The choice for Iraq's rag-tag army: be killed by the US or by Saddam

guardian ^ | 2/8/03

[America's Resolve]

If they're not noticed, there has got to be at least a .01% chance they won't be turned into smoking charnel houses, the interior of which are coated with a thin, greasy paste that once was their crew.

Nahh. It seems like during Gulf War I the chopper pilots called it "Tank Plinking".

They figured out that the tanks retain their heat LONG after the surrounding desert does. So if they went out at night with an infrared filter, the tanks showed up in a bright white (well bright green with the night vision stuff) :)

So even if we didnt know where they were, they ARE findable.

[WellsFargo94]

??? Paraffin -- making candles? burning for heat?

Yeah, what's up with that? You'd think that the cigarettes would cost more than paraffin.

[Shralp17]

Just a little Scenario:
It sounds like most of the Iraqi soldiers are scared as hell and don't want to be where they are. To the front they have the Americans and two there back they have the Republican Guard and Saddam. When the war starts it hundreds if not thousands will surrended to the American forces. They will definately remember our treatment of POW's during the Desert Storm. So why don't we use these men and make a Iraqi liberation force. We coudl seperate them into small groups and then they could roll into Bagdad with the US forces. Imagine the public relations effect it could have on the Iraqi people. Imagine being a wife of an Iraqi soldier who has bee gone for months and the next time you see him he is riding on a US Army truck freeing your village. Just a thought

[CWOJackson]

There are many veterans of the last Gulf War in Saddam's Army. Most of them will remember the months that they were half starved, in sand bunkers being blasted by the U.S. Air Force, knowing they could no run or be killed by their own officers. How they were expected to commit suicide on the battlefield for Saddam with hardly any chance of inflicting damage on our forces.

These veterans also remember how many of them, in large formations, marched themselves into the welcome captivity of U.S. POW camps; often without guard, merely being given food, water and pointed in the right direction by U.S. troops.

Those same people will remember how well they were treated at the POW camps. They also remember how that when they got home Saddam was still in power, living like a king while they suffered.

As with most armies, these veterans will remember the lessons from the last war and teach them to the younger troops alongside them.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

I hope the US military has thought this whole thing through. When the Iraqi army finally surrenders 15 minutes after we anounce the war...will we have enough MREs(meals ready to eat) to feed Saddam's army? Does it make sense to build internment camps for a 24 hour war?

Knowing American troops, they'll share their MRE's with the captured Iraqi POWs.

For sure they'll get better treatment as our prisoners than what they are suffering through now.

We treat our POWs quite a bit differently then most other countries do.

[ToTheStars]

if George Bush wants to give us freedom then we will welcome it."

I'm really going to enjoy seeing these folks liberated!

[Screaming_Gerbil]

...So why don't we use these men and make a Iraqi liberation force. We coudl seperate them into small groups and then they could roll into Bagdad with the US forces. Imagine the public relations effect it could have on the Iraqi people...

That's a good idea! I hope we do it, or something like it.

One thing though... we're probably going to take losses going after the hard core Republican Guard and Saddam's henchmen... Might be a good idea having these liberated Iraqi soldiers with us to at least help give anyone who doesn't want to fight it out a chance to surrender...