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Iraq Denies Destruction Of Republican Guard Division
An Iraqi military spokesman on Wednesday, April 2, repudiated claims about the destruction of the Baghdad division of the elite Republican Guard, as propagated by the U.S. Central Command. "These allegations have no foundation and are part of the hostile campaign against Iraq," the spokesman told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "Nope. Nope. Never happened. Nope." "To the contrary, the Baghdad Republican Guard division maintains its cohesion and has a morale of steel. It has not suffered any losses and is ready to confront the enemy and destroy it," he averred. "That was somebody else you slaughtered without taking any casualties of your own..." Commenting on the report, Gen. Mohammed Ali Belal, commanding officer of the Egyptian troops during the 1991 Desert Storm, told Al-Jazeera satellite channel that there is no Republican Guard units around or outside Baghdad. "The (U.S.) claims are mere liesâŠThere are only Iraqi reconnaissance patrols outside Baghdad," he said. "These advancing units are not from the Republican GuardâŠThe U.S. only wants to lower the morale of the Republican Guard and the Iraqi fighters," averred the war expert. He said "Egyptian general" and "war expert" in the same sentence. Then his lips fell off. Earlier in the day, a senior U.S. commander alleged American invading troops destroyed the fortification of the Republican Guard, asserting that they were pointing a "dagger" at the heart of Iraqi President Saddam Husseinâs regime. "The Baghdad Division has been destroyed. The First Marine Expeditionary Force attacked the Baghdad Division near the town of Al-Kut and has crossed the Tigris River," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a press briefing. "If it wasn't the Baghdad Division, whoever was there got run over..." Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-04-02 |
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