All’s Fair in War
Arab News Editorial 1 April 2003
The Americans and British are apparently aggrieved that Iraqis are not fighting according to traditional rules of engagement. They are furious that groups like the Saddam Fedayeen have been firing from hospitals and schools, have been using civilians as shields and have adopted the tactic of pretending to surrender and waving white flags and then firing on their foes as they advance. But these are traditional tactics — they are the traditional tactics of a guerrilla war. What can the Iraqis do other than fight a guerrilla campaign? If they send out their tanks against the Americans and British, they will be obliterated — as happened last week when Iraqi tanks tried to break out of Basra and head for the Al Faw Peninsula.
In a war like this — a war which for ordinary Iraqis is one of national survival — all methods are fair. If guerrilla tactics are the only serious option available to them, it is folly to imagine that they are not going to use them. If American and British strategists genuinely imagined that they would play the war according to Westpoint and Sandhurst rules, it is another miscalculation to add to the list.
There is, however, more to the unfolding guerrilla campaign than military tactics. There is a political strategy as well; Saddam Hussein and his generals have evidently been reading their military history books. The use of civilians as shields, the pretense at surrender, are ploys that the Vietnamese used to great effect in their war with the US.
The Iraqi military wants the Americans to lose their nerve and start firing on Iraqi civilians, thinking they are soldiers in disguise, and on Iraqi troops who are genuinely surrendering. Caught on camera, the consequences would be devastating. It would strengthen the struggle against the invaders and blur the line between civilian and military resistance: Iraqi solders would think twice about surrendering and be more likely to continue fighting while civilian resolve to resist the invaders would likewise be stiffened; and back in the US and the UK, images of civilians and surrendering troops being shot would massively increase public demands for an end to the war.
The Iraqis know that they have one great military advantage which they will exploit to the extreme: their opponents’ need to avoid civilian casualties. It spells a protracted urban guerrilla conflict, something quite new in the annals of warfare.
But just because Saddam Hussein has opted to use tactics gleaned from the Vietnam war does not mean that this is going to be another Vietnam. The rush to predict as much in the past few days, with the US bogged down for years in an unwinnable war is a folly too far — and the international media is just as much to blame as anyone else. It is sheer emotion and sensationalism, and neither provide a worthwhile basis for conjecture. It is far too early to say where this war is going. It is not even two weeks old yet. In any event, the Americans too have learned lessons from Vietnam and they are not going to fall into Saddam Hussein’s traps quite so easily.
There is no point conjecturing where this war is or is not going, no point making sensational assessments as to its outcome. We do not need to say anything more than the present visible truth — that this is a rotten war that the people of Iraq do not want. They have made it abundantly clear do not want to be liberated by the Americans and British. Not that that is going to make any difference in Washington or London. The wishes of the Iraqi appear to be the last thing on Bush’s and Blair’s agenda.>>>> |
