Regards, Ivan
Posted on 03/19/2003 3:33:07 PM PST by MadIvan
MASS desertions of Iraqi troops and the defection of senior figures from President Saddam Hussein’s ruling family circle were gathering pace yesterday as the countdown to war reached its final hours.
Cruise missiles were being loaded on to B-52 bombers; warplanes were attacking Iraqi artillery batteries as a prelude to an all-out assault, and British and US troops in Kuwait moved into the demilitarised zone on the Iraq border ready to invade. President Bush sent Congress notification of his intention to go to war, and Tony Blair held the first full meeting of his war cabinet.
But even before the first bullet was fired, classified intelligence reports seen by The Times suggested that as many as three quarters of some Iraqi regiments in the area near the northern no-fly zone had fled and nearly a quarter of Republican Guard, whose loyalty to Saddam has until now been unquestioned, were also said to have deserted.
In the mainly Shia Muslim south, 17 Iraqi soldiers gave themselves up to US-led forces in northern Kuwait, but Kuwaiti border guards were having to turn others back, telling them that they had to wait for the attack to begin before they could surrender.
In another important development, one of Saddam’s half-brothers has fled to Syria. Sab’awi Ibrahim Hasan Al-Tikriti, regarded in America as a possible war criminal, has sought refuge in Damascus. His flight from Baghdad suggests “fractures developing within the regime”, according to the intelligence reports, which paint a picture of the dying hours of a 30-year regime. “We are looking at wholesale desertions in some areas,” one intelligence officer said. “In the southern area, where there are six Iraqi divisions, 50 per cent of their officers are planning to surrender once the campaign opens.
“There’s a lot of talk of waiting until the war starts, because of the danger to the officers’ families. It’s also been expressed that most want a sudden or surprise attack, so that they have an excuse for not putting up greater resistance.”
The intelligence reports could not be independently verified, but Vice-Admiral Lowell Jacoby, America’s most senior intelligence officer and director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, told the Washington Post that there was “a very real likelihood” that Iraq’s military could collapse “very quickly”.
In addition Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish leader in northern Iraq, told The Times that he had received a flurry of contacts from Iraqi troops, some of them high-ranking officers, saying that they planned to surrender when fighting began. “There are contacts, we have had many of such things. The numbers are great and the quality of people is significant,” he said.
US officials believe that the psychological warfare of recent months has severely weakened the resolve of Iraqi soldiers. Yesterday alone, American and British aircraft dropped another two million leaflets over southeastern Iraq, bringing to more than 15 million to total delivered in recent weeks. They urge Iraqi troops not to fight and warn them of the consequences if they do.
Several EC130 Hercules transport aircraft flying along the Iraqi border have been broadcasting anti-Saddam messages on radio frequencies that Baghdad has been unable to block.
Radio Sawa, an Arabic language radio station funded by the US, has been broadcasting political messages to Iraqis interspersed with Arabic and Western music. Yesterday it broadcast an interview with Richard Armitage, the US Deputy Secretary of State, saying that Iraq belonged to Iraqis.
Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said there was “a lot of unease” inside Iraq. But rumours that Tariq Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister, had defected, were proved untrue when he appeared, cigar in hand, before the television cameras.
So poor is morale in the Iraqi ranks that in some areas Saddam has ordered the deployment of special forces officers to prevent regular officers from deserting. The last report of such action was received within the past two days.
Intelligence reports are compiled from information from British and American special forces already in Iraq and from aerial surveillance. They are updated four times a day and distributed to senior allied commanders. From these reports it is estimated that 73 per cent of the regular army in the south have already made up their minds to surrender. In one dramatic example, the reports note that a US “psy ops” — psychological operation — unit dropped leaflets on Iraq’s 51st Mechanised Division on March 9 and 10. Four days later, 20 per cent of the division had deserted and was no longer in the area. “Many of those who have already gone are reporting that the rest are preparing to surrender,” an intelligence officer said.
In northern Iraq, between 43 and 75 per cent of regular soldiers, depending upon their regiment, have fled. Iraqi tribal leaders in the region have also abandoned Saddam and defected to the Kurds in the Northern no-fly zone. In Chamchamal, 30 miles from the Iraqi border with Turkey, soldiers attempted to surrender to the Kurdish civilian population two days ago. They were fired upon by their own side, causing civilians to scatter. The desertion rate is lower around Baghdad.
Regards, Ivan
seems things arenot going to be very good for tiny tommie. He wanted lots of deaths.
seems things arenot going to be very good for tiny tommie. He wanted lots of deaths.
I don't know where they got this, but it seems to me that plenty of people have suspected that even the Republican Guard would have a loyalty problem and may fail to fight.
Anyway, I'm sure that there are plenty of perverse-minded liberals who are in anguish that this war will be over soon and the results will be very favorable to their enemies, George Bush and Tony Blair.
I remember the liberals outrage when Reagan helped that little island after Cuba invaded them. They just knew he was a war-monger but even though it was clear that the island people asked him to help, liberals still insisted he was imperialistic and that it was very unjust.
MOTHER OF ALL DESERTIONS!
Tell me about it. I am way too much of a hypochondriac for this type of thing.
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