A War in the Dark

Who Is The Enemy? U.S. soldiers still don’t really know who they are fighting. Culture clashes, communication gaps and poor preparations have hurt intelligence on the ground. And any way you cut it, the difficulties don’t spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s

By Evan Thomas, John Barry and Christian Caryl
NEWSWEEK

Nov. 10 issue — It’s hard to know your enemy when you don’t speak his language. In Iraq, when guerrillas place an IED (improvised explosive device) by the side of the road, they sometimes write a warning on the street—in Arabic. The locals understand to steer clear; the Americans drive right into the trap. “Everyone knows about it except us,” grouses Lt. Julio Tirado of the 124th Infantry Regiment, Florida National Guard, patrolling warily in the town of Ramadi.

THE AMERICANS are learning the universal language of insult. They catch on now when Iraqis in the seething Sunni Triangle flash them a backhanded V sign, which conveys roughly the same message as an extended middle finger back in the States. When Americans wish to demonstrate their contempt to the locals, they point to the soles of their feet, deeply offensive to Iraqis.

What the Americans still don’t know is who, exactly, they’re fighting. Last week, after four suicide-bombing attacks in the heart of Baghdad left more then 30 people dead, Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling, deputy commander of the First Armored Division, told reporters that the attacks were the work of “foreign fighters.” Yet just 24 hours earlier his division commander, Brig. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, told a news conference that he had not seen “any infusion of foreign fighters in Baghdad.” On Sunday, the hidden enemy struck again. At least 15 U.S. troops were killed and some 21 injured when a U.S. Chinook helicopter was shot down in Western Iraq. It was the deadliest single strike against American soldiers since the start of the war.

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