http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2003/2/28/151351
Iraqi Soldiers Ready to Surrender
There are lots of jokes about French soldiers carrying white flags with them, but now it's the Iraqi troops who are preparing to surrender.
"Morale is low in the Iraqi army and many soldiers are preparing white flags of surrender, we are told by someone in northern Iraq who recently interviewed two defectors from Saddam Hussein's army," the Washington Times reported today.
One, a captain who defected from the 5th Mechanized Division of the 1st Corps, based near the northern city of Kirkuk, said the heavy division was only 35 percent combat-effective. Morale is so low that younger soldiers speak openly about surrendering before a shot is fired, he said.
The second escapee, a senior noncommissioned officer, defected from the same division's 34th Brigade, based south of the northern city of Mosul. He said that only 6 of the 28 tanks in his care worked.
"He said the whole division was at about 25 percent effectiveness and most soldiers were hiding their white flags," said the Times' source.
Intelligence sources in northern Iraq, where CIA Special Operations Group officers and Army Special Forces are active, report dozens of defectors in recent weeks.
The folks in Baghdad, meanwhile, are still ignoring their dictator's order Wednesday to dig trenches in preparation for war, the Boston Globe reported today.
"Five years ago, people would come in and change at the slightest hint of fighting," a 25-year-old named Salman told the Globe. "Now we are used to this atmosphere."
Iraqi Soldiers Ready to Surrender
There are lots of jokes about French soldiers carrying white flags with them, but now it's the Iraqi troops who are preparing to surrender.
"Morale is low in the Iraqi army and many soldiers are preparing white flags of surrender, we are told by someone in northern Iraq who recently interviewed two defectors from Saddam Hussein's army," the Washington Times reported today.
One, a captain who defected from the 5th Mechanized Division of the 1st Corps, based near the northern city of Kirkuk, said the heavy division was only 35 percent combat-effective. Morale is so low that younger soldiers speak openly about surrendering before a shot is fired, he said.
The second escapee, a senior noncommissioned officer, defected from the same division's 34th Brigade, based south of the northern city of Mosul. He said that only 6 of the 28 tanks in his care worked.
"He said the whole division was at about 25 percent effectiveness and most soldiers were hiding their white flags," said the Times' source.
Intelligence sources in northern Iraq, where CIA Special Operations Group officers and Army Special Forces are active, report dozens of defectors in recent weeks.
The folks in Baghdad, meanwhile, are still ignoring their dictator's order Wednesday to dig trenches in preparation for war, the Boston Globe reported today.
"Five years ago, people would come in and change at the slightest hint of fighting," a 25-year-old named Salman told the Globe. "Now we are used to this atmosphere."
