Posted on 04/16/2004 2:19:43 PM PDT by 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.
So American blood is expected to pick up the entire tab for Iraqi freedom??
Let's plug in ANY Iraqi "government," get the hell out, and let them swim in their own blood.
These ARE Muslims.
This account isn't exactly shocking, is it?
No Pay; never any further Government Job; No "Federal Benefits," ; NO Possibility of furthur Governmental Employment,; Constant Surveillance,; Permanent Status as Faithless Cowards,; Loss of ALL "Privileges of Iraqi Citizenship,"; Total Loss of ALL "Status" in Iraqi Society for "Cowardice."
Pretty much the Fate of an American "Deserter."
Doc
By now the Central Command recognizes it's time for 'Plan B' :
The "hearts and minds of the Iraqis" can actually only be "won" through the liberal use of MOABs and mercilessly utilized overwhelming force.
Naah, not a very good argument.
Koresh's Waco's inhabitants weren't exactly analogious to Saddam's henchmen, were they?
"We need to level Faluja, get the attention of the Iraqui people."
On this we agree.
That's what's staggering...
It's gotta be a no-holds-barred, go-for-the-throat proposition for our guys, otherwise how can we be expected to fully support this war?
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