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Civilians 'use axes' in rebellion (Basra)
The Australian ^
| 03.26.2003
Posted on 03/25/2003 4:18:26 PM PST by SolidSupplySide
CIVILIANS have fought with axes and knives against Saddam Hussein's heavily-armed militiamen during an uprising in Basra, an Iraqi opposition group has said.
The "Iraq Headquarters" of the US-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC), located in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, said it had received reports from "field officers" by satellite phone. "Civilians fought with axes and knives against Saddam's Fedayeen", who used mainly mortars and Kalashnikov rifles, an INC spokesman said.
There were casualties, but no figures were available, he added.
Saddam's Fedayeen, a paramilitary militia which according to the British military has 1000 men in Basra, is headed by the Iraqi president's elder son Uday.
The British defence ministry said earlier today that Iraqi forces in Basra had fired mortars against their own people and that US and British forces had destroyed the mortars and some artillery pieces.
"Following a number of reports of insurrection in Basra, it has been confirmed in theatre that Iraqi forces have fired mortars against their own people," it said.
A rebellion in Iraq's second-largest city would mark a major turning point for US and British forces.
The allies have been surprised by fierce resistance in the south of the country so far.
British tanks are massed outside the city of more than one million residents, mostly Shiite Muslims, waiting for orders to attack.
But the Iraqi government has denied any rebellion is under way.
"These are lies issued by the US administration and British government ... with the aim of demoralising (the Iraqi population)," Information Minister Mohammad Saeed al-Sahhaf said
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: basra; casualties; fedayeen; handtohand; inc; iraqifreedom; kalashnikovrifles; uday; uprising; warlist
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I hope the UK soldiers save the Iraqi civilians from Saddam's butchers.
To: SolidSupplySide
There will be a bloodbath ,I fear, for the rebels.
2
posted on
03/25/2003 4:23:29 PM PST
by
MEG33
To: SolidSupplySide
Hey Mister Fedayeen, I wanna ax you something...
3
posted on
03/25/2003 4:25:38 PM PST
by
jiggyboy
To: MEG33
With enough citizens involvd, enough axes and the will, they will begin to acquire their own mortars and Kalashnikov rifles ... and then the tide will begin to swing to their side and the blood bath will go the other way.
4
posted on
03/25/2003 4:27:59 PM PST
by
Jeff Head
To: SolidSupplySide; *war_list; W.O.T.; 11th_VA; Libertarianize the GOP; Free the USA; knak; Peach; ...
5
posted on
03/25/2003 4:29:16 PM PST
by
Ernest_at_the_Beach
(Where is Saddam? and where is Tom Daschle?)
To: SolidSupplySide
Meanwhile,
Rumsfeld indicates that the coalition is not strong enough to support the uprising.
To: MEG33
There will be a bloodbath ,I fear, for the rebels. Maybe not, they seem to have fire support from US and UK Marine Artillery and Air. Take away the heavy weapons from Saddams thugs, and put a few AKs in the hands of the rebels and they stand a chance. AKs can be procured via the use of the ax, the knife or a handy piece of heavy pipe. Handguns too would be usefull in the effort, but the rebells aren't likely to have many if any, until they start taking them from dead Saddamite officers.
7
posted on
03/25/2003 4:33:22 PM PST
by
El Gato
To: Henrietta
"CIVILIANS have fought with axes and knives against Saddam Hussein's heavily-armed militiamen during an uprising in Basra." "How we burned in the prison camps later thinking: What would things have been like if every police operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive? If during periods of mass arrests people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever was at hand? The organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt."
-- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize winner and author of The Gulag Archipelago, who spent 11 years in Soviet concentration camps.
The parallel gives me chills.
To: SolidSupplySide
Rumsfeld didn't say we weren't strong enough....
9
posted on
03/25/2003 4:37:15 PM PST
by
Dog
To: SolidSupplySide
...and I thought the gun-control nuts in the US were claiming that Iraq was an example of a society in which the citizens all have guns.
To: MEG33
There will be blood spilled, but remember there are 1.3 million people in Basra and only 1000 Saddamites with no reinforcements.
11
posted on
03/25/2003 4:42:11 PM PST
by
Blood of Tyrants
(Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
To: Beelzebubba
Pray for the brave people of Basra. Please, help the British forces and US air power overcome those Iraqi Ba'athists with the least amount of casualties. God give them strength.
12
posted on
03/25/2003 4:43:31 PM PST
by
demnomo
To: SolidSupplySide
Shows just how bad it is under Saddas if the citizens are willing to take on mortars and Kali's with knives and ax's.
13
posted on
03/25/2003 4:44:31 PM PST
by
philetus
(Keep doing what you always do and you'll keep getting what you always get)
To: Beelzebubba
Thanks for posting the Solzhenitsyn excerpt - it is one that caught my attention years ago.
The words "What would things have been like if..." are truly haunting and in-your-face challenging when considered in light of much of history's tragedies.
14
posted on
03/25/2003 4:48:07 PM PST
by
KMJames
To: Blood of Tyrants
Are those numbers right? 1.3 mil? Where did ya hear/read that?
To: Jeff Head
I'm surprised we didn't have plans in place to arm the common folk... or maybe we do.
16
posted on
03/25/2003 4:51:45 PM PST
by
XEHRpa
To: unix
Are those numbers right? 1.3 mil? Where did ya hear/read that? I heard that figure on Sky News this afternoon. I have no idea whether it's true, but it's a big city.
1000 troops don't have a chance if the population becomes a mob.
17
posted on
03/25/2003 4:54:09 PM PST
by
Dog Gone
To: SolidSupplySide; MadIvan
I understand that the Lads go in at first light.
Godspeed to them, then.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
18
posted on
03/25/2003 4:54:11 PM PST
by
section9
(You will all be shot unless you download the Saddam screensaver...)
To: SolidSupplySide
Freeeeeeedooooooooommmmm!!!
To: SolidSupplySide
Axes? Shades of Sgt Legros at Hougemont!
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