Iraq

Raids aim to part rebels from their funds

BAGHDAD - A spate of U.S. raids on Iraqi smugglers signals a new strategy to deny the guerrilla insurgency one of its chief recruiting assets: money.

If U.S. military strategists are correct, in just over a month, the insurgency will face a financial crisis when old Iraqi dinar notes bearing the face of Saddam Hussein will be worthless. The military wants to deepen the crisis by launching raids on black marketeers thought to be funding the guerrilla movement.

The insurgency's need for funds was highlighted by coordinated attacks in Samarra, where bands of guerrillas laid in wait at two banks awaiting the delivery of dinars, setting off firefights with U.S. troops that claimed dozens of Iraqi lives.

The guerrillas are thought to be funding the insurgency with the former regime's stockpiles of old dinar notes, or by counterfeiting the relatively simple Hussein notes, which are now being exchanged for Hussein-free notes.

The Associated Press, quoting a U.S. defense official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported that the money changeover is expected to inhibit guerrilla operations that rely on paying attackers for bombings and hits on U.S. troops.

As the currency approaches expiration on Jan. 15, at least four Army units have either begun or plan to launch new operations targeting the guerrilla financiers.

At the same time, insurgent groups have shown an increasing desperation for hard currency.

U.S. military convoys supplying banks with new Iraqi dinars have been ambushed on six occasions, including the attacks Sunday in Samarra. U.S. military officials in Baghdad and Washington said the attacks are a sign of the insurgency's increasing desperation for money to fund its fight.

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