Forces chief admits it's a guerrilla war in Iraq

WASHINGTON - United States troops are facing a classic guerrilla war in Iraq, spearheaded by Saddam Hussein loyalists, and American forces need to adapt their tactics to crush this increasingly organised resistance, the head of US Central Command said yesterday.

This contrasted with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's assessment on June 30 that it was not "anything like a guerrilla war or an organised resistance".

But Central Command chief General John Abizaid, who commands American forces in Iraq, said in a Pentagon briefing that guerrilla war was exactly what US troops were confronting.

Abizaid, who replaced the retiring General Tommy Franks at the helm of Central Command earlier this month, also said US troops should be prepared for year-long deployments in Iraq, a staple of the Vietnam War, but used only rarely since then.

"I think if you look at contemplating keeping the force structure stable for a while, until the security situation improves, that year-long employments or deployments are possible for certain units ... So we've done it before and we can do it again," Abizaid said.

He said US forces are battling remnants of Saddam's Ba'ath Party throughout Iraq, with various cells of six-to-eight resistance fighters receiving financial help from, probably, regional level leaders. There was "no evidence of central command".

The general also said there was "a lot of information that indicated that there were significant terrorist groups and activities", including from the group Ansar al-Islam and perhaps elements of al Qaeda. He said there were foreign fighters in "not significant numbers".

Mid-level officials of Saddam's government, including officials from the old intelligence and security agencies and the Special Republican Guard, "have organised at the regional level in cellular structure", he said.

They "are conducting what I would describe as a classical guerrilla-type campaign against us. It's low-intensity conflict in our doctrinal terms, but it's war however you describe it."

In a marked escalation in attacks, suspected insurgents tried to shoot down a US transport plane with a surface-to-air missile yesterday, killed a soldier in a US convoy and gunned down the pro-American mayor of a city in the restive "Sunni Triangle".

The violence marked the eve of a banned holiday when Saddam loyalists were expected to demonstrate their power.

The US military said one surface-to-air missile was fired on a C-130 transport as it landed at Baghdad International Airport.

Specialist Giovani Lorente said he could not say where the plane was arriving from or whether it was carrying passengers, cargo or both. Lorente said it was only the second known missile attack on a plane using the airport since Baghdad fell to American forces April 9.

In Hadithah, the car of the city's Mayor, Mohammed Nayil al-Jurayfi, was ambushed by unidentified attackers firing automatic rifles as he drove away from his office with one of his nine sons, police Captain Khudhier Mohammed said.

About 150,000 people live in Hadithah, 240km northwest of Baghdad on the road to Syria.

The policeman said the mayor was killed because he was seizing cars from people who had worked at the president's [Saddam's] office in Hadithah, one of several cities in the "Sunni Triangle", an area containing most of the active supporters of Saddam, whose Sunni Muslim minority ran the country.

A US spokesman said the American soldier was killed and three others injured late on Wednesday, in a rocket-propelled grenade attack west of Baghdad near the Abu Ghraib Prison.

An 8-year-old Iraqi child died when an assailant threw a grenade into a US military vehicle guarding a bank in west Baghdad.

The driver and four Iraqi bystanders were wounded, according to a US officer, said Major Kevin West of the 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery.

The Hadithah police captain said leaflets sent to some Government employees warned them not to go to work. They were signed by "Liberating Iraq's Army".

A day earlier, a member of the previously unheard of organisation went on Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television and promised retribution against any country that sent peacekeeping troops.

He read a letter directed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and said peacekeepers would be attacked even if they were sent under a UN mandate and were wearing the world body's traditional blue helmets.

The Arab satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera, meanwhile, said that Hadithah residents had accused the slain mayor of collaborating with coalition forces.

Hadithah shopowner Amir Jafar concurred: "This mayor is an unwanted person. He is from another city and he was co-operating with the Americans."

- AGENCIES

Herald Feature: Iraq