A good soldier, whether he leads a platoon or an army, is expected to look backward as well as forward, but he must think only forward.
—General Douglas MacArthur
War is adjustment. In this story, both sides adapt to the other’s tactics.
Iraqis seeking jobs with security forces were targeted once again Thursday when a suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body mingled among hundreds of men and blew himself up in one of four attacks that killed 26 people.
The attacks are part of a surge of violence that has killed more than 200 since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his new government last week with seven positions still undecided.
Many recruitment centres, to prevent car bombings, have been turned into small fortresses surrounded by concrete blast walls and razor wire. But militants are striking back with an old weapon: the suicide bomber belt.
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In the deadliest attack, police said an insurgent blew himself up outside an army recruitment office about one kilometre from Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to government offices, foreign embassies and U.S. forces.
At al-Yarmouk Hospital, the morgue was overflowing with mangled bodies after the blast. One man lay screaming on his bed – both his legs had been blown off. Pools of blood covered the floor.
“While we were standing in line, a man walked…right up to the heavily guarded entrance gate, as if he wanted to ask the guards a question,” said Anwar Wasfi, who was injured on his leg and arms.
“Suddenly, an explosion occurred and I was knocked over. I passed out and opened my eyes wounded in the hospital”
At least 13 people were killed and 20 wounded in the blast, Lieut. Salam Wahab said at the recruitment centre.
A similar attack Wednesday, in which a suicide bomber blew himself up in a line of police recruits in the northern city Irbil, killed 60 Iraqis and wounded 150.
Both sides will continue to adapt, though it does seem that the tactics available to the terrorists are rather limited, achieve little against Americans and do nothing to help their cause with the Iraqi populace.