Know Your Enemy

If you're not taking a few minutes sometimes to traverse obscure byways like the president's weekly radio address and Centcom news releases, you're missing out on some telling nuggets. Here's a story out of Centcom about an incident in Iraq. Remember, these are the guys running the war; one of Bush's favorite mantras is that military leaders on the ground, not politicians in Washington, determine strategy and troop levels:

Four terrorists and an Iraqi Army command sergeant major were killed in fighting as an Iraqi Army patrol stopped an anti-Iraqi forces attempt to steal a dump truck south of Baqubah March 31.

The Iraqi Army patrol and members of 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers engaged the thieving insurgents in a firefight as they were stopped in their attempted theft and started to flee. The anti-Iraqi force returned fire killing the sergeant major and wounding four other Iraqi Army Soldiers.

Four insurgents were killed, one wounded and eight detained. All of the wounded were transported to Baqubah General Hospital.

The detained men are being held by Coalition Forces for questioning.

After the firefight, the units inspected a white sedan the anti-Iraqi forces were using in their escape attempt. It was found to have a mortar tube with base plate, some mortar rounds and a sniper rifle with ammunition.

While conducting a search of the area near the firefight, Coalition Forces discovered three caches. These caches consisted of one anti-aircraft gun with ammunition, four shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, 24 mortar rounds, two mortar tubes, one grenade launcher, 2000 rounds of ammunition and two PKC rifles.

So in one short news release, our military describes the same small group of fighters as terrorists, anti-Iraq forces, insurgents, and thieving insurgents. In what way does that indicate we have a handle on whom we're actually fighting?

Also, in its attempt to stop a dump truck from being stolen, the Iraqi Army kills four but loses a high-ranking officer. Yes, it's good to see Iraqis assuming more of a combat role. But is that not a trade the insurgents will take any day of the week?