[Marxism] 200 Iraqi soldiers quit, 200 more take 'leave' in Fallujah fight

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Posted on Tue, Nov. 09, 2004
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Iraqi troops also battling death threats, desertions

By Hannah Allam and Tom Lasseter

Knight Ridder

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. military officials said Monday that at least 200
Iraqi soldiers had deserted their posts in the U.S.-led offensive on
Al-Fallujah.

The reported desertions drew attention to the predicament faced by Iraqi
troops who are torn between orders from commanders and outrage from
their fellow citizens.

Prominent Iraqi clerics, including influential Sunni Muslims and top
aides to rebel Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, condemned the Iraqi
troops who were serving alongside Americans in Al-Fallujah, the Sunni
stronghold 40 miles west of Baghdad. The insurgent council that's
controlled Al-Fallujah for the past six months threatened to behead
Iraqi soldiers who entered the city to ``fight their own people.''

The U.S. military and Iraqi commanders estimated that up to 200 Iraqi
soldiers had resigned, with another 200 ``on leave.''

``Some people were afraid because they received threats,'' said Sgt.
Abdul Raheem, an Iraqi soldier. ``They were afraid of death.''

The Al-Fallujah offensive was to involve about 2,000 Iraqi soldiers,
military officials have said.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called reports of the
desertions ``an isolated problem.''

Clerics in Al-Fallujah blasted the Iraqi troops in a statement, calling
them ``the occupiers' lash on their fellow countrymen.''

``We swear by God that we will stand against you in the streets, we will
enter your houses, and we will slaughter you just like sheep,'' the
statement said.

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi made a surprise visit Monday to bolster the
morale of Iraqi troops at the Camp Fallujah base. The men gathered
around him and sang and danced to show their allegiance to Iraq and to
him. In a rousing speech punctuated by their cheers, Allawi told the men
they were making history.

``The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage just like the people of
Samarra, and you need to free them,'' Allawi said. ``Your job is to
arrest the killers, but if you kill them, let it be.''

``May they go to hell!'' the soldiers cried.

``To hell they will go,'' Allawi answered.
Hannah Allam reported from Baghdad, Tom Lasseter from Al-Fallujah. The
Associated Press contributed to this report.


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