Iraqi Military Commanders Told to Abandon Posts

Knight Ridder ^ | 4-19-03 | By Carol Rosenberg

[Just mythoughts]

Can't wait to hear from this guy in five years when he actually gets a taste of freedom.

Those Russian advisors calling the orders sure got left out of his story.

[GraniteStateConservative]

So after we killed the remaining regime leaders in the target of opportunity strike in Baghdad, the whole thing crumbled?

He's dead, Jim.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #1

The command and control within his division may have been intact. But they could have broken down completely between senior leaders and guard commanders, due to successful decapitation attack by Americans.

Just my hunch.:)

[doosee]

Hundreds if not thousands who deserted and quit will be making up stories about "orders" they got to force them to quit. Right....... If it makes his ego feel better let him believe it. The plain truth is they got their behinds kicked but wont ever want to admit that.

[leftiesareloonie]

I'm not so sure they weren't order to disperse and disband.

Have you seen this thread?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/896248/posts

This is consistent with a decision to basically "go underground" quickly.

[ChadGore]

ROFL !

THIS IS HILARIOUS !!

"If we weren't Muslims we would do the same as the Japanese ministers: kill ourselves," he said, gesturing an imaginary pistol to his head. "But we can't because of our religion."

[section9]

Hundreds if not thousands who deserted and quit will be making up stories about "orders" they got to force them to quit. Right....... If it makes his ego feel better let him believe it. The plain truth is they got their behinds kicked but wont ever want to admit that.

This story has the partial ring of truth to it, however. I believe that this lieutenant was Guard, as were the rest of the members of his tank battalion. My thinking is that some units that blocked critical avenues of attack were probably the beneficiaries of sophisticated deception attacks: the order they received to retreat into Baghdad was real-only it came from a Commando Solo aircraft.

This story makes one respect our Special operators and CIA even more than one does now.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[randita]

But Jabouri said the disappearance wasn't the result of desertion or a disorganized rout, but was ordered by the highest levels and communicated to field units by telephone.

This jibes perfectly the the story that we bought off several Iraqi generals (to the tune of $75-100 million) to abandon the battle. Those generals are living somewhere in the laps of luxury and more than a few U.S. soldiers lives have been spared because of this extraordinary shaping of the battlefield.

[CholeraJoe]

we bought off several Iraqi generals (to the tune of $75-100 million)

Drop in the bucket when one considers the $600 million in US currency and $1 billion in gold just found in Baghdad.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

"If we weren't Muslims we would do the same as the Japanese ministers: kill ourselves," he said, gesturing an imaginary pistol to his head. "But we can't because of our religion."

Apparently this guy hasn't gotten the word yet. A whole bunch of Muslim brethren are blowing themselves up believing they will arrive in heaven surrounded by 72 virgins.

[Junior]

Methinks the Americans managed to infiltrate the command and control system and order this withdrawal. It's about the only thing that fits with the evidence.

[AntiGuv]

This is certainly consistent with what actually appears to have happened. Our forces have something between six & eight thousand POWs out of several hundred thousand Iraqi uniformed and paramilitary forces. We certainly didn't kill all the rest of them, and there was little evidence of resistance as the 3rd Infantry & the Marines closed the pincers on Baghdad. By all appearances, the Iraqi forces did indeed by and large melt away, and they didn't seem to do so in the disorderly fashion one might expect if that resulted from a breakdown of command & control.

[Illbay]

Sad. You have to admire a patriot. His story is reminiscent of those of German army officers who had no use for Hitler or the Nazis, but fought to protect their homeland from invasion.

How would we feel if we were fighting to protect America in a war that Bill Clinton had started?

[Daniel Ramsey]

Wouldn't it be a riot if it came to light that the $650 million actually came from us in the first place to buy off the Iraq military leaders?

Except somebody forgot to pick up the money! LOL

[Illbay]

You are misreading this.

What it means is that REAL Muslims--of which the militant Islamofascists are not a part--don't commit suicide.

[Tom Bombadil]

They thought they were fighting for Bagdhad but they were really fighting for Saddam. With Saddam gone, the orders make sense. Cut the head from the snake and the fight is gone.

[hotpotato]

But Jabouri said the disappearance wasn't the result of desertion or a disorganized rout, but was ordered by the highest levels and communicated to field units by telephone.

If this is true, that's very interesting. Rumsfeld said the fall would come from within. I think they got Saddam on March 19.

[katana]

The first thing that occurred to me was that immediately after the "decapitation" we had that hardware and software in place to basically take over what was left of their command and control and put out whatever orders would hasten the collapse.

Another possibility is that one or more of the commanders left alive after that strike (and who may have given us the intel needed to make it) was left in position to be giving all the division level orders. If so, the motivation could have been money, power, survival, any of which it was clear that at the end of the war we would be able to provide, not Saddam.

In any case, this is one more forecast made by Cheney and others which was laughed at but was precisely accurate. Baghdad did fall from the inside out. We kicked in the door and the roof collapsed, but IMHO it was no accident. This was the result of about a year and a half of careful planning and preparation.

[AFPhys]

But Jabouri said the disappearance wasn't the result of desertion or a disorganized rout, but was ordered by the highest levels and communicated to field units by telephone.

Boy, oh, boy, does this ever have the ring of a special ops/ PsyOps mission?