Posted on 03/29/2003 5:55:53 PM PST by MadIvan
GULF WAR II: Brit support grows for conflict + Officer reveals brutality
![]() LT COL TIM COLLINS: Reveals his battle to lift Iraq's shadow of tyranny
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The butchers of the dictator's corrupt Ba'ath party had spied on the Muslim youngster from an alleyway in Az Zubayr near Basra.
Battle-hardened troops of the 1st Batallion, The Royal Irish Regiment choked back tears when they later saw her limp beaten body swaying from a lamp-post in the ramshackle south Iraq town held by Allies.
And yesterday their grim-faced commander, Lt Colonel Tim Collins chewed on a cigar and confirmed:
"A teenage girl who waved at my troops was hanged within the hour.
"These daily outrages have made us more determined than ever to crush Saddam's evil regime. There's still much fear among the people we're meeting.
"Our mission is to assuage it, to fill the power vacuum left by the decapitation of the Ba'ath Party.
You have to understand that nobody under the age of 45 has ever known life without it. They have no concept or inkling of freedomand that's a heavy weight on our shoulders.
" We came into this area hard and at no little risk. We've had great success in cutting off the Ba'ath Party here.
" Its chief who was Lord God On High in these parts is currently considering his options in a Prisoner of War cage.
" I'd reserved judgment on himand then I found the knuckleduster in his drawer.
" One of the few good things I can say about the party is that they keep meticulous records.
" We established all the names of local members. We knew they were threatening people co-operating with us, so we paid some of them a visit overnight.
" It's not straightforward but it works. One man found a shot through his kitchen floor helped him remember where his weapon was hidden."
Belfast-born Lt Col Collins (pictured above) wears trendy Ray-Ban sunglasses and a kukrithe blade he is entitled to carry as a Gurkha commander. His troops are distributing food and medical supplies and restoring water and power while Ba'ath thugs terrorise the population.
The soldiers have seen the mass graves Saddam's henchmen dug for their countrymen murdered for co-operating with US troops during the last Gulf War in 1991.
This time round, in an unspeakable act of barbarism, children had their throats slit.
And yesterday families fleeing Basra were fired on by Iraqi troops. Compassionate US marines picked up children and took them to safety.
Royal Irish Regiment soldiers foiled a plot by the Ba'ath monsters to assassinate one of their comrades as reprisal' for their liberation of the town.
Lt Col Collins, who gave a rousing speech to his men at the start of the war, stormed: "There will be no murders on my watch. We came into this area with excellent intelligence and have since made first-class local contacts. At the risk of their lives local people offered information to my patrols and it was spot-on. It saved the life of one of my men."
Lt Col Collins based himself in the Ba'ath party HQ as a psychological move.
On the front door, one of his men has defiantly scrawled: "Welcome to Free Iraq."
I wonder if dropping a million or so Liberators in Iraq would have any useful effect?
That little one saw the only resemblance of freedom she'd ever know about on this earth.... and then she died for it.
The only thing those a$$holes would say in response to that is that if our troops weren't there, then the Ba'ath party "officials" wouldn't have any need to threaten the citizenry. And you know they would.
Lt Col Collins based himself in the Ba'ath party HQ as a psychological move.
On the front door, one of his men has defiantly scrawled: "Welcome to Free Iraq."
They also come configured with a knife.
The most common however , is the garden vairety brass knuckles (incidentally they can be made of any metal, they were originally brass, thus the moniker) without attachments.
In New York they can still be purchased in martial arts supply stores and various stores where they sell security paraphenalia and supplies.
The butchers of the dictator's corrupt Ba'ath party had spied on the Muslim youngster from an alleyway in Az Zubayr near Basra.
Battle-hardened troops of the 1st Batallion, The Royal Irish Regiment choked back tears when they later saw her limp beaten body swaying from a lamp-post in the ramshackle south Iraq town held by Allies.
And yesterday their grim-faced commander, Lt Colonel Tim Collins chewed on a cigar and confirmed:
"A teenage girl who waved at my troops was hanged within the hour.
Any chance that the lying rulers of the Brit's are trying another one? Remember WWI and the Germans bayoneting babies and eating them? Or the false Kuwati claims of babies being dumped out of incubators? How about the lies that justified the attack on Yugoslavia in support of the Muslim KLA terrorists?
"It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive, but there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign. We will put them in their sleeping bags, and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow.
The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his Nemesis, and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction. There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls, and they are stoking the fires of Hell for Saddam.
He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die, they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity.
We go to liberate, not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the only flag that will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them. There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.
As for the others, I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out, if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle, remember to be magnanimous in victory. It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly.
I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts. I can assure you, they live with the mark of Caine upon them. If someone surrenders to you, then remember they have that right in international law, and ensure that one day they go home to their family. The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please.
If you harm the regiment or its history by over-enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer. You will be shunned, unless your conduct is of the highest, for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform nor our nation.
It is not a question of if [we will face chemical weapons], it's a question of when. We know he has already devolved the decision to his lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself. If we survive the first strike, we will survive the attack.
Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will see things that no man could pay to see, and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous, and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be embarrassed by their hospitality, even though they have nothing.
Don't treat them as refugees, for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you. If there are casualties of war, then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning, they did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves.
As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home, and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there. Our business now is north."
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