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'Troops will abandon Saddam'
The former head of Iraq's air defence systems, Shamel Majid, says the army won't defend Saddam Hussein, adding that morale is low and equipment in short supply. The New Zealand-based Majid added that even the elite Republican Guard would cave in swiftly in the face of an attack. That's about what we're expecting, which worries me... However, he warned that once war broke out, the military would abandon its command and control centres and run operations from city suburbs. I don't imagine there will be many command and control centers left above company level... Majid, who fled Iraq with his family five years ago, said although he was in favour of a war to topple Saddam, he was concerned at the potential for civilian casualties. "It is a good idea to topple Saddam Hussein, whatever the cost — the important thing for the Iraqi people is to live life free," said Majid, who now works for New Zealand's Refugee and Migrant Service in Napier. But Majid, who has seen Baghdad bombed several times, said any attack should be limited to military targets. "We don't want them to bomb the Iraqi people or what's left of the civilian infrastructure — the water plants, power stations and bridges — like they did last time ... They said they won't attack Iraqi people, and we hope they are honest and serious about this." The objective was different the last time around. This time, it makes more sense to bomb the crap out of military targets... "The problem is that the Iraqi regime has always hidden weapons in civilian neighbourhoods, that's why civilians are killed by the American bombs," he said. This kind of assessment always bothers me. If you go in expecting the enemy to fall apart and he doesn't, it's a setback. If you go in expecting him to fight like a sonofabitch, using everything from WMDs to barbeque forks, and he doesn't, then it's a nice surprise. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-03-18 |
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