clearer. Shiite dissatisfaction with the occupation, especially among the urban poor, had been gradually increasing for some of the same reasons it had been among the Sunnis: the perception that the coalition had failed to deliver on its promises and a nationalist dissatisfaction with foreign occupation. Over three months, over 1500 Mahdi Army militiamen, dozens of coalition soldiers, and hundreds of civilians were reportedly killed in the conflict. The Coalition gradually took back the southern cities. A truce was reached, temporarily ending the fighting.

Najaf hostilities

The insurgency did not go away. In August 2004, fighting in the south broke out again. The U.S. Marines, having taken control of the area around Najaf from the U.S. Army, began to adopt a more aggressive posture with the Mahdi Army and began patrolling zones previously considered off-limits. Soon, the Mahdi Army declared that the truce had been broken and militiamen launched an assault on a police station. U.S forces responded, and in the first week of August, a prolonged conflict broke out in Najaf (one of the holiest cities in Shi'ite Islam) over control of the Imam Ali shrine, often thought of as the holiest Shi'ite shrine in Iraq. Although much of the coalition fighting was done by US forces, it was anticipated that only Iraqi forces would enter the shrine. Negotiations with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a leading Shi'ite cleric in Iraq and leader of the Mahdi Army defending the shrine, did not resolve the standoff.

British troops in Basra also moved against al-Sadr followers, arresting four on var curLink = ""; function pv(e, num) { var span = document.getElementById("pv" +num); if (curLink != "") { curLink.style.display = "none"; } curLink = span; if (!document.all) { span.style.left = e.pageX; span.style.top = e.pageY+30; } else { //span.style.pixelLeft = e.offsetX+190; //span.style.pixelTop = e.offsetY+110; op = e.srcElement.offsetParent; span.style.pixelLeft = e.clientX+document.body.scrollLeft; span.style.pixelTop = e.clientY+document.body.scrollTop+30; } span.style.display="block"; } function unpv(num) { var span = document.getElementById("pv" +num); span.style.display = "none"; }