Free Republic

Saddam troops go AWOL From GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON Deputy Political Editor at US Central Command, Qatar, and SIMON HUGHES TENS of thousands of terrified Iraqi soldiers have DESERTED before a single shot is fired. The number of conscripts fleeing for their lives was put by intelligence experts at between 20,000 and 30,000. The mass desertion in the face of overwhelming Allied might means up to 15 per cent of Saddam’s regular army has gone AWOL. A senior British war planner at US Central Command in Qatar said last night: “Iraqi soldiers are scared out of their wits at what they know...

The soldiers and politicians in Iraqi Kurdistan, which has been free from Saddam Hussein's control since the last Gulf War, believe that morale among Saddam's men on the other side of the front line is extremely low. According to Iraqi deserters, almost everyone from generals to private soldiers is thinking about his own future and how best to escape from Saddam's control. Of course, deserters usually tell their hosts what they think they want to hear. But this kind of story proved to be precisely true back in 1991, when the Iraqi army surrendered in its tens of thousands directly...