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| Iraq |
| Inside Saddam’s military "elite" |
| 2003-03-04 |
| Story from the Times. There has been some discussion as to this guy's real identity and motive, but his story rings true to me. THE young manâs eyes glitter with fervour as he explains his comradesâ expectations in battle against American troops: âWe want to fight and we expect to die. There is no other option. A special death unit, the Siriya, will be positioned behind us. They are there to kill anyone who tries to flee.â It is the manâs vernacular that gives his story credence. Sadak Ali Akram (an alias), claims to have served until 13 days ago as a sergeant in the Quiada Quat âAdnanâ, a 10,000-strong Republican Guard division based in Mosul, Iraq. Deserting this unit on February 18, a crime punishable by death, he sought sanctuary in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, arriving here in Sulaimaniyah two days later. Now under house arrest and speaking in the presence of an interpreter on contract to the Kurdish security services, there are gaps in his story, and issues he cannot or will not discuss â not least because his wife and young child are still in hiding in Iraqi-held Kirkuk. Reflecting the delusions and twisted logic of his Baghdad leadership, Akram, 26, depicts a force that doubts the ability of the Americans ever to wage a war, yet is prepared to self-destruct in order to inflict as many casualties on Western forces as possible. âFor 13 years the US has threatened Iraq with an attack,â he snorts. âEach time they hold back. Most of the US speeches are lies. We have our weapons and they know this and fear us. And what about Israel? If attacked, Saddam can hit them with missiles and kill so many.â Time and time again during his three-hour interview with The Times, his language spins into an anti-American rant in which he extols the virtue of his abandoned Guard division: more the mark of an indoctrinated soldier than a Kurdish propaganda âplantâ. At once the backbone of Saddam Husseinâs power and the most serious threat facing British and American troops inside Iraq, the detailed account of life in the Republican Guard painted by Akram is the first from within the unit in the present crisis. âIf there is a war, then we expect the regular troops to run away immediately. They have no Siriya behind them, and are upset with their poor pay and bad equipment. But the Republican Guard lack for nothing. Each soldier has his full complement of ammunition, good gas masks and a chemical kit with four syringes inside. Our tanks are all operable. Only seven months ago we received more new armoured vehicles and stocks of spare parts.â Akram was born in Kirkuk. A Kurd, technically his ethnicity should have precluded membership of the Baath regimeâs military elite. Yet he says that a clerical error erased his Kurdish prename and on April 7 last year he was enrolled into the Republican Guard under his three Arab names. For three months he received basic training at the Guardâs headquarter division north of Baghdad. He was transferred to Mosul and became a logistics sergeant with the âAdnanâ division, named after Adnan Khairallah Tulfah, Saddamâs cousin and Defence Minister, who died in a helicopter crash in 1989. According to Akram, the fighting spirit of the Republican Guard is maintained through a mix of religious and political indoctrination, perks and fear. The average Guard soldier receives 11,000 dinars month â 4,000 more than a conscript â plus privileged accommodation and rations. âMost of the soldiers are Shia Arabs,â he says. âThey donât like Saddam but most donât hate him. They are happy to spend their lives in the Republican Guard with Saddam in power. If they die in battle with America they are told they will become martyrs. Our officers tell us that if America invades we will be their slaves. They will shame us with the rape of our women. We have many lectures on this. Sometimes one a month, sometimes several each week.â Akram claimed that the Guard felt especially confident about dealing with the Americans as they had escaped the last Gulf War almost untouched by the coalition forces and had even preserved most of their armour intact. âThis time again special bunkers in hidden places have been made for our troops and tanks to survive the air attacks and emerge to fight,â he said. Questioned about chemical weapons, Akram said he had no specific knowledge. Later he returned to the subject and pointed out that Iraqi security services would already be hunting for his family. If he revealed more, the searches would itensify. âAll I can say is that there are things that are mobile, not fixed. They are all the time moving.â Of the Siriya death squads, he claimed that a 200-strong unit was attached to the âAdnanâ division in Mosul, and a similar unit positioned behind the âNabukhuznassirâ division protecting the oilfields around Kirkuk. âWe see the Siriya,â he says slowly. âWe donât mix with them but we know their responsibility, and what is expected of them and us.â Just like in the old USSR, a political unit placed behind the front line with orders to shoot anyone who tries to surrender.For all his apparent pride in his unit, Akram says that he felt under pressure over his Kurdish ethnicity. His privileges were restricted and his commander told him that his file had been sent to Baghdad for investigation. He feared arrest. Between February 10 and 13 though, he was chosen to share the feast marking the end of the Haj in the company of his divisionâs commander, General Sayifadeen Al-Rawi. In common with most selected soldiers he took snapshots. âAfterwards my lieutenant, a hard-hearted man, told me that as a Kurd I was forbidden to take pictures of senior commanders. He said the offence would be added to my report. I became even more frightened.â Five days later he fled. I'd run too. He found his family in Kirkuk and warned them to move to safe houses, then he crossed into Kurdish-controlled territory over the hills above Chamchamal. It is the one real sticking point of his story. Why did he not bring his parents, wife and child with him? âI did not know how I would be received. I had no house here and nowhere for my family to live,â he says. âI was afraid for them to come here. I think they can stay safe there while I plan their escape.â Makes sense to me, they would know what he looks like, but his family has a chance to blend in as long as he disapears. Of course, he also might be more concerned about his own skin than his family. In Saddamâs Iraq such a decision is indeed a gamble. Much later in the day, running the transcripts of Akramâs story past a Kurd who served for two years with the Iraqi regular army, I am told: âEven the way this man speaks denotes he is Republican Guard. Though he has deserted his division he still cannot help but use their language. But to leave his family? It would be better that they died than the Iraqi secret police find them.â Pray for them. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 Soviet Sergeants are more like glorified coporals. In the field they have no authority whatsoever, they are sergeants simply as a reward. They help enforce discipline in the unit, but that is all. If they follow Soviet SOP a sergeant in three months isn't surprising. It means he's shown his unit commanders he can be a rotten bastard to his charges. |
| Posted by: badanov 2003-03-04 21:16:06 |
| #6 Liberalhawk: The three-month sergeant thing is right from the Soviet playbook. The smartest conscripts are siphoned off and sent to a few more weeks of training and indoctrination. The US Army used to do the same thing during Vietnam. The program was derisively referred to as "shake and bake." The graduates were made E-5 buck sergeants. The "honor graduate" was made an E-6 staff sergeant, i.e. a squad leader. NCOs are the backbone of an army. Our shake and bake program is one of the reasons Army units especially did so poorly toward the end of the Vietnam War. The weak NCO corps of many armies are the reason why the US, Brits and Israelis can pretty much kick the asses of every other army in the world. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2003-03-04 14:48:10 |
| #5 If the Guards units are smart, they'll beat CENTCOM to the punch... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-04 13:50:12 |
| #4 MEMO TO CENTCOM: Target the Siriya units first. They'll be the only ones with no one behind them. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-03-04 13:43:00 |
| #3 What elite force needs battle police behind it to stop deserters? One that is going to realize shortly after the battle commences that they have no chance of survival unless they surrender. Of course, that goes double for the Siriya goons, no? |
| Posted by: jrosevear 2003-03-04 12:19:36 |
| #2 One other thing. What elite force needs battle police behind it to stop deserters? |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2003-03-04 12:10:47 |
| #1 after 3 months basic training he became a sergeant?? Either theres a problem in translation, he's lying, or the Republican Gurad is less "elite" than one might think. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-03-04 11:53:26 |