Syrian fighter says Hussein's Iraq betrayed him (Don't Mess With Coalition of the Willing!!!)

CSM ^ | April 29, 2003 | Nicholas Blanford

[tuna_battle_slight_return]

DAMASCUS, SYRIA – Paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by American soldiers in the battle for Baghdad, Fahd lies in a hospital bed here contemplating a bleak future. But any bitterness harbored by the 18-year-old Syrian student is reserved solely for the Iraqi Republican Guards, "traitors," he says, who yielded the Iraqi capital without a fight. All across the Arab world, young men who rallied to defend Iraq from the Anglo-American invasion are returning home, many of them disillusioned and embittered by the swift collapse of Iraqi resistance and the sometimes hostile reception they received from ordinary Iraqis.

"I went to Baghdad and was not expecting to come back. I was prepared to be a martyr, to die for God and victory," Fahd says, his voice little more than a whisper. "But I was shocked how easily Baghdad fell because I thought that Saddam Hussein could resist. The treason of the Republican Guard led to the collapse. I saw no Iraqi soldiers, except for the officers who told us where to go. All the fighting in Baghdad was by volunteers like me."

Like millions of Arabs at the start of the war, Fahd, who asked that his family name be withheld, tuned into Arabic-language satellite channels and was roused by the graphic footage of Iraqi civilian casualties. "It made us furious to see so much suffering. As a Muslim, I felt that I had to help," he says.

Ten days into the war, Fahd and three school friends agreed they would run away to Iraq and join the volunteer fighters.

"None of us told our parents. I was afraid my father would stop me from going," he says.

It took the four teenagers two days to travel from their home in the small town of Qsair near the Lebanese border in western Syria to reach the Iraqi frontier. They chose a remote location along the 400-mile desert border to cross into Iraq, but as they scrambled over the bulldozed sand barrier that marks the frontier, they were spotted by Syrian border police.

"The police caught one of us before he could cross into Iraq and they yelled at us to come back, but we ignored them and kept running," Fahd says.

Over the next five days, the three friends gradually made their way to Baghdad, hitching rides with Iraqis and linking up with dozens of other volunteers.

"There were Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians. They came from all Arab countries. All of them felt like me. We wanted to fight the Americans," he said.

They reached Baghdad from the north just as American troops were entering the southern outskirts of the capital. Fahd joined some 200 other volunteers and was taken by Iraqi army officers to a succession of military barracks and sports clubs, trying to stay one step ahead of American air strikes. After two days on the move, the Iraqis gave the volunteers AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers. Fahd had never even fired a gun before, let alone had any formal military training.

"They showed us how to fire the gun and the RPG then they took us to a road bridge on a highway somewhere in Baghdad," he says. "There were 50 of us in my group and we positioned ourselves on one side of the bridge and waited for the Americans to arrive."

A few hours later, an American column of tanks and infantry backed by helicopters approached the opposite end of the bridge.

"I cannot describe my feeling at that moment. I was very excited. I cared nothing for Saddam Hussein. I was there to defend the dignity and honor of my religion," Fahd says.

As Fahd shouldered his RPG launcher and prepared to attack, his companions fled, leaving him alone with only two other volunteers.

"We refused to leave and instead fired our rockets at the Americans. We hit three tanks and some soldiers. I saw the soldiers fall but I don't know if they were killed or wounded," he says.

His supply of rockets depleted, Fahd picked up his rifle, but it jammed. The three volunteers decided to escape.

"We crawled away from our position but as I stood to climb over a wall I felt three bullets hit me in the back. I fell to the ground and another bullet hit me in the leg," Fahd says.

Bleeding heavily, but still conscious, Fahd was rescued 10 minutes later by other volunteers and taken to hospital where he learned that one of the bullets had hit his spine, paralyzing him from the waist down.

After he spent several days recovering, the hospital arranged for a car to take him back to Syria.

Fahd's parents, who had no idea of their son's whereabouts, were distraught when they learned of his condition.

"His father hugged him and kissed him and was very sad," says Mahmoud al-Mirai, Fahd's uncle. "As a father, he had many dreams and ambitions for his eldest son."

From a poor background, there is little prospect of Fahd's family affording the kind of medical care that might help him walk again.

Fahd was shot the same day that Baghdad fell, and the futility of his sacrifice still rankles.

"If I had known that the Republican Guard would betray us, I would never have gone to Baghdad," he says. "If they had fought with courage and dignity alongside us, I could accept my injury."

[tuna_battle_slight_return]

A pretty decent firsthand account, I thought. Hope a few people here enjoy reading this story.

[Texas Eagle]

"If I had known that the Republican Guard would betray us, I would never have gone to Baghdad," he says

Suckerrrrrrrrrrr!

[tuna_battle_slight_return]

"Suckerrrrrrrrrrr!"

no kidding.

[Fifth Business]

Live by the Jihad, Die by the Jihad.

[WSGilcrest]

...tuned into Arabic-language satellite channels and was roused by the graphic footage of Iraqi civilian casualties. "It made us furious to see so much suffering. As a Muslim, I felt that I had to help," he says.

His fellow arabs set him up. He should've been watching FNC.

[Cicero]

This is exactly what happened to the youthful volunteers who left Pakistan for Afghanistan to join the Jihad. They either died or came back with their tails between their legs.

This fellow makes it very clear what it means for a Muslim to be a martyr. It doesn't mean dying, it means dying in a winning cause. Very different from the Christian idea of martyrdom. If you whip their *sses, then they are completely disillusioned, and they will take that disillusionment back to their home countries.

[tessalu]

He is not the only fool, so he should not be so sad. They number in the millions, all over the world.

[CommandoFrank]

If I had known that the Republican Guard would betray us, I would never have gone to Baghdad

Sounds like his 'friends' that abandoned him at the bridge were thinking the same thing as the Republican Guard.

EXIT, STAGE RIGHT!

[SkyPilot]

Let's see. Osama Bil Laden and Hussein were only two happy to throw the flower of Arab youth at others, but when the piper came calling for them--they chose to run and hide. Same with all in Arab leadership---from their military leaders on down. "GO--FIGHT THEM!"

Reminds me of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins:

"Meanwhile, as Jim takes on that ferocious lion, I'll stay here in the blind and adjust the lighting."

[TheSpottedOwl]

"I cannot describe my feeling at that moment. I was very excited. I cared nothing for Saddam Hussein. I was there to defend the dignity and honor of my religion," Fahd says.

Very interesting. Too bad this isn't going to change many minds over there. The Jihad mentality is deeply ingrained.

[NewRomeTacitus]

Mullahs & Imams:
Please send all the 'help' you have up to the 50-something thralls.
Thanks a lot.
Please move over, we're surveying here.

[konaice]

"All across the Arab world, young men who rallied to defend Iraq from the Anglo-American invasion are returning home, many of them disillusioned and embittered by the swift collapse of Iraqi resistance and the sometimes hostile reception they received from ordinary Iraqis. "

----

I hope this is a wake up call for the Jihadis all over the world.

The fight in someone elses back yard is always more noble or more worthy than takeing care of their own neighborhood. They live in squaller and won't lift a finger to clean the garbage off their own streets.

Wether its Jihad Johnny Lind or this bone head, they have got to learn that the world will not support tyranical dictators no matter what flag or what religion they wrap them selves in.

Disappointment, Disallusionment, and (sadly) Disability and Death are apparently all these people understand.

[SkyPilot]

"The cuddly Islamic Radical Terrorist has survived for millions of years undisturbed by predators. But it may not survive its most recent, and relentless enemy...MAN. I'll stand back here with Momar Ali Muhammad and have the time of my life...and watch here as my assistant Jim sticks his head in the angry crocodile's mouth. See those American's sharp teeth? Watch OUT JIM! Those teeth are deadly!"

[GATOR NAVY]

Fahd had never even fired a gun before, let alone had any formal military training...A few hours later, an American column of tanks and infantry backed by helicopters approached the opposite end of the bridge.

What's that old saying? "Life is hard. Life is harder if you're stupid."

[ColdSteelTalon]

This young man made one miscalculation. He beleived the lies that Saddam was a good guy who loved his people and was fighting America for Islam.

He paid the price for his lack of vision.

The combatants that the U.S. Army captures will spend the rest of their lives in prison for their stupidity.

A message I have for all Muslims everywhere...

WE ARE NOT FIGHTING ISLAM!!!

IF WE WERE SAUDI ARABIA WOULD HAVE BEEN LEVELED BY NOW !!!

AND WE WOULD NOT BE SPENDING BILLIONS TO REBUILD IRAQ !!!

IN AMERICA WE DON"T CARE WHAT YOUR RELIGION IS, AS LONG AS YOU DON"T FORCE IT DOWN OTHER PEOPLES THROATS AT THE POINT OF A SWORD !!! BUT IF YOU INSIST ON THIS METHOD AMERICA IS GOING TO BURY YOU ESPECIALLY AFTER 911 ...

[fish hawk]

must be a product of public schools???

[Cheesehead in Texas]

Is it just me or does anyone else think the nondemocracies in the middle east saw the war as an opportunity to do the jihadi equivalent of the Mariel boat lift. Fill up buses with criminals and undereducated, underemployed and unemployed (hopeless) young men and send them to Iraq to fight the Americans and pray to Allah that the Americans will kill them quick. No more unemployment problems, fewer criminals . . . and the dumbest ones have darwinized themselves out of the gene pool. What a win-win situation for Syria, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, . . . the list goes on.

[HassanBenSobar]

Nahh, not exactly; the dumbass was rather deceived by all the arab journalists who accepted blood-money to spout Saddam's propaganda. He also was infected with the uniquely 18-year old notion of romantic heroism for a cause. Do I pity him? No. If only more like him met his fate, the arab world might wake up from its stupor.

I can accept that he was duped by the many snakes in the arab world, and I also accept that he was a gullible idiot. What irritates me is that there is nothing to this article that shouts for an obvious lesson to be learned by the entire pathetic islamic world--yeah, we can see it, but they need to have it beaten over their heads. This guy need to know who he can thank for the rest of his painful life: presstitutes and islamofascists. Instead of trying to generate pity for this guy, where is the outrage over those who misled him?

Excuse me now while I puke.

[Owl558]

The good news is that his injury is curable with the right kind of operation. The bad news is that the operation is only available in the US. Oooooooww, Tough luck.

"I hope this is a wake up call for the Jihadis all over the world."

Afraid not. The Jihadis all use the phrase "God willing" almost absentmindedly after almost every sentence, but can't get a clue that maybe Allah isn't willing for them to be doing what they are doing and that's why Arabs continue to be humiliated. As you say, their continual reward is "Disappointment, Disallusionment, and (sadly) Disability and Death." Maybe God is displeased with their support of dictators and evil. The Afgans hated them (Arab mercenaries) and many Iraqis hate them as well because they represent opression and terror. Dupes like this kid and the the ones who went to Afganistan only see a one-sided version of events presented by their governments, media, and preachers. They make a choice and pay the price.