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Resistance Intensifies

THE IRAQI RESISTANCE appears to have initiated a new phase of guerrilla insurgency with five suicide bomb attacks on Monday. That targets located in different parts of Baghdad were hit within a span of 45 minutes shows that these attacks were well coordinated. From the planning and preparation that went into this operation, it is clear that the resistance has become more organised though it might still lack a unified leadership. With occupation forces coming under attack in several parts of the country on a daily basis, it is evident that the resistance draws support from diverse sections of the Iraqi population. Its nebulous shape and character also add to its effectiveness. No organisation has claimed responsibility for the attacks that have occurred since the United States President, George W. Bush, declared an end to formal combat operations on May 1. Officials of the U.S.-led `coalition' that occupies and rules Iraq have not been able to identify the source of the resistance and have at various times attributed the attacks to remnants of the Ba'ath regime, indigenous Islamic extremists or foreign militants acting out of religious or pan-Arab motivations. They are unable to face the reality that even the Iraqi victims of the attacks blame the occupying forces rather than the resistance fighters for their travails. Iraqis have not rejected the aid on offer but neither have they surrendered the right to shape their own destiny. The Iraqi resistance appears united in its desire to rid the country of foreign occupation.

An aspect of the resistance that disturbs all those who acknowledge its legitimacy is the toll the suicide bombings have taken of Iraqis. While something over a hundred coalition soldiers have been killed in all the attacks since May 1, at least 34 Iraqis died in the Monday blasts alone. The resistance has carried out grenade and roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere. However, it has not been able to inflict significant damage on a heavily protected occupation force. In preferring to strike at the soft under-belly of the occupation, especially those perceived to be collaborating with the `coalition', the resistance demonstrates that it is not yet ready to go for the hard targets. This could well be a passing phase. In crafting and carrying out an ingenious rocket attack on the Al Rashid hotel in Baghdad when the U. S. Deputy Secretary of Defence, Paul Wolfowitz, was in residence, the resistance sent a signal that it was developing its capabilities and had a growing control over timing its strikes. The suicide bombings will further demoralise `coalition' soldiers who initially believed their stay in Iraq would be short and sweet. Occupation troops, unable to distinguish between neutral and hostile Iraqis, have often struck out at random. There is likely to be an increase in incidents of this nature. Any measures to protect `coalition' troops, such as a reimposition of curfew, is likely to drive more Iraqis to the ranks of the resistance.

The U.S.-led `coalition' finds itself in an unenviable position: it is on its own in tackling a ground situation turning messier by the day. Not a single country has offered to send troops after the United Nations Security Council authorised a multinational force under `unified command' in Resolution 1511. Financial assistance might prove as elusive. Countries participating in a donor conference in Madrid promised just over $ 13 billion for reconstruction and humanitarian relief. And despite the efforts of the U.S. administration, most of these funds are likely to come in the form of loans rather than grants. It is not at all certain that the countries that have promised to contribute funds and personnel for reconstruction in Iraq will actually do so when conditions are so dangerous.

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