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The Counterinsurgency Challenge

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photoIn the last few days, Iraqi soldiers have posed in civilian clothes, faked surrenders and used innocent Iraqi citizens as human shields. Also, a suicide attack at a military checkpoint in Iraq has claimed the lives of four U.S. soldiers.

The U.S. military has technology and weaponry far superior to that of Iraqi forces but Iraqi guerrilla tactics are rapidly complicating this war morally, strategically and tactically. How should the U.S. military respond to the challenges posed by Iraqi troops' unconventional warfare attacks?

Steven Van Evera, director of the security studies program at MIT, says that the U.S. should send more ground troop reinforcements into Iraq, and not rely solely and heavily on aerial attacks.

Click the "Listen" link above to hear more about how the U.S. military should meet the challenges of guerrilla warfare tactics in Iraq.

Guests:

Steven Van Evera, director of the security studies program at MIT, author of "Causes of War: Power and the Roots of Conflict"

Joel Turnipseed, served as a Lance Corporal with the Sixth Motor Transport Battalion in the first Gulf War, author of "Baghdad Express: A Gulf War Memoir"

Jack Beatty, On Point News Analyst and senior editor of the Atlantic Monthly magazine

This program aired on March 31, 2003.

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