Iraq: A Shift in the Insurgency

On April 11, insurgents attacked a U.S. Marine base near Al Qaim, close to the Iraqi-Syrian border, using suicide bombers and small arms. This attack exemplifies a new tactic that Iraq's insurgents have used in recent weeks: Instead of attacking U.S. and Iraqi security forces with remotely detonated or suicide bomber-delivered improvised explosive devices, as they previously did, insurgents are engaging them in frontal assaults. The insurgents have been paying a high price for these attacks and have yet to win a decisive victory, but are sure to continue with these head-on attacks as well as their usual ambushes.