Insurgents `relieved’ to be captured by Iraqi police

NousDefionsDoc · 03-14-2005, 23:01

http://www4.army.mil/news/article.php?story=7002

March 14, 2005

SAMARRA, Iraq (Army News Service, March 14, 2005) – Iraqi police commandos seized illicit weapons and captured several insurgents over the weekend, including a Saudi who denounced the insurgency and reportedly said he was “relieved” to be captured.

The apprehensions began March 11 when the Police Commando’s 1st Battalion set up a series of flash checkpoints west of Samarra. An approaching vehicle saw the checkpoint, turned and attempted to escape, according to multi-national officials. The commandos pursued them and the vehicle crashed and flipped after the commandos shot their tires.

Captured in the vehicle were three suspects -- a Saudi, a Syrian, and an Iraqi -- all who had rifles and grenades with them in the vehicle. Officials state the Syrian provided a partial confession for his involvement in a number of attacks, including destruction of the oil pipeline that runs to the west of Samarra.

The Saudi cooperated with officials and confessed involvement in one attempted attack on multi-national forces.

Officials say that the Saudi eagerly gave detailed accounts of how he was recruited by the insurgency, his motives to join the insurgency, how he traveled to Iraq and how he joined the insurgency. In addition the Saudi, a former college student, provided information on his training, locations of training sites, tactics he was taught and attacks he was instructed to conduct.

The insurgent’s training, according to the Saudi, consisted of shooting 45 rounds with an AK-47 and familiarization with an rocket propelled grenade launcher, a weapon he did not fire because his trainers said it was “too expensive” to fire.

The Saudi said he and his group planned to attack a U.S. dismounted patrol several weeks ago, but a U.S. sniper shot one of the insurgents, killing him, and the insurgents cancelled the attack. Additionally, the Saudi told officials he joined the terrorists in Iraq primarily to target the U.S. military, but he quickly became disillusioned with the insurgents after only several weeks.

Part of the Saudi’s disappointment with the insurgents, officials said, was that the insurgents did not pray regularly and “were only interested in money.” The insurgents, the Saudi said, were preoccupied with hijacking vehicles and the value of vehicles.

The Saudi admitted to officials that he “had made a huge mistake” by joining the insurgency and that he had a very different view of American Soldiers after watching them operate in Iraq. He had seen U.S. Soldiers giving candy to children and on one occasion, a U.S. Soldier waved to him.

The captured insurgent went on to say that he didn’t believe he would be a martyr if he died in Iraq, repeating several times to interviewers that insurgents were just involved for profit. When officials asked the Saudi why he didn’t leave the insurgency, he said he felt like a captive and feared for his life. He was relieved, he added, to be captured by the commandos.

That same day, the 3rd Police Commando Battalion captured 10 suspected insurgents based on intelligence obtained from detainees already in custody, and on March 12, the 1st Police Commando Battalion conducted a raid in a small village outside Balad based on a tip received by the commandos from a villager. The tip was accurate as the commandos netted five insurgents.

The 3rd Battalion also discovered a sizeable cache of weapons in Samarra containing several new RPG launchers with night sights, ammunition, 50 mortar rounds, 12 grenades and two improvised explosive devices. Officials said the cache was under the floor of a house. Officials were led to the house after another tip informed the commandos of the cache.

On March 13, the 3rd Battalion continued to find weapons caches, this time, one located in a Samarra cemetery. The commandos recovered an RPG launcher, a 60mm mortar with 12 rounds, a machine gun with several hundred rounds, and various artillery rounds and detonation cord.

After the bulk of the operations ended, Gen. Adnan Thabit, the Ministry of Interior special adviser to the commandos, chaired a meeting attended by community leaders in the Samarra area. The mayor, temporary police chief, senior religious leader and tribal sheiks discussed the operations. Community leaders support the commando presence, officials say.

Adnan reported that citizens are steadily providing information about insurgents. Three separate IEDs were found and destroyed as a result of tips to Adnan’s office. The commandos are also receiving reports at their checkpoints: the 1st Battalion’s executive officer was handed a note at a checkpoint telling him where a known terrorist was sleeping.

Officials said that city improvements will soon begin in Samarra, including sanitation services, restoring electricity, and a major effort to repair roads and water lines.

(Editor’s Note: Information provided by the Multinational Security Assistance Command – Iraq.)

NousDefionsDoc · 03-14-2005, 23:03

Sluggos,
Assuming the information in this article is correct, what is interesting about it to you?

QPs, please don't help them until after lunch tomorrow.

Non-Sluggos feel free to chime. At ease Jimbo!

Smokin Joe · 03-15-2005, 02:39

Don't know if I qualify but I'm awake and work is slow so...

Quote:

The apprehensions began March 11 when the Police Commando’s 1st Battalion set up a series of flash checkpoints west of Samarra.

Dynamic or non-static check points.

Quote:

Captured in the vehicle were three suspects -- a Saudi, a Syrian, and an Iraqi -- all who had rifles and grenades with them in the vehicle.

Moving while armed, this would suggest they were going to or from an RP. OR They were not concerned with getting stopped i.e. they 'felt' relatively safe that they wouldn't get stopped or caught in the area they were in.

Quote:

The insurgent’s training, according to the Saudi, consisted of shooting 45 rounds with an AK-47 and familiarization with an rocket propelled grenade launcher, a weapon he did not fire because his trainers said it was “too expensive” to fire.

His training cell is running out of funds and or the ability to acquire arms.

Quote:

The Saudi said he and his group planned to attack a U.S. dismounted patrol several weeks ago, but a U.S. sniper shot one of the insurgents, killing him, and the insurgents cancelled the attack.

Thank God for U.S. Snipers on overwatch.

Quote:

Part of the Saudi’s disappointment with the insurgents, officials said, was that the insurgents did not pray regularly and “were only interested in money.” The insurgents, the Saudi said, were preoccupied with hijacking vehicles and the value of vehicles

Imagine that there not in it for the religion???

Quote:

The Saudi admitted to officials that he “had made a huge mistake” by joining the insurgency and that he had a very different view of American Soldiers after watching them operate in Iraq. He had seen U.S. Soldiers giving candy to children and on one occasion, a U.S. Soldier waved to him.

Hearts and minds campaign is working.

Quote:

The captured insurgent went on to say that he didn’t believe he would be a martyr if he died in Iraq, repeating several times to interviewers that insurgents were just involved for profit. When officials asked the Saudi why he didn’t leave the insurgency, he said he felt like a captive and feared for his life. He was relieved, he added, to be captured by the commandos.

Sounds like a U.S. street gang Blood in - Blood out. I think they are having some motivational issues.

Overall I would say:

On the front end there recuriting is still good, however through the Insurgent Pipeline they are losing assests and funding, they are providing quick training and in my (very limited) experience this equates to ineffective training.

I think this insurgent was recruited under false pretenses (shocking I know). Or he had the illusion that he would join the resistance and help kill the Infidel. However once he saw how things really were he was educated enough to recongize the good the U.S. is doing there....The U.S. service Men and Women over there are doing one hell of a job winning hearts and minds. They maybe in hostile territory but they are still going the extra mile to wave at pedestrians and hand out candy to kids.

This insurgent was not smart enough to get away from his crew. Why is that? Do they have sentries posted to keep the insurgents in check??? It almost sounds like the Russians in Stalingard posting machine guns behind the infantry to make sure the infantry didn't retreat.

Things look to be improving in Samara. The locals are rolling on the insurgents, and the go to guys are acting on the info quickly. Before the insurgents can re-act to the U.S. presence or action.

I would venture to say that the Forces in this area are operating in a fluid OPTEMPO and that is producing some good results.

Just my unprofessional opinion.

NousDefionsDoc · 03-15-2005, 06:48

Good Joe. I disagree with a couple of your conclusions, but overall, very good.

Smokin Joe · 03-15-2005, 06:58

Thanks Doc

After more people get a chance to chime in I will be very curious to know what you and other QP's think of this article.

NousDefionsDoc · 03-15-2005, 07:38

OODA

What?

Nothing

**Kyobanim** · 03-15-2005, 07:46

Quote:

Part of the Saudi’s disappointment with the insurgents, officials said, was that the insurgents did not pray regularly and “were only interested in money.” The insurgents, the Saudi said, were preoccupied with hijacking vehicles and the value of vehicles

This one the most. To me it says that A) The insurgents (al qaida) are running out of money and are trying to suppliment the loss of funds, B) The insurgents are not al qaida but are acting the roll in an attempt to keep the coalition off balance, C) I had another point that was really good about the money but I just got interrupted. Maybe it will come back to me.

jatx · 03-15-2005, 08:09

Question, NDD. Who is the target audience for this story? Is the Army News Service distributing this as a pre-canned feature piece to Western news outlets only, or is it also being distributed to regional outlets?

Joe made some good points about the specific facts in the article. However, my strongest impression was the tone. The tone was not what I would expect if the purpose of the story is to boost coalition morale and public support at home. It looks to me like it was crafted to undermine the insurgents' replenishment cycle for men and material by using the prisoner's words to point out the inconsistency between the insurgents' words and actions, as well as the diminished opportunity for marginal impact of any individual new recruit.

It would be interesting to know if any of this makes it into the native language press, but I'm not holding my breath.

NousDefionsDoc · 03-15-2005, 19:31

Yeah, yeah. The INTEL man, the INTEL. We're not discussing why the article was written, we're talking about how we can use the info. Dig?

**The Reaper** · 03-15-2005, 19:44

Intel.

Exploitation.

PSYOP.

Propaganda.

Hearts and minds.

TR

lksteve · 03-15-2005, 20:08

to follow up on TRs observations, does any media outlet in the region have this information? have they used the story...? does the Iraqi media have this information, are they putting it out? if this story can catch on outside coalition channels, if someone can put an Iraqi or Arab face to it, we have something...if not, being objective here, looking at the source website, it looks like our propaganda...

not that our propaganda is bad, mind you...i used to write some of it...

**Kyobanim** · 03-15-2005, 20:09

Quote:

Adnan reported that citizens are steadily providing information about insurgents. Three separate IEDs were found and destroyed as a result of tips to Adnan’s office. The commandos are also receiving reports at their checkpoints: the 1st Battalion’s executive officer was handed a note at a checkpoint telling him where a known terrorist was sleeping.

The local population is getting tired of the terrorists activities and/or they are gaining confidence in the governments ability to protect them from retaliation from the insurgents. They are starting to come around. The intel situation will probably improve exponetially once the planned repairs and upgrades to the city infrastructure begin. That could be the deciding factor. If the repairs take place but the insurgents keep wrecking or disrupting them then the locals might loose faith in the governments ability to make it happen. Then again, if the insurgents do cause problems with the repairs it might make the locals even more supportive of the governments efforts. Either way, the end is near for the insurgency in this area.

Bellerophon · 03-15-2005, 20:10

1. Officials say that the Saudi eagerly gave detailed accounts of how he was recruited by the insurgency, his motives to join the insurgency, how he traveled to Iraq and how he joined the insurgency. In addition the Saudi, a former college student, provided information on his training, locations of training sites, tactics he was taught and attacks he was instructed to conduct.

Eagerly, right? So we know that there is less time being spent on indoctrination or that there is a smaller pool of applicants.

2. Additionally, the Saudi told officials he joined the terrorists in Iraq primarily to target the U.S. military, but he quickly became disillusioned with the insurgents after only several weeks.

Wait for it, because -> the insurgents did not pray regularly and “were only interested in money.” The insurgents, the Saudi said, were preoccupied with hijacking vehicles and the value of vehicles.

As opposed to why he joined the insurgency, to “target the U.S. Military”

3. The Saudi admitted to officials that he “had made a huge mistake” by joining the insurgency and that he had a very different view of American Soldiers after watching them operate in Iraq. He had seen U.S. Soldiers giving candy to children and on one occasion, a U.S. Soldier waved to him.

Well, I guess now that we know that he made a huge mistake, we should hand him a beer and introduce him to our sisters. I doubt that this has anything to do with hearts and minds. If he had proper indoctrination he would think that waving was the American sign of oppression and that the candy was a tool of the infidel used to corrupt children from following the true path of Allah. Or he is lying to save his ass.

4. The captured insurgent went on to say that he didn’t believe he would be a martyr if he died in Iraq, repeating several times to interviewers that insurgents were just involved for profit.

The huge mistake was that those, whom recruited him, recruited a holy warrior, not a whole warrior.

He would not, “be a martyr if he died in Iraq (stealing cars)”.

-Interesting-

Tell me if you have heard this one: A Syrian, an Iraqi and a Saudi are arrested on suspicion of insurgency. The Iraqi says nothing; his disdain for the oppressors of his native land and people needs no explanation. The Syrian explains that it is in his country’s and his faith’s best interests that the economic prosperity of the region not be allowed to fall into the hands of an oppressive colonial government and that he conducts operations to make the occupation “unprofitable” for the U.S. The Saudi says “I came here to kill Americans and I cannot believe that these people had different agendas.

Bruce (volunteering for chew toy duty since 03/05)

ghostinashell · 03-15-2005, 20:29

Insurgents are being recruited under false premises and do not completely understand the role of the U.S. service men or women. Their training at this point is too quick and will soon be rendered ineffective. The insurgency is running out of money or the ability to aquire arms. The Insurgency is not standing for religion but using relegion as a platform for their propaganda. However, not all Insurgents are falsely claiming religion as a motive and do believe they are being faithful. When they see that their leaders are not the same they regret their decisions, if the Saudi individual can be used as a model and is not just saying what he believes his interrogators would like to hear. I believe when Insurgents meet U.S. patrols in combat they know they are outclassed. The strongest point I believe this article is trying to make is that the Iraqi people are beginning to realize and acknowledge the new Iraqi authority. People seem to be willing to work with the Iraqi commandos as opposed to hindering them. The people are willing to give the Commandos the Insurgents which says a lot about the integrity of the Iraqi people. They don’t want this insurgency interrupting their lives anymore. They are supporting their new government and its forces.

My .02 for what it’s worth.

Ghost

**Pete** · 03-15-2005, 20:45

Good take with a slightly different twist.

Insha'allah. It was God's will that he be caught.

Pete