Many insurgent groups have become more tactically sophisticated and more lethal, and around 2,000 attacks are launched each month. Training facilities are dotted across Iraq; videos obtained by TIME show classes in infantry techniques and handling weapons.

12.4.05 By MICHAEL WARE, BAGHDAD. Time Magazine [Excerpts]

"This insurgency has got roots, it's got money, and it's got motivation," says a U.S. intelligence official, in an assessment echoed by military officers and insurgent leaders alike. "And the life span of this insurgency could be years."

"Will we ever see Iraqi security forces capable of crushing this insurgency? Probably not. No," says a high-ranking military-intelligence officer in Iraq.

U.S. commanders believe that as many as 20,000 fighters are in the field on any given day, a figure that has remained constant for almost two years.

Many insurgent groups have become more tactically sophisticated and more lethal, and around 2,000 attacks are launched each month.

Training facilities are dotted across Iraq; videos obtained by TIME show classes in infantry techniques and handling weapons.

Abu Baqr, a former emir, or commander, of a nationalist militia in Baghdad who was recently released from a U.S. military prison and is rebuilding his team, tells TIME that "in the beginning, even I didn't know how to use most of the weapons, but I learned. We give out weapons from the old army, and the money that funds us comes from wealthy individuals."

Part of the insurgents' resilience comes from their fluidity. "The U.S. is not fighting an army," says Abu Mohammed, a strategist for a prominent Islamic nationalist group. "We hit and move. We're more like groups of gangs that can't be pinned down and can't be stamped out."

Many voted in the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum and have plans to participate in the Dec. 15 election.

Few see a contradiction between voting and continuing to battle U.S. forces. "I voted in the referendum, and I'm still fighting, and everybody in my organization did the same," says Abu Marwan, the Army of Mohammed commander. "This is two-track war--bullets and the ballot. They are not mutually exclusive."

And even if the U.S. can lure some guerrillas to the negotiating table, it still faces a seemingly inescapable quandary: so long as U.S. troops are involved in combat in Iraq, there's every reason to believe the insurgency will be able to recruit sufficient numbers of motivated new fighters to do battle with them.

Democratic Senator Jack Reed, a former Army paratrooper who was briefed privately by military officials during a visit to Iraq in October, says "One of the problems with an insurgency is that every time you turn a corner, there's another corner."

MORE:

Why Do The Collaborator Troops Need So Much Training?

Why Is It All Useless?

Why Don't The Resistance Troops Have This Problem?

12.7.05 Baltimore Sun

Although the United States has spent billions of dollars training Iraq's military and police forces, defense analysts and U.S. military officers say it could be at least 2007 before Iraqis can take the lead in fighting the insurgency because they lack the hardware, expertise and ethnic balance to be effective.

One senior U.S. official in Baghdad said it "doesn't take much to train an infantry soldier" but that training logistics and supply personnel is harder because Iraqi soldiers "don't have the technological background."

[Oh please. The resistance troops are doing just fine in the "technological background" department. Ever hear of IEDs? Guess that's something "senior U.S. officials" don't have to worry much about. They sit safely in the Green Zone while the troops die.]

[As for the billions pissed away on this useless "training" for the traitor troops, gee, could it possibly be that when you're fighting to free your country from a foreign Imperial occupation, you are motivated, but when you're recruited to be a traitor serving George Bush, things just don't work out so well? For 100 points and an immediate trip home from Iraq, answer the following question: How did that work in America in 1776 when a different George tried the same kind of Imperial occupation?]

MORE:

The U.S. Official Quoted Above Says Iraqi Soldiers "Don't Have The Technological Background"

[As Resistance Escalates High Tech Publicity Campaign!]

As roadside bombs become more sophisticated, so do the methods to record them. Recently, insurgents synchronized a roadside bomb with a remote-controlled video camera to film the explosion, Zahner said. "It's a virtual jihadist experience," he said. "That's what gets them the money. That's what gets them the recruits."

12/7/2005 By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

BAGHDAD  Insurgents in Iraq have launched a publicity blitz. They increased the number of Web postings to 825 last month from 145 in January, according to the U.S. military. Most postings detail insurgent bombings or attacks on Iraqi and U.S. forces.

The Web postings are also growing more sophisticated and frequently include video, soundtracks and professional editing, Army Maj. Gen. Richard Zahner, the top U.S. military intelligence officer in Iraq, said Tuesday.

Concerned that insurgents were gaining an advantage in the information war, the U.S. military has stepped up efforts to counter the publicity onslaught from the insurgents.

"The information environment has become a battlefield in a very real way," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman. "There was a decision early on that this was not something we could allow to go uncontested." He said efforts have accelerated to combat insurgents' media campaign.

Nearly all insurgent groups operating in Iraq have media teams responsible for posting statements on the Internet and creating videos for Web and television broadcasts, said Col. Pat McNiece, an intelligence officer.

Insurgent messages often target Iraq and the Arab world, McNiece said. The messages are used as a recruiting tool for militants and as a way to raise money for the insurgency, he said.

The U.S. government monitors websites but rarely makes an effort to shut them down because it's so easy for terrorists to set up new ones, said Ben Venzke of IntelCenter, a Washington-area think tank that monitors terrorist declarations and does work for U.S. intelligence.

"If you shut it down, it will be back in about five seconds in a million other locations," Venzke said.

For militants, it's important to publicize the attacks, widening the impact of a bombing or a kidnapping to help influence public opinion.

Insurgents sometimes rehearse missions with the group's cameraman to find the best angle to capture the attack on tape, Zahner said. Cameramen then join militants on missions. They film the attacks, then edit and post them on websites, sometimes within a matter of hours, he said.

As roadside bombs become more sophisticated, so do the methods to record them. Recently, insurgents synchronized a roadside bomb with a remote-controlled video camera to film the explosion, Zahner said. "It's a virtual jihadist experience," he said. "That's what gets them the money. That's what gets them the recruits."