Iraqi men leave Jordan on free trip to Baghdad, vowing to "liberate" Iraq

Agence France-Presse (AFP) ^ | 3-31-03 | Sophie Claudet

[Oldeconomybuyer]

AMMAN, Jordan, March 31 (AFP) - A first free bus to Baghdad left the Jordanian capital Monday, courtesy of one of Saddam Hussein's sons, with 50 Iraqi men onboard determined to fight for their embattled country against US and British invaders.

"It was too expensive for me to leave before, but now the trip is free and I am going back to fight for my country," said Samir, a 35-year-old construction worker.

The man said he was going back to Basra, the main southern Iraqi city partially controlled by the coalition forces and where pockets of Iraqi resistance still remain.

"I am not afraid to travel from Baghdad to Basra, the Americans say they control part of Iraq but it's all lies, they only got the port of Umm Qasr," he defiantly added.

An Iraqi spokesman for the Dalla bus company, which people here say is owned by Saddam Hussein's son Uday, said it was the first free bus bound to Baghdad since the US-led war began on March 20.

"A one-way trip costs 12 dinars (17 dollars), but today for the first time the trip is free," he said on condition of anonymity, adding that similar buses were also leaving from Syria.

"Everybody can go back, there are absolutely no restrictions," he said.

Men waiting to board the bus said some had been granted a pardon by the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime and issued a new passport.

But they declined to produce a copy of the document, reportedly stamped with Saddam's pardon at the Iraqi embassy in Amman.

"People who did not go back for their compulsory military service, people whose passports or whose Jordanian working permits expired were issued papers on the spot in order to leave," said the company spokesman.

Iraqi worker Adnan said he felt compelled to go back to Iraq after six months in Jordan: "It's matter of national pride and dignity," he said.

"I can't bear to see my country occupied by foreign troops, I believe we can kick them out. They may have incredible weaponry but the will of God is stronger," he said angrily.

Meanwhile, Umm Abdallah, her husband and three young children, were heartbroken when they could not find seats on the bus.

"They told us to come back tomorrow because the bus is full," she said.

Her husband, an electrical engineer who had worked in Amman for the past six months, broke down in tears when asked why he was taking his family back to Baghdad at such dangerous times.

"He's very worried about his elderly parents who live in an area of Baghdad that was bombed. We haven't been able to reach them since the second day of the war. We need to be reunited," his wife explained.

Jasser Abdel Jawad, 21, a Palestinian student who left Baghdad when the war started, was also heading back. But he said he will not take up arms in Iraq.

"I am going back there because I feel it is my duty as an Arab," he said.

"I want to help out the people of Iraq that welcomed me. I want to help out wherever I can, for example in hospitals," he said.

None of the men departing for Baghdad said they were afraid of the road, on which coalition forces were spotted by journalists recently returning from Iraq to the kingdom.

"At most they will search us, but I feel confident they will let us go. We are unarmed civilians," said Samir, vowing however to carry a weapon as soon as he sets foot on Iraqi soil.

A US army spokesman at Central Command headquarters in Qatar said on Monday that US troops will ban access to Iraq's western desert and road's leading to it. Both Jordan and Syria have borders that lead into that region.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Mon Mar 31,10:21 AM ET

Lebanese volunteers give the victory sign as they leave Beirut to fight in Iraq (news - web sites), proclaiming they were ready to embrace death to expel U.S. and British forces from Arab land, March 31, 2003. Arabs volunteering for suicide missions in Iraq have left homes and families across the Middle East to fight what they fear is a U.S.-led crusade against all Muslims, Iraqi state television said on Monday. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

Mon Mar 31, 9:28 AM ET

Lebanese Othman Khaled Abdu, 27, left, and Noureddine al-Sayyed, 25, hold their papers and wave from the bus in front of the Iraqi embassy in Hazmieh, Eastern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday March 31, 2003. Dozens Lebanese, Palestinian, Sudanese and Egyptian volunteers left Lebanon on their way to Iraq (news - web sites), where they said they will fight U.S. and British troops invading Iraq. (AP Photo)

Mon Mar 31, 9:26 AM ET

A group of volunteers hold their papers as they sit in a bus in front of the Iraqi embassy in Hazmieh, eastern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 31, 2003. Dozens of Lebanese, Palestinian, Sudanese and Egyptian suicide attackers left Lebanon on their way to Iraq (news - web sites), where they said they will fight U.S. and British troops invading Iraq. (AP Photo/Adnan Hajj Ali)

[SolutionsOnly]

An A-10 strafing run will make short work of this motely crew.

[TADSLOS]

Ridin' the Death Bus...

[ProudArmyWife]

Nothing is free... they are paying with their lives.

[Teetop]

A bus makes a BIG target from 20,000ft! LOL

I say, "let the A-10's have some fun!"

[pabianice]

Cool. One easy target.

[Born to Conserve]

The term "cannon fodder" comes to mind.

[AZLiberty]

Fish in a barrel.

[Jeff Head]

Dead men walking ... or riding as the case may be.

[sheik yerbouty]

Shi'ite for brains.

[SolutionsOnly]

Darwinism in action!

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

FIRE MISSION!!!

[Mister Magoo]

These are the same type of morons that came from Pakistan to fight with the Taliban against the US. 99% of the ones that survived came back to Pakistan exclaiming that they had no idea what they were in for, and that the bombing was relentless. Welcome to the party.

[Lexington Green]

A one-way ticket to Allah's Whorehouse in the Sky....

[Argus]

If the CIA isn't running these terrorist bus trips, they should be. Pack a bus full of eager would-be suicide jihadis, then drive them straight into the arms of the 101st Airborne.

[Mr.Atos]

Consider this an early Hannukah gift to Israel. That's a few dozen zombies that won't be walking onto a schoolbus or into cafe with a bomb in their shirt... ever again!!!

[Defiant]

Remember all those Pakistanis that went to Afghanistan to help the Taliban? Their families do, too.

[IronJack]

I am going back to fight for my country," said Samir, a 35-year-old construction worker.

Did this deal include a tombstone of your choice, Samir?

[AZLiberty]

Why don't we make the same offer -- free trip towards Baghdad for all martyrs-to-be. It will save us having to track them down.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Hopefully we have somebody at the border with pen and paper in hand, passing along the license plate and description of each and every one of these buses.