US policy in Iraq is becoming stagnant. They are getting bogged down and their pathways out of Iraq by peaceful means are limited, and rapidly declining in numbers....

US Helicopters are regular targets of Surface-to-Air missile fire,
and It is no longer un-common to hear the words "we have a black hawk down"...
Just recently (Yesterday) and also a few days ago an American Chopper was downed killing two US soldiers in each of the attacks...

Now, you may think wow, a whole chopper and two soldiers - no biggy. But really, a whole chopper in Iraq in a fight against a resisting pocket is like having a spare, rapid response army in the sky. When one of these go down the ground troops it is supporting are left naked to the Guerrila's.

The Psychological warfare being undertaken by the Guerilla's no doubtedly spawns from the dirty tactics the US used against the Iraqi Repubilican Guard and the Iraqi people themselves with its "show and awe" campaign (ie Blow Shit UP campaign). This included bombing an empty house every half an hour in each district for days at a time to remind every person around of the ever-present birds in the sky, and I cannot begin to imagine what that kind of "shell-shock" would do to a person, especially with JDAM's and Bunker Busters that create giant explosions which rock whole cities at a time.

The Guerrila's too are running a similar campaing. They aim to make each individual American soldier as scared of them as the American Officer Class and Generals hoped the Iraqi Resistance would be of the US forces. So every time a convoy passes down a main stretch their is a bomb, or and ambush, or death and warnings left as intimidating messages along the way that the troops see and are reminded of the ever-present danger to their lives.

A bomb blows up 10 meters a head of a US convoy, or slightly off the road killing noone and causing only injury to those in the front vehicles, but every memeber of that whole convoy has hundreds of "What-If?" scenarios run through their head that day, the next day, and every convoy they ever get in for the rest of their lives.

This has a devistating impact on the Moral of the media and of the US troops and their reliant benefactors, the Iraqi National Guard, and strengthens the resolve of Guerrila's winning in an all-too-familiar campaign of oppression.

Well, its near on time for me to go to work, but keep reading over the coming days as I elaborate on what I call the psychological warfare being fought AGAINST the US soldiers. This will become a major part of all future combat, and makes strategists rethink the importance of intelect and morale in troops, particularly troops trained for the "Occupation" period of a "War", not just the "Invasion" itself.

Without sturdy, psychologically sound troops then an Occupation can never be sustained because the irrational acts of psychologically crippled troops could indefinately incite trouble amongst the local population when their paranoia drives them to doing things such as the shooting of Italy's Intelligence Agent, or an Iraqi family in a mini-van, or an ambulance, or other such vehicle 'accidents' where someone has shot-first and realised later.

enough for now, things are beginning to change in Iraq, and US foreign policy is about to take a shift one way or another as it cannot remain on its current course. This does not mean a pull-out is imminent, or that the war is over, or that it is intensifying(which it is), it means that the suffering caused by the US is coming back at them, and it is being felt by their economy and can be seen evidently in the Political Polarization and emergence of mass-activism within the USA.

Hopefully this will bring some kind of nerve-settling, violence crushing ideas into policy in Iraq and begin saving valuable lives, Iraqi and Coalition lives.

[olivebranch]