Posted on 04/27/2003 11:09:13 AM PDT by kattracks
CAMP BUCCA, Iraq April 27 —Chanting "Saddam no, Bush yes," some 200 Iraqi prisoners of war were let go Sunday at the coalition's main internment camp in the desert near the southern port of Umm Qasr.
The men, many of them barefooted, shook hands with the American soldiers guarding the camp before boarding buses and trucks to be driven to nearby Basra, southern Iraq's largest city.
Their departure brought to 700 the number of POWs released since Friday, said Maj. Stacy Garrity of the U.S. Army's 800th Military Police Brigade, which runs the camp. Around 5,800 more prisoners, including some from Jordan and Syria, await screening and possible release, she said.
"Probably half of the camp will be gone in the next week and a half," said Garrity, who is from Athens, Pa.
Wearing a towel on his head as protection from the scorching heat and blowing sand, one smiling POW, Mahdi Saleh, told The Associated Press: "My mother will die when she sees me."
It may take a while. Once in Basra, the penniless Saleh will have to find transportation home to Mosul, a city some 500 miles away in northern Iraq.
Saleh, a junior Iraqi army officer who is the father of four, said he was taken prisoner at the Qadisiya Dam at the beginning of the war that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
"I gave orders to my five men not to fight and we surrendered," he said, his eyes red from the sand. "Americans were coming for our own good. ... What has Saddam done for us? I'm 30 and I haven't enjoyed life no justice, no piece of land, no car."
Before boarding the buses and trucks, the freed POWs in ragged clothes or blue jumpsuits were each handed cigarettes from a yellow bucket and a package containing sugar, rice, tea and cooking oil provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The men gave thumbs-up signs and peppered journalists with questions: "No more Saddam statues?" "No more military service?" "No more executions?"
Hussam Abbas, from Basra, said all he had known in his 25 years were prisons and military service. "I gave myself in so that I would have a chance to be evacuated and not to come back to Iraq," he said. "But now, I am happy. We got rid of Saddam who oppressed us."
Hanging out a bus window, Mussalam Hassan, 22, shouted happily: "We did not fire a single shot!" He said he was taken prisoner in Rumeila on March 21, the second day of the war.
As the men were being processed for release, a helicopter flew in with a 9-year-old Iraqi girl who had been treated for a heart problem on the USS Comfort, a U.S. Navy hospital ship. There was no immediate report of her condition, but she walked on her own.
Her family brought the girl to Camp Bucca after the war started asking for medical help. Her father was given a job at the post, and he and the rest of the family were allowed to live here.
The freed POWs said they were treated well by their captors. Many shook hands with coalition soldiers before being driven away.
"When we heard Americans entered Iraq, we knew it was the end of Saddam," said Falih Rahim, 35, from Baghdad. He said he couldn't wait to see his three children and go back to his job as a cart driver.
Junior officer Jawad Obaid, who said he surrendered March 21 in response to leaflets dropped by coalition planes, said he was praying he would find his family in Basra unharmed.
He was hopes for a new Iraq without poverty. "Our house in Basra still has a tin roof," he said, holding a blanket provided by the U.S. military.
Before Atheer Abdul-Karim, 25, joined his fellow Iraqis in singing a folk song on board a departing bus, he shouted out: "They paid us 17,000 (Iraqi dinars a month) to fight Americans. I would have killed Saddam for one dollar."
Before Atheer Abdul-Karim, 25, joined his fellow Iraqis in singing a folk song on board a departing bus, he shouted out: "They paid us 17,000 (Iraqi dinars a month) to fight Americans. I would have killed Saddam for one dollar."
What an insightful account. I take back those unflattering things I said about AP embedded reporters. Would it be wrong to wish these released Iraqi POWs health, prosperity, and much happiness considering they served in the Republican Guard? I'm assuming if they're being released they are guilty of no real crime and were pressed into a service to Saddam they hated.
I'm so glad my country took the lead in liberating Iraq! It is an especially wonderful time to be an American.
Let us hope these newly released will go back to their homes and tell the truth about how they wre handled by us....
Might do our cause a world of good!
Tia
Where does it say they served in the RG? Since it doesn't say, quite likely they were part of the regular Iraqi army, which either surrendered, like these fellows, or simply melted away and went literally went "over the hill.
Hmm, need to put these fellows in contact with the Hollywierdos and the Reds from the ANSWER coalition.
"They paid us 17,000 (Iraqi dinars a month) to fight Americans. I would have killed Saddam for one dollar."
It would probably have been a raise anyway. ;-) .
I'm sure they'll find a bunch of sandalls, shoes and even militay issue boots, left behind by Republican Guard and Saddam Feydayeen members who no longer have any need for them.
What's your rate for North Korean dictators?
It would have been nice if every Iraqi POW could have received a bit of the Multi-Million dollar booty taken by our military.
For example, a thousand dollars American would equate to a nice tidy bonus for them to transfer into civilian life.
Gosh, am I being a Socialist for suggesting something like that? ;^)
Agreed. From a pragmatic point of view, a month ago I'd want them dead before they hurt one hair on the head of one of ours. Now we need their cooperation in the successful political rebuilding of a new Iraq.
How horrible it must have been to be an Iraqi these past 30 years. May they go in peace and prosperity from here on out and may new friendships continue to flourish.
True. In rereading, I see no reference to the RG. A probable poor assumption on my part. Even so, the questions remain. Thanks for clarifying.
Agreed. From a pragmatic point of view, a month ago I'd want them dead before they hurt one hair on the head of one of ours. Now we need their cooperation in the successful political rebuilding of a new Iraq. How horrible it must have been to be an Iraqi these past 30 years. May they go in peace and prosperity from here on out and may new friendships continue to flourish.
********************************
They go back, and they talk to their friends and family about how we are NOT butchers, how they WERE treated decently, and most important:
How what the "Old Regime" said about us was false!
Saves more american lives to do it this way, IMHO! (grin)
Tia
Apparently, he wasn't listening to Baghdad Bob's reports on tv.
These POWs should go home as allies and pro-American ambassadors to their neighborhoods and families. Sending them home barefoot and penniless is a huge opportunity squandered! This is a psyops fiasco!
CNN Headline News: "In our top story tonight..... CNN has just learned from the Associated Press that the U.S. Army has taken steps to ensure the death of the mother of an Iraqi POW."
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