U.S. Claims Iraqi Uniform Deception

Las Vegas Sun ^ | March 6, 2003 | By ROBERT BURNS

[HighWheeler]

March 06, 2003 at 14:35:21 PST

By ROBERT BURNS ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) - Iraq is acquiring military uniforms "identical down to the last detail" to those worn by American and British forces and plans to use them to shift blame for atrocities, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.

Jim Wilkinson, director of strategic communication at Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said Saddam Hussein had ordered procurement of the uniforms, but he would not say how this was known.

"Saddam intends to issue these uniforms to Fedayeen Saddam troops who would wear them when conducting reprisals against the Iraqi people so that they could pass the atrocities off as the work of the United States and the United Kingdom," Wilkinson said.

The Fedayeen Saddam is a paramilitary force of more than 15,000 founded by Saddam's son Odai in 1994, Wilkinson said. The unit's members are recruited from areas noted for loyalty to Saddam.

The Fedayeen Saddam carries out patrols and anti-smuggling duties and is separate from the regular Iraqi Army command, Wilkinson said. He said its members are paid a salary and, while not an elite fighting force, they deal with unrest during domestic emergencies and report directly to Saddam.

"Saddam Hussein is clearly getting ready to wage a campaign of fear and disinformation against those who seek to disarm him," Wilkinson said, referring to the U.S. and British forces who would spearhead an invasion.

Efforts to blame U.S. and British invading forces for atrocities committed by Iraqi troops is among the ploys Bush administration officials have predicted for weeks. Wilkinson's statement is the first public mention of a plan by Saddam to outfit his troops in fake uniforms.

This is among many acts of deception and desperation that Pentagon officials say they fear Saddam will carry out in an attempt to turn international opinion against the United States and Britain.

Other acts suggested by U.S. officials include setting Iraqi oil fields ablaze and using chemical or biological weapons against the Iraqi people.

Officials said Bush has not yet decided whether to go to war against Iraq, but there are a growing number of signs that the U.S. military is nearly ready to launch any attack he may order.

The Navy, for example, said the hospital ship USNS Comfort has moved from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia to Bahrain. And the last of the ship's 800 additional medical staff members were flying there Thursday. The last time it was deployed to the Gulf was the 1991 Gulf War.

[freddy]

Just government spin to cover their ass when/if the shi- hits the fan..!!

[Bulldogs22]

Good Idea Saddam. We won't notice that the men in uniform are 120lb scrawny arabs.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

uniforms

[HighWheeler]

LOL!

[HighWheeler]

Dammit, I gave it a good search, too. The only same words in both titles were "U.S" and "Iraqi"

[ZOOKER]

Can soldiers caught wearing counterfeit uniforms still be shot as spies?

[Boundless]

> Can soldiers caught wearing counterfeit uniforms
> still be shot as spies?

Some leaflets promising summary execution may
be in order here.

[ZOOKER]

A little last-minute mod to our guys' uniforms might be wise, too.

Brightly colored armbands, "fruit salad" velcro'ed on the pocket, or invasion stripes sprayed on the helmet.

And SHAVE OFF THAT MUSTACHE!

[Poohbah]

Just government spin to cover their ass when/if the shi- hits the fan..!!

I'll give your post a

[mhking]

Oh, please. Spare me. I don't need any tinfoil.

[hchutch]

Hmmm... I got a dispatch running through my head from World War II...

[Boundless]

> Can soldiers caught wearing counterfeit uniforms still be shot as spies?
________________________________________
Sub-Section 5.14 MILITARY CONDUCT IN WAR

5-47 THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT AND THE CONDUCT OF WARRING NATIONS
...
Illegal combatants, on the other hand, are not protected
by the law of war and are subject to summary execution
upon detection.
...
_______________________________

So it would seem, and yes, this implies that the US is
being overly nice to the killers vacationing at
Guantanmo.

But to the case at hand. I suspect that Saddam isn't
planning to use US-uniformed Iraqis in combat with
us (indeed, he may well still labor under the delusion
that nothing is about to happen).

Instead, he'll have them parade into towns in camo
Hummers, and take names of those who come out and cheer.

As long as coalition forces never run across any of
these guys in US uniforms, the Laws or War may never
come into play.

But if they do show up at the front in costume, they
may assume that they'll just get captured, tried, and
imprisoned. They need to know that it's captured, tried
and executed, and in the press of battle, not necessarily
in that order.

[AmericanVictory]

Saddam and his gang are really losing it.

[Ciexyz]

Interesting.

[k2blader]

Bump, as related to breaking news.

[proust]

bump