IRAQ: Tape Shows Attacks On U.S. Troops

(CBS) The people who produced a tape obtained by CBS News say it shows the real thing: attacks on U.S. forces videotaped by the men who carried them out. As CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey reports, they are members of a previously unheard-of Islamic fundamentalist group that calls itself Jaish Ansar al-Sunni.

The group appears to be an offshoot of another organization operating here that the U.S. says has ties to al Qaeda. Their stated aim is to kill Americans and set up an Islamic state in Iraq.

"The tape is certainly not only authentic but highly well-produced," says M.J. Gohel, a terrorism expert with the Asia-Pacific Foundation. "This is strong evidence. This only confirms what we have always suspected. That there is a foreign Islamic presence in Iraq."

The video showcases the group's arsenal and a deadly track record.

Spanish officials confirmed Tuesday night that identity cards shown on the tape belong to members of a group of seven Spanish intelligence officers killed in an ambush on Nov. 30. Until now, no one knew who did it. Other cards appear to be from a Canadian killed Jan. 5 while working for a U.S. contractor.

But the most chilling sequence comes halfway through the 35-minute presentation. It features statements by six young men alleged to have subsequently carried out suicide missions.

The accents of at least three are non-Iraqi, and one speaks Kurdish.

The tape does not appear to have been made as propaganda for a wide audience but rather to be shown in secret; a tool to recruit young Iraqi men for suicide missions. If it succeeds it could raise the insurgency to a new level.

The journalist who obtained the videotape was told by the guerrillas that foreign fighters have carried out 70 percent of the attacks so far.

"They are supplying one single guide to the foreign fighters on the border and leading that foreign fighter, suicide bomber to his target as soon as possible," says journalist Phillip Smucker.

But Iraqi suicide bombers could blend into the crowd. American military officials admit that so far they have not identified a single bomber.

It is impossible to verify that these men actually carried out attacks, but claims made in the video match details of six bombing, including one in which six people died.

U.S. officials say they expect more of the same, which the Jaish al-Sunni video promises to deliver.

From the article:

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This brings us to the need to look at what we buy and why we pay what we do.

Take for instance the very expensive "SAPI" ceramic body-armor inserts that have been in desperately short supply. The Army will be almost up to supplying the needs in combat areas this month (if suppliers meet their deadlines, but none of them are). But as the Army leadership is most carefully prioritizing who gets them, the flipside is that very few of our units not in an active combat area have them and no protective gear will go back with units as they rotate out of theater. So we are still in a shortage situation overall and therefore can expect an increased casualty rate in any combat-exposed units that are deployed to another hot spot.

And from the end of the article!

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A late breaking addition to this commentary!

This writer provided the information above – along with corroborating evidence – to Republican Congressman Rob Simmons (2nd District, Conn.) who went public on WTIC’s "Connecticut Today Show" on Monday, Feb. 2, and declared that he was taking the membership of the House Armed Services Committee to Aberdeen next week where they will require the armor to be shot at for testing, so they can witness it.

If the materials pass, they will force the Army to get the armor to the troops. Congressman Simmons went on to say that some 60 companies had been stonewalled by Aberdeen and /or were willing to manufacture armor under license in order to provide our troops with the equipment they need and that the situation of single manufacturer, who can not meet our needs, will be ended.

From what I have been told from a family whose son leaves in the week, they bought him his own Police Armor to bring with him, and to use his own flak jacket to line the doors.

This is a man from church, a Police officer.

Another man from church is in Kuwait for the last 9 or 11 months. It is confirmed that Police armour works better than the regular issue flak jacket. His dad is 2 tours Vietnam, and a retired Col from the CTANG and Army Reserve.

So...the story is true, many people are buying protective armor from home before deploying.

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