Posted on 03/31/2003 4:30:34 PM PST by blam
Iraqi exiles flock home on liberation mission
March 31 2003 at 08:37PM
Amman, Jordan - A first free bus to Baghdad left the Jordanian capital on Monday, courtesy of one of Saddam Hussein's sons, with 50 Iraqi men onboard determined to fight for their embattled country against United States and British invaders.
"It was too expensive for me to leave before, but now the trip is free and I am going back to fight for my country," said Samir, a 35-year-old construction worker.
The man said he was going back to Basra, the main southern Iraqi city partially controlled by the coalition forces and where pockets of Iraqi resistance still remain.
"I am not afraid to travel from Baghdad to Basra, the Americans say they control part of Iraq but it's all lies, they only got the port of Umm Qasr," he defiantly added.
'Everybody can go back, there are absolutely no restrictions' An Iraqi spokesperson for the Dalla bus company, which people here say is owned by Saddam Hussein's son Uday, said it was the first free bus bound to Baghdad since the US-led war began on March 20.
"A one-way trip costs 12 dinars (about R135), but today for the first time the trip is free," he said on condition of anonymity, adding that similar buses were also leaving from Syria.
"Everybody can go back, there are absolutely no restrictions," he said.
Men waiting to board the bus said some had been granted a pardon by the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime and issued a new passport.
But they declined to produce a copy of the document, reportedly stamped with Saddam's pardon at the Iraqi embassy in Amman.
'I am going back there because I feel it is my duty as an Arab' "People who did not go back for their compulsory military service, people whose passports or whose Jordanian working permits expired were issued papers on the spot in order to leave," said the company spokesman.
Iraqi worker Adnan said he felt compelled to go back to Iraq after six months in Jordan: "It's matter of national pride and dignity," he said.
"I can't bear to see my country occupied by foreign troops, I believe we can kick them out. They may have incredible weaponry but the will of God is stronger," he said angrily.
Meanwhile, Umm Abdallah, her husband and three young children, were heartbroken when they could not find seats on the bus.
"They told us to come back tomorrow because the bus is full," she said.
Her husband, an electrical engineer who had worked in Amman for the past six months, broke down in tears when asked why he was taking his family back to Baghdad at such dangerous times.
"He's very worried about his elderly parents who live in an area of Baghdad that was bombed. We haven't been able to reach them since the second day of the war. We need to be reunited," his wife explained.
Jasser Abdel Jawad, 21, a Palestinian student who left Baghdad when the war started, was also heading back. But he said he will not take up arms in Iraq.
"I am going back there because I feel it is my duty as an Arab," he said.
"I want to help out the people of Iraq that welcomed me. I want to help out wherever I can, for example in hospitals," he said.
None of the men departing for Baghdad said they were afraid of the road, on which coalition forces were spotted by journalists recently returning from Iraq to the kingdom.
"At most they will search us, but I feel confident they will let us go. We are unarmed civilians," said Samir, vowing however to carry a weapon as soon as he sets foot on Iraqi soil.
A US army official at Central Command headquarters in Qatar said on Monday that US troops will ban access to Iraq's western desert and roads leading to it. Both Jordan and Syria have borders that lead into that region. - Sapa-AFP
I believe the roads from Jordon are occuppied by the 101st Airborne. No swinging d**ks should be allowed to pass. Women and children can proceed if they still want to without their military age (which starts at about 10 or 12 in Iraq and goes up until you die) men.
Marines go duck hunting.
Seems to me the problem would be self-solving.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, now up on UPI, and FR, "The A-MAA-zing War Wizard"
"Uh, lord Sah-Damn, we have already lost two death stars and most of the fleet...our shields are down as well"
Darth Saddam: "come to the dark side of the force...it is your destiny".
"Yes lord So-Damned"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.