Insurgents Post Sniper Training Exercises
Online
Pentagon Alerts U.S. Military Commanders
About Enemy's New Tactic
 
May 17, 2005 — Web
sites maintained by Iraqi insurgents and their supporters contain chilling
instructions that tell recruits how to become snipers and how to inflict
the maximum damage, ABC News has learned.
A Defense Department document is being
disseminated to U.S. commanders in Iraq to inform them about the
insurgency's newest tactic, ABC News has learned.
The document contains information from
pro-insurgency Web sites, translated by Pentagon analysts, which instructs
would-be snipers to target U.S. and coalition military commanders,
officers and pilots because replacing them "may take two to four years and
cost more than $500,000 to put someone through the famous West Point."
Snipers are also directed to target U.S. special
forces because, according to the site, "they are very stupid because they
have a Rambo complex, thinking that they are the best in the world. Don't
be arrogant like them."
The Web site also features a training exercise
game called "Who Would You Shoot?" It's the first time U.S. analysts say
they have seen an interactive Web site aimed at Iraqi insurgents.
"If you had only one shot," the site asks, "who
should you kill?"
Users can choose from several options, and then
they are told the "correct" answer.
In one scenario, which features an image of
Ambassador L. Paul Bremer — the former U.S. administrator in Iraq —
flanked by a security escort, the site says "If you killed this person,
you would know the next day that you have killed Paul Bremer without
knowing it, because they don't provide such protection for anyone else."
In another scenario, which features an image of
an American tank with soldiers standing in the foreground, the site says,
"If you said the soldiers, you are wrong. Kill the gunner on the left [of
the tank], then the driver on the right," therefore disabling the tank.
You try to get whoever you are training to become
interactive with what they are learning," said military analyst Tony
Cordesman, an ABC News consultant. "You want them to recognize targets,
you want them to prioritize, and we have seen that Iraqi snipers are
getting better and better."
U.S. intelligence officials also fear this type
of interactive Web site may prove successful in attracting younger
militants.
ABC News' Martha Raddatz filed this report for "World News Tonight."
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