US Holding 200 Iraqi Troops Who Mutinied -Comrades

Reuters ^ | April 16, 2004 | Khaled Yacoub Oweis

[Eurotwit]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces have detained around 200 Iraqi paramilitary soldiers who refused to take part in a U.S. offensive against the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja, their former comrades said Friday.

The U.S. military declined to confirm whether the men were being held. Senior officers play down the significance of such incidents but, asked about reports of mutiny among Iraqi troops, have acknowledged a "command failure" took place during the Falluja offensive.

Soldiers from the Baghdad-based 36th Security Brigade, part of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC), told Reuters that last week U.S. commanders took them at night to Falluja, west of the capital, where U.S. forces were massing to crush a growing insurgency.

"They told us to attack the city and we were astonished. How could an Iraqi fight an Iraqi like this? This meant that nothing had changed from the Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) days. We refused en masse," said Ali al-Shamari.

Falluja has been a flashpoint for attacks on U.S. forces since Saddam was toppled last year. The city is inhabited by minority Arab Sunnis, many of whom complain they are worse off under the occupation than under Saddam, a fellow Sunni.

U.S. Marines began a major assault on Falluja on April 5 after the killing and mutilation of four U.S. private security guards in the city the previous week. Doctors say more than 600 Iraqis have died in fighting in Falluja since then.

Shamari said the brigade members did not know they were heading to Falluja until they arrived there.

After the brigade refused to fight, he said, soldiers were stripped of their badges and confined to tents in a U.S. base on the outskirts of Falluja. Their rations were restricted to one meal per day.

"I escaped, but around 200 of our comrades remain there. We demand their release," Shamari said.

The 36th brigade, according to four of its members, comprises 340 soldiers from the former Iraqi army and the Peshmerga, the Kurdish militia that once fought Saddam's forces.

Ali Hussein, a Shi'ite private, said the brigade's mission since its formation had been security tasks such as conducting searches and guarding buildings.

"Suddenly we were asked to take part in a huge offensive," Hussein said, adding that he felt sympathy for Falluja residents although they were from the Sunni minority who had dominated the Shi'ites for decades.

Bukhtiar Saleh, a Kurdish soldier, said U.S. heavy-handedness had discouraged him from fighting.

"They were bombing the city with warplanes and using cluster bombs. I could not be a part of this," he said.

Human rights groups and several leading Iraqi politicians have denounced U.S. action in Falluja, calling it collective punishment of a whole town for the violent actions of a minority.

The U.S. army says it has not targeted civilians. The Sunni insurgency and a separate Shi'ite revolt is testing the resolve of thousands of Iraqi security forces hastily formed after Saddam's government fell last year.

[tessalu]

First of all, the USA and all allies need to learn what Islam does to the psyche of Muslims, and take that into accout. Muslims are truly a "brainwashed" people.

[traumer]

what do you do with them ?

[spunkets]

"v"

Yea, right. Seems they had no problem doing it before they were liberated. Once we're gone they'll be right back at it.

[rightwingextremist1776]

what do you do with them ?

How about shoot first and ask questions later? That would be a start! That is how you treat cowards.

[Polybius]

How could an Iraqi fight an Iraqi like this?

Such questions never occurred to my two uncles who fought other Cubans at the Bay of Pigs.

If the entire future Iraqi Army has such an attitude, any two bit Iraqi thug that can muster up 1,000 armed fighters can take over Iraq without a fight.

These men were either cowards or Baathist sympathizers.

[NoClones]

disarm the idiots & let them herd sheep!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

These people have only known brutal oppression their whole lives. They have no concept of law and order. They're more than happy to live like cockroaches and have savage gangs running things in place of Saddam. It's what they know and it's what they're comfortable with. If they won't uphold law and order, they never should have signed up anyway. They should have realized that joining the ICDC means more than standing around keeping people from cutting in the grocery store line.

[glorgau]

How could an Iraqi fight an Iraqi like this?

How about fighting the foreign arabs?

[freeangel]

No. Let them herd pigs!

[Eurotwit]

I don't know.

I guess the vetting wasn't good enough.


But, keep in mind:

There are at least hundreds of Iraqis taking part.


These hapless characters probably would only have been in the way of the marines anyways.

Cheers.

[PokeyJoe]

not sheep, Pigs.

[TomGuy]

If that's their attitude, let's turn the country over to the Kurds, put them in charge, let the Kurds handle things, and we exit.

The Iraqis have been subjugated so long, they don't know how not to be subjugated. At best, it would take re-educating the next two generations so that, in 30 years, there might be a population we could negotiate with. Heck, liberate the Iranians and turn Iraq over to them.

[DHerion]

The best answer to this problem is to have an Iraqi general Staff who will have tactical command of the these units but will be under Coalition control. We would allow them to punish Iraqis for cowardice any way they see fit.

[Dr. Frank fan]

How could an Iraqi fight an Iraqi like this?

Because the first Iraqi is part of the civil defense corps, and the second Iraqi is a MARAUDING THUG MURDERER, you BIGOTED DUMBASS.

This kind of idiotic moral cowardice is what really begs for dictatorship. "You want to be my dictator? I guess I will acquiesce. After all, you're an 'Iraqi' and I am too, how can I possibly resist you?" Bleah. Pathetic.

[Dr. Frank fan]

Such questions never occurred to my two uncles who fought other Cubans at the Bay of Pigs.

That's because they weren't bigots and they weren't cowards, they cared about freedom and had the b**ls to fight for it.

That's the difference.

[Eurotwit]

Itæs going to take a while, but I am sure it is going to work out in the end.

The alternative is simply not thinkable.

I don't know if this is taboo or not here on freerepublic, but I quite like Tom Friedman of the NY Times. This is a generational struggle. It can be no other way, unless we terrorise the muslim world into submission. I think the President gets it and it pleased me that Condi emphasised this in her 911 comitte testimony.

If what I have read is correct, then Vietnamisation worked in Vietnam, and the same should (And is being done) be done in Iraq.

Cheers.

[BushisTheMan]

Ali Hussein, a Shi'ite private, said the brigade's mission since its formation had been security tasks such as conducting searches and guarding buildings

As Trump would say: YOU'RE FIRED!

[Betaille]

"How could an Iraqi fight an Iraqi like this?"
It's called policing you useless idiot. Alot of them aren't even Iraqi. Who did you think you would be fighting? Swedes?
I'm not surprised to see this from arabs, but im upset to see that some of them were peshmerga Kurds. Those guys were tough as nails and totally loyal to us despite all they'd been through.

[DUMBGRUNT]

I do not believe everything I see on the Internet, or the news.