Another view of Iraq

Ralph Peters wrote this interesting column in the New York Post, in which he wrote that Iraqi insurgents themselves are saying they're having a hard time recruiting, a hard time operating, a hard time getting weapons, and a hard time getting money. Peters goes on to write:

Desperate, Zarqawi's butchers laid out a program to try to regain the initiative they'd lost. Here's what the terrorists hoped to do:

In their own words, "use the media for spreading an effective and creative image of the resistance." That is, exploit the prejudices of the Western media, the terrorists' last allies.

Infiltrate Iraq's army, which was pinning them to the mat (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em).

Unify the resistance - which was falling to pieces amid squabbles over tactics, over turf and even over who was the real enemy.

Most ambitious, the terrorists hoped to spark a war between the United States and Iran, to "create a second front" that would take pressure off them. To that end, they planned to implicate Iran in staged terrorist events and to provide disinformation about Tehran's having ties to terrorist groups targeted by the United States.

Just in case that didn't work, the terrorists also hoped to ignite civil wars between Sunni and Shia, Americans and Shia, Shia and Shia, Kurds and Shia - and even between different Sunni factions. A Vietnam-era U.S. officer was ridiculed for saying, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it," but al Qaeda is willing to destroy all of Iraq in order to save it for a fanatical vision.

The whole column's interesting reading.

A few things are worthy of note. Interpret as you will. Peters was an experienced United States intelligence officer. One military consultant I knew said Peters should have been tried on treason charges for one of his novels, "Red Army," because it gave away so much of the American strategy. And Peters has been criticized for his view of the media, which purportedly is that reporters are combatants who should take the side of their country.

Most importantly, the column is based off a single insurgent document. MeTheSheeple would be very interested to see more. In the meantime, he recommends reading the column.