Embed, Baath and Beyond
It seems like only yesterday that doomsayers were declaring America had failed to win "hearts and minds"--that, contrary to the hawks' foolish prewar expectations, Iraqis are not welcoming the allies as liberators. Oh well, so much for that. Consider this collection of reports:
"Hundreds of Iraqis shouting 'Welcome to Iraq' greeted Marines who entered the town of Shatra Monday after storming it with planes, tanks and helicopter gunships," Reuters reports. Says one young man: "There's no problem here. We are happy to see Americans."
"The welcome they had hoped for finally greeted American troops yesterday, as waving Iraqis lined the streets when the advance northwards to Baghdad was resumed," reports the Daily Telegraph from central Iraq.
The Telegraph also reports that Royal Marine commando, mopping up after completing the delightfully named Operation James, an assault on a southern Basra suburb, "received a warm welcome from the members of the 30,000-strong population, with children and adults giving the thumbs-up, smiling and shouting 'Mister, mister, England good.' "
Another Reuters dispatch, from outside Basra, explains why Iraq's second city has been slow to rise up: Fleeing Iraqi civilians "said on Tuesday they faced heavy pressure from members of President Saddam Hussein's Baath party not to rise up against him." One unnamed local resident says: "The Baath Party has been going around Basra and using megaphones to warn us that we had better join the war effort."
The Washington Times reports from Qara Hanjir, in northern Iraq, that the locals "are welcoming the budding American military presence with undisguised enthusiasm." Soleyman Qassab, a local businessman who runs a burger joint called MaDonal's (yes, that's the right spelling), wrote in a local newspaper: "If the USA comes here, we'll get our freedom. It's time to welcome the American military."
The Associated Press reports that at a Centcom briefing today, "Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks described several instances in which local residents had helped U.S. forces throughout the country, paving the way for successful attacks against 'death squads' loyal to Saddam."
Another AP dispatch tells a moving story of an Iraqi soldier who deserted, turning himself in to Kurdish fighters at Kalak:
The soldier covered his face and wept.
It was a deep, sudden sobbing he couldn't control. His shoulders heaved. Tears wet the frayed cuffs of his green Iraqi army sweater.
He cried because he was alive. He cried because his family may think he's dead. He cried for his country. He cried because--for him--the war was over.
"I'm so sorry. Excuse me. I just can't stop," wept the soldier who fled Saddam Hussein's army and was taken Monday into the hands of U.S.-allied Iraqi Kurdish fighters. "Could this terrible time be over soon? Please, tell me."
The soldier, whom the AP calls Ali, describes a demoralized military with little genuine loyalty to Saddam: "We knew nothing. We were told only that America was trying to take over Iraq," he says. "But we are not so stupid. We know how Saddam rules the country. We know in our hearts we'd be better off without him."
Scenes From a Dying Regime
Another set of reports gives more evidence of desperation among Saddam's ranks:
"Two Iraqi soldiers who said they were sent on a suicide attack mission to the country's largest port have turned themselves in to British troops," the Associated Press reports. The AP quotes Col. Steve Cox of the Royal Marines: "We had two suicide bombers turn themselves in yesterday because they didn't want to be suicide bombers any more. We are accommodating them."
The Telegraph reports that one Royal Marine "told of how an Iraqi colonel driving a car with a briefcase full of cash refused to stop and was shot dead. 'I didn't know what to do with the money so I gave it to the kids, bundles of the stuff,' the Royal Marine said."
The Los Angeles Times reports that one Iraqi prisoner of war "wore nothing but black thong underwear."
Sky News reports that "fanatical pro-Saddam Hussein fighters are shooting children in and around Basra, fleeing civilians told British forces. One mother told British medics her 12-year-old son was among dozens of youngsters gunned down by death squads."
In contrast, check out this New York Times report: "On the contested bridge in Hindiya, the captured town south of Baghdad, an American company commander, Capt. Chris Carter of Watkinsville, Ga., dashed to a wounded Iraqi woman in a black chador lying exposed to fire in the center of the span. Captain Carter crouched with his M-16 rifle to cover her position until medics could evacuate her by stretcher, according to journalists traveling with the unit." While Saddam Hussein murders Iraqi civilians in cold blood, America's fighting men risk their lives to save them.
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