Snipers in Ramadi

Dahr Jamail was on Democracy Now this morning, and one of the things he touched on was the increased use by the US of snipers in the current military action in Ramadi. He was discussing this development as it impacted the individuals in whose homes these snipers were operating, but I found it interesting on a tactical level.

Ramadi is large, developed, and near enough to Bagdhad to make sealing it off ala Fallujah nearly impossible, so the tactic appears to be to work neighborhood by neighborhood trying to clear insurgents. But as the insurgency has strong support in Ramadi, this will have limited effect as they will be able to seek support and cover from the local population.

That's where the snipers come in. The tactic, I would guess, is to sweep through a neighborhood forcing to ground all of the insurgents who don't openly fight or aren't identified by previous intelligence. During these sweeps, two man sniper teams are placed which stay behind after the main force pulls out.

Then as the people reenter the streets, the snipers take out anybody who looks like an insurgent. (male, carrying a weapon?) Certainly, this method would result in incorrect identifications, but compared to bombing or other mass force methods.....?

I think this tactic also tells us that the US/Iraqi government forces have very little good intel in Ramadi.

I don't know why; I just found this interesting.