Iraqis launch campaign of sabotage and defiance to undermine Saddam

The Sunday Telegraph ^ | March 16, 2003 | Con Coughlin

[MadIvan]

Open acts of defiance by opponents of Saddam Hussein's regime have intensified in the past week, with saboteurs carrying out attacks against Iraq's railway system and protesters openly calling for the overthrow of the Iraqi dictator.

The most blatant act of sabotage took place 20 miles south of the north Iraqi city of Mosul when members of the Iraqi opposition blew up a stretch of track on the Mosul-Baghdad railway, causing the derailment of a train.

Before fleeing back to their base in Kurdistan, they left piles of leaflets by the side of the track urging the Iraqi soldiers who were sent to investigate the explosion to join the "international alliance to liberate Iraq" from "Saddam the criminal". In a separate incident, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a train illegally transporting fuel from Baghdad to Syria.

Demonstrations were also reported to have taken place in Kirkuk, where an estimated crowd of 20,000 marched on the Ba'ath party's main administrative headquarters demanding Saddam's overthrow. Three posters of the Iraqi leader were torn down and a grenade was thrown at the government building. One senior Ba'ath official was reported killed in the attack.

There were also unconfirmed reports that another demonstration by Iraqi Shi'ites in the holy city of Kerbala last weekend was violently suppressed after the intervention of militiamen loyal to Saddam.

The escalation in attacks by Iraqi opposition groups has also been accompanied by widespread acts of anti-Saddam vandalism. Posters of the Iraqi president, which adorn every public building, are being openly defaced and vandalised throughout the country.

Until recently anyone caught carrying out such acts would have received the death sentence. But the mounting acts of open defiance against Saddam's regime is indicative of the growing confidence being displayed by the main Iraqi opposition groups.

"Until recently such acts of open defiance were very rare, and were dealt with harshly," a Foreign Office official commented yesterday. "But as Saddam concentrates his energies on trying to protect his regime from attack, Iraqi opposition groups are becoming more audacious in their attacks."

The only area where Saddam can rely with confidence on the loyalty of his security forces is in the Ba'ath party's heartland around Baghdad. In an attempt to reassert his authority Saddam last week issued a directive ordering Iraqi officials not to give up their positions and flee the country.

To set an example, members of Saddam's security forces arrested a civil servant in the al-Hurriyya suburb of Baghdad on suspicion of preparing to leave the country. The unfortunate official was then tied to a pole in the street and passers-by were ordered to watch as his tongue was cut out and he was left to bleed to death.

[MadIvan]

Someone want to tell me again why we should let Saddam live? Anyone?

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[neutrino]

So he can be best buddies with Jacque Iraq?

[CatOwner]

And you wonder why the Iraqi people don't uprise against Saddam. The Iraqi people fear someone who would just as soon kill his own relative as he would someone in the opposition.

Forget arresting Saddam. He needs to lose his life during the upcoming war. I am 100% certain there will be dancing in the streets of Iraq if Saddam is killed.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Demonstrations were also reported to have taken place in Kirkuk, where an estimated crowd of 20,000 marched on the Ba'ath party's main administrative headquarters demanding Saddam's overthrow.

How about those numbers. Those people risk their lives to protest where the peacenicks here just risk explaining the credit charges to their fathers for the trip to DC. Suck on that libs.

[ErnBatavia]

protesters openly calling for the overthrow of the Iraqi dictator.

More than enough reason - right there - for the Coalition of the Willing to get on the road. We can't leave these people hanging any longer, or they WILL be "hanging" (if they're shown any mercy)

Let's Roll.....

[Red Dog #1]

We must make sure we don't leave these brave people in hanging like we did after the last war. Thier really counting on us.

[freedom4me]

Yes, the Iraqis will be dancing alright. Just the way the Romanians danced when Nicolai C. and the Mrs. were assasinated. Do you remember how the videotape of the dead Mr. and Mrs. C. was shown over and over again on TV?

It can't be soon enough for me!

"Ding, dong, Saddam is dead..."

[timestax]

NOW YOU'RE TALKING !!

[RS]

The smokey cloud obscuring Baghdad will be caused by burning pictures of Sadam !

[doug from upland]

May the liberation soon begin. God bless George W. Bush and the United States of America. Our nation is the greatest force for freedom in the history of this planet.

[MHGinTN]

BUMP to your post!

[MHGinTN]

I love it when a plan comes together.

[rface]

thanks for introducing some worthy news in an otherwise newsless day.

[Steven W.]

Like every other Stalinist dictatorial junta, Saddam's regime is like an egg ready to crack and be smashed onto the pavement.

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

"To set an example, members of Saddam's security forces arrested a civil servant in the al-Hurriyya suburb of Baghdad on suspicion of preparing to leave the country. The unfortunate official was then tied to a pole in the street and passers-by were ordered to watch as his tongue was cut out and he was left to bleed to death."

And the liberal elites dare to suggest a moral equivalence between these bastards and our President and Prime Minister! To continue to placate tyrants is appeasement most foul.

[MidlandDesperado]

Bay of Pigs.

Never again.

[Truthsearcher]

We deserted them once already in 1991, after what Saddam did to his opposition, the courage of these people to rise up again is truly admirable. Shame on us if we desert them again.

[ErnBatavia]

Bush is too smart to let this sort of scenario develop again. We're rolling.

[tomahawk]

Saddam should be killed, dead. Target him and kill him.