200 Freed Iraqi POWs Leave Desert Camp

AP | 4/27/03

[Ligeia]

Before Atheer Abdul-Karim, 25, joined his fellow Iraqis in singing a folk song on board a departing bus, he shouted out: "They paid us 17,000 (Iraqi dinars a month) to fight Americans. I would have killed Saddam for one dollar."

What an insightful account. I take back those unflattering things I said about AP embedded reporters. Would it be wrong to wish these released Iraqi POWs health, prosperity, and much happiness considering they served in the Republican Guard? I'm assuming if they're being released they are guilty of no real crime and were pressed into a service to Saddam they hated.

[solzhenitsyn]

Thank, kattracks, I loved this story. Wish we could have at least given the barefoot fellows shoes, but I know they mainly just wanted to get home and find out about their families.

I'm so glad my country took the lead in liberating Iraq! It is an especially wonderful time to be an American.

[tiamat]

I think you are right.

Let us hope these newly released will go back to their homes and tell the truth about how they wre handled by us....

Might do our cause a world of good!

Tia

[El Gato]

Would it be wrong to wish these released Iraqi POWs health, prosperity, and much happiness considering they served in the Republican Guard? I'm

Where does it say they served in the RG? Since it doesn't say, quite likely they were part of the regular Iraqi army, which either surrendered, like these fellows, or simply melted away and went literally went "over the hill.

[El Gato]

Chanting "Saddam no, Bush yes," some 200 Iraqi prisoners

Hmm, need to put these fellows in contact with the Hollywierdos and the Reds from the ANSWER coalition.

"They paid us 17,000 (Iraqi dinars a month) to fight Americans. I would have killed Saddam for one dollar."

It would probably have been a raise anyway. ;-) .

[El Gato]

Wish we could have at least given the barefoot fellows shoes

I'm sure they'll find a bunch of sandalls, shoes and even militay issue boots, left behind by Republican Guard and Saddam Feydayeen members who no longer have any need for them.

[JoeSchem]

Before Atheer Abdul-Karim, 25, joined his fellow Iraqis in singing a folk song on board a departing bus, he shouted out: "They paid us 17,000 (Iraqi dinars a month) to fight Americans. I would have killed Saddam for one dollar."

What's your rate for North Korean dictators?

[xm177e2]

I don't think there is a big difference anymore between regular soldiers and RG. The ones who fought are dead and the others ran away or surrenderred (and that's good enough).

[DCPatriot]

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

It would have been nice if every Iraqi POW could have received a bit of the Multi-Million dollar booty taken by our military.

For example, a thousand dollars American would equate to a nice tidy bonus for them to transfer into civilian life.

Gosh, am I being a Socialist for suggesting something like that? ;^)

[Ligeia]

Let us hope these newly released will go back to their homes and tell the truth about how they wre handled by us....

Agreed. From a pragmatic point of view, a month ago I'd want them dead before they hurt one hair on the head of one of ours. Now we need their cooperation in the successful political rebuilding of a new Iraq.

How horrible it must have been to be an Iraqi these past 30 years. May they go in peace and prosperity from here on out and may new friendships continue to flourish.

[Ligeia]

Where does it say they served in the RG? Since it doesn't say, quite likely they were part of the regular Iraqi army, which either surrendered, like these fellows, or simply melted away and went literally went "over the hill.

True. In rereading, I see no reference to the RG. A probable poor assumption on my part. Even so, the questions remain. Thanks for clarifying.

[tiamat]

Ligeia wrote:

Agreed. From a pragmatic point of view, a month ago I'd want them dead before they hurt one hair on the head of one of ours. Now we need their cooperation in the successful political rebuilding of a new Iraq. How horrible it must have been to be an Iraqi these past 30 years. May they go in peace and prosperity from here on out and may new friendships continue to flourish.

********************************

They go back, and they talk to their friends and family about how we are NOT butchers, how they WERE treated decently, and most important:

How what the "Old Regime" said about us was false!

Saves more american lives to do it this way, IMHO! (grin)

Tia

[Flyer]

Chanting "Saddam no, Bush yes,"

[McGavin999]

Too bad we couldn't give each of them a US dollar. They could have lived for a week on that, and most of them could have bought transportation home.

[the Deejay]

"When we heard Americans entered Iraq, we knew it was the end of Saddam," said Falih Rahim, 35, from Baghdad. "

Apparently, he wasn't listening to Baghdad Bob's reports on tv.

[Travis McGee]

It's rotten that we are releasing any barefoot POWs 500 miles from home. They should be issued boots, clothes, and at least $20 each from the billions in Saddam's cash we have siezed.

These POWs should go home as allies and pro-American ambassadors to their neighborhoods and families. Sending them home barefoot and penniless is a huge opportunity squandered! This is a psyops fiasco!

[Travis McGee]

You are right on, but even $20 would be enough. $20 is the monthly salary of a mid-level professional manager in Iraq.

[Polybius]

One smiling POW, Mahdi Saleh, told The Associated Press: "My mother will die when she sees me."

CNN Headline News: "In our top story tonight..... CNN has just learned from the Associated Press that the U.S. Army has taken steps to ensure the death of the mother of an Iraqi POW."

[Valin]

Would it be wrong to wish these released Iraqi POWs health, prosperity, and much happiness

Nope! It would be the American thing to do.