Posted on 02/04/2003 5:09:23 PM PST by knighthawk
PRESIDENT Saddam Hussein has decentralised the Iraqi army in preparation for urban combat and will rely on his younger son, Qusay, to co-ordinate a defensive war in the cities, according to exiled generals monitoring Iraq.
"The Americans will be fighting ghosts. They will find it very hard to know where the enemy is. Those who are betting that Saddam will be defeated quickly are mistaken," said Lieutenant-General Tawfik al-Yassiri.
"Tens of thousands of elite Iraqi forces have spread underground, above ground, in farms, schools, mosques, churches . . . everywhere.
"They are not in camps or major installations. These units are prepared for city warfare and have the experience for it," said Mr al-Yassiri, who took part in a 1991 uprising against Saddam and now heads a council of exiled officers.
The officers say they still maintain contact with their former comrades inside Iraq.
Another exiled officer, who did not want his name published, said some of the best trained units in house-to-house fighting are not part of the regular Iraqi army.
"They are vicious," the officer said. "They were trained in Europe and do not even wear uniforms."
He did not elaborate, but European states supplied Iraq with military equipment and training in the 1980s.
Saddam's former military aides say secondary systems of communications are in place to help the Iraq army function under US strikes, including simple long-range walkie-talkies and fibre optics cables that are hard to hit underground.
They say the focus of Iraqi defences is Baghdad and that Qusay, Saddam's younger son and most trusted lieutenant, is pivotal in keeping the Iraqi leader in command of his army.
In a region ruled by autocratic leaders reluctant to delegate power, Saddam has placed Qusay fully in charge of units responsible for the security of the regime, namely the Special Republican Guards and the Special Security Apparatus, the exiled generals say.
"Qusay still takes orders from Saddam. But Saddam will be trusting few people to see him or know where he is during the war," said Lieutenant General Saad al-Obeidi, who was involved in Iraq's psychological warfare in the 1980s.
"It will be almost exclusively Qusay, although he does not have any military experience really," Obeidi said.
Saddam, his former aides say, has divided Iraq into three sectors – the north, centre and south – with commanders for each sector delegated almost total power during hostilities.
They say they have found out the identity of only the southern commander so far – Saddam's cousin Ali al-Majeed, known as Ali Chemical for leading Iraqi troops that smashed a 1988 Kurdish uprising in the north using chemical weapons.
Although Saddam is preparing for what could be his last battle, the exiles say the possibility of him leaving office to save his life and prevent a war cannot be discounted totally.
"Saddam is a politician. We have learned that everything is possible in Iraq. It is a remote possibility," said one former officer.
The only problem with that statement, General, is that ghosts die before they become ghosts. We'll gladly oblidge the General's request for the Iraqi Army to become ghosts, though.
I'm sure that'll go over *real* well with the Iraqi military officers...
Kosovo?
So this is pretty much a good thing, right? And Sadam's reliance on cousins and cousin's brother's friends will lead to a tight inner circle of family members in control who are likely to resented and fragged by Iraqi regular military commanders. Good theory or bad?
Look for the white flags.
Men in tights.
Ha, ha,ha.
Leave it to an Iraqi to try to be mysterious and admit defeat at the same time.
In other words, the ferocious Iraqi army's primary strategy for defending their Islamic Homeland from the barbarian invaders is ... they're going to HIDE. And they're going to hide so well, we won't even be able to find them! VERY intimidating.
And then, they'll come out of hiding and dance in the streets because their country has been liberated from tyranny.
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