Fedayeen Saddam - a look into their world, and the reason they continue to fight

New Republic Online ^ | March 29, 2003 | Khalid Makiya

[DED]

The world is now getting acquainted with the Fedayeen Saddam, the thugs who are keeping Iraqi citizens in check, most vividly right now in the cities of the south. They were created by Saddam's elder son Uday in 1991 with the specific purpose of countering any future intifada, especially in the predominantly Shi'ite south. (Saddam has since given control the Fedayeen over to his more stable son Qusay.) According to a former Iraqi intelligence officer who worked for the opposition while he was still in the security services and only made his (narrow) escape when his activities were uncovered, the organization largely recruits young teenagers, whose families are impoverished. The sanctions did a great deal to draw such jobless kids into the Fedayeen. The organization is known also to have drawn from criminal elements.

The Fedayeen training in the infamous camps of Salman Pak, Khalid says, is characterized by its intensity and its deliberate attempts, through psychological means, to isolate recruits from society at large and transform them into a fiercely disciplined and deliberately cruel force. The training instills in recruits a sense of paranoia, the feeling that the very precariousness of the regime is a personal threat to them. This is a force that sees plots against the regime everywhere, even though the regime is all-powerful over them. This paranoia soon turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy, since the people they terrorize would gladly rip them limb from limb if they got half a chance. The Fedayeen, in other words, is a force that knows what fate awaits it after liberation. Khalid is certain that, unlike the regular army, they will therefore fight to the finish.

In order to escape detection, not every Fedayeen member travels around armed. What this force seems to have done in preparation for the war is to hide weapons caches in each town, in nondescript places. When it comes time to fight, they go from place to place as civilians, locate their weapons, and surprise their targets.

Khalid says they are frequently strangers to the towns and cities in which they operate. This is their Achilles' heel, but it is also the essential ingredient of what makes them cohere as a force whose first and foremost task is to act as an insurance policy against another intifada. Now that the war to destroy Saddam is underway, the regime is collecting on that insurance policy.

The danger is that the Americans won't know how to tell them apart from ordinary Iraqis. Indeed, rooting out such a force will be virtually impossible for anyone who does not have an intimate familiarity with Iraqi society and daily life under Saddam.

[DED]

Do you wonder why the Iraqis don't just give up? Here's at least part of the reason - the Fedayeen Saddam have terrorized the Iraqi civilian population to the point where they will be set upon and killed as soon as the people no longer have a reason to fear them.

It may get a lot tougher to avoid killing civilians because of these murderers. And will Kofi Annan and the other anti-Americans at the UN blame Saddam? These people don't know how to assign blame anywhere BUT the United States.

[MeekOneGOP]

[chance33_98]

The sociology and psychology of terrorism: Who becomes a terrorist and why? (A must read)

[MeekOneGOP]

I heard that they were responsible for 100,000 deaths in Basrah some years ago when Basrah revolted.

[WarSlut]

Saddam has since given control the Fedayeen over to his more stable son Qusay.

I'm just trying to figure out how one dead son can be any more or less stable than the other dead son...

I guess Qusay's corpse was easier to put back together than Uday's.

Whatever, they're both rotting in hell now.

[aged]

the fedayeen had a lot of extra time to stash weapons, settle in all the cities that they are in today, thanks to the u.n., blixx and especially the french. i will never get over the anger i have for france.

[blandbutmarvellous]

I heard on the radio last night that village life in Iraq was really monotonously predictable. In particular, the villages basically shut down at sunset and nobody moved around or traveled at night.

Except the Fedayeen.

[Polybius]

Khalid says they are frequently strangers to the towns and cities in which they operate.

After this war is over, there will be a lot of dead "strangers" littering the streets of Iraqi towns and villages.

[DED]

That's BURNING, not rotting!

[Amerigomag]

i will never get over the anger i have for france

Yes the French acted as arms suppliers to Saddam during the blocade but their contribution will not have a significant impact on our casulaties.

Yes the French blocked our wishes in the UN but the UN was not part of our essential plan.

I suggest you take a closer look at the consequences of Turkey's actions in this conflict if you want to direct your anger to a truly worthy subject. The American public has not heard the last of the "Turkish problem" in this conflict.

[RLK]

In order to escape detection, not every Fedayeen member travels around armed. What this force seems to have done in preparation for the war is to hide weapons caches in each town, in nondescript places. When it comes time to fight, they go from place to place as civilians, locate their weapons, and surprise their targets.

----------------------------------------

This is one of several such groups, some more highly connected to Islam instead of Hussein. What we are dealing with is groups with weapons hidden in every home, school, hospital, and mosque who are indiscernable from the general population. At the same time, they are capable of controlling the general population. Their own lives mean very little to them and suicide attacks are considered an expression of devout virtue. They exist in the tens of thousands or in numbers far greater. They move from country to country.

Killing them, if they can even be found, while they are dressed as civilians will create a field day for exploitation by the leftist media.

The only thing that can be done in the immediate future is knock off Saddam Hussein and his hencemen, destroy the military and any weapons, then get the hell out or we will be chewed to pieces in a way such that our airplanes and tanks will be useless.

Over the long term, Islam must be systemtically thoroughly discredited. Guerilla movements similar to the Husein model above must be organized and trained to battle Islam. Otherwise, we're dead meat.

[dark_lord]

Once the Iraqi civilians know we are there in force and there to stay, they will finger these rats. And we will get them. Hopefully most will try to shoot it out with our guys -- which will mean they will be eliminated. Others will give up and will be hauled off to be tried as war criminals.

[DED]

Yes, and they're not the only ones I hope try to shoot it out. I keep hearing more and more about Hamas and other terrorist organizations sending their scum into Baghdad to help Saddam.

I don't want our guys to have to confront any more than they have to, BUT could this not be a positive thing? After all, on of the problems with fighting these terrorist organizations is finding them. If they throw in with Saddam, at least we have an opportunity to take them out.

[xm177e2]

Memo to the Bush Administration: LET THE OPPOSITION WIN

[SuziQ]

The danger is that the Americans won't know how to tell them apart from ordinary Iraqis

The townspeople will know they are Fedayeen, because they were 'strangers' when they descended on the towns. I believe that these townspeople, when they come to believe that Sadaam is no longer in charge, will turn these young men in to the allies. I think that has already begun to happen in Basra, now that the people understand why the Coalition is there.

[expatpat]

I'm just trying to figure out how one dead son can be any more or less stable than the other dead son...

They have Qusay laid out on the floor, Uday is propped up in a chair.

[ruready4eternity]

In the midst of "BAD NEWS" here is some good news dont worry about the lies,Here is the TRUTH of the MATTER.

Read this word from God:

"Flee from the midst of Babylon, and every one save his life! Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord's
vengeance; He shall recompense her. Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunk. The nations drank
her wine; therefore the nations are deranged. Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed, wail for her! Take balm for her pain;
perhaps she may be healed; we would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her and let us go everyone to his own
country; for her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies. Make the arrows bright! Gather the shields! The Lord has
raised up the spirit of the kings. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the
vengeance for His temple....... O you who dwell by many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come."

[DED]

You're right, the Turks shafted us worse than France. More of our guys will die because of what the Turks did.

Quote from Charles Krauthammer: "In the current campaign, we have suffered from two major impediments: Turkey's betrayal and our own high moral standards. Turkey's refusal to let us send the 4th Infantry Division to attack Baghdad from the north has cost us heavily. It has allowed Saddam Hussein to concentrate his defenses to the south and essentially cut in half the size of the heavily mechanized enemy he has to deal with. (The president's supplemental budget request has $1 billion in aid for Turkey. Congress should strike every penny of it.)"

[Allan]

Bump

[walden]

I've read credible reports that Turkey's action was, at least partly, driven by threats from France and Germany to keep them out of the EU if they allowed us to open that northern front through Turkey.

Yeah, France again.