Terrorist ability diminishing
THE commander of Australian forces in the Middle East claims coalition troops are turning the tables on al-Qa’ida in Iraq, with the ability of insurgents to mount effective attacks steadily diminishing.
Brigadier Paul Symon said that while Iraq was going through an “awkward period” during the transition to a new government, the US-led coalition remained confident that the country would not descend into civil war.The Brigadier adds;
….the organisation led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was sustaining significant losses. It was now less agile and relying on much less seasoned fighters. “We are seeing an insurgency that is diminishing in effectiveness in its tactics and techniques. It’s trending that way. I think they have lost some of their better people,” he said. The figures on insurgents are tightly held, but military officials said Zarqawi forces had lost hundreds of fighters this year.That, to me represents a professional opinion of a man on the spot. The trouble is his opinion differs from the left-wing mantra of promoting a civil war so another opinion is sought for the article. Enter Hugh White, an academic.
But Hugh White, head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, said there was no evidence that the Iraq insurgency was in decline.I’ll take the opinion of an on-the-spot general over an academic from ANU anyday. I’m very, very sure that Hugh White is not in the intelligence brief loop and thus his opinion cannot be based on facts.
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My thoughts exactly. People reading the article will form their views in any number of ways, but White’s counted for very little in this context.
Both can be right. Al-Zarqawi’s mob probably are losing traction for the reason that Symon suggests. But there are other factors in play, not least being Iran. I’m not as certain that Hugh’s as out of the loop as you suggest, Kev; he does have a different perspective, perhaps because he has access to other material, perhaps because he doesn’t think we should be in there. As far as reporters go, however, Walters by and large isn’t too bad.