“Commander A,” a hawk-nosed, stubble-bearded former Iraqi intelligence officer who says he leads anti-American guerrillas in this area, sat in a car on a deserted country road screened by seven-foot reeds Monday and laid out his vision for driving U.S. forces out of Iraq. Slowly, he said, the “resistance” has been building its strength, accumulating stores of weapons and collecting money from residents. Former supporters of Saddam Hussein and observant Muslims alike are rallying to the cause, he asserted. Thousands are willing to die to evict U.S. forces from the country, and attacks are now being centrally coordinated, he said. “The American Army will feel that Vietnam was just a playground by comparison,” the self-proclaimed leader of Serayeh al Jihad — the “Companies of Jihad” — said. At one point his deputy flinched when two U.S. helicopters passed overhead.
Full Story
