February 8, 2003
ALL OVER BUT THE SHOOTIN':
The choice for Iraq's rag-tag army: be killed by the US or by Saddam: Luke Harding in Chamchamal hears a defector's tale of low morale (Luke Harding, February 8, 2003, The Guardian)For Private Abass Shomail the war in Iraq ended before it had even begun. Two days ago Abass slipped away from his sentry post and started running in darkness across the muddy frontline. He stumbled past the newly dug trenches designed to protect Iraq's conscript army from American bombardment.He kept going. Eventually he found himself in a rolling landscape of green hills and pine trees, the Kurdish self-rule enclave in the north of Iraq. Abass was the first deserter from the Iraqi military to cross into Kurdistan for several months. Yesterday, in an interview with the Guardian, he gave a unique insight into the condition of the Iraqi army on the eve of an imminent and massive US attack.
Though defectors are a notoriously unreliable source of intelligence, the fact that he had crossed the border into Kurdish-held territory only days earlier, together with his lowly rank and the lack of any apparent incentives to embellish his story, all point to the credibility of his account.
Morale was very low, he said, both among his fellow conscripts and among civilians. "We want America to attack because of the bad situation in our country. But we don't want America to launch air strikes against Iraqi soldiers because we are forced to shoot and defend. We are also victims in this situation." [...]
The soldiers Abbas left behind, meanwhile, sit in their hilltop bunkers, pondering an unenviable fate. "We are all very tired," Abbas said. "I haven't heard of Tony Blair. But if George Bush wants to give us freedom then we will welcome it."
It's just not sounding very quagmirey.
MORE:
Truckers tell of Iraqi buildup: Turks ferry oil and see ragged troops gathering. (Mark McDonald, Feb. 04, 2003, Knight Ridder News Service)
A Lesson on Iraq From a Classicist (DINITIA SMITH, February 8, 2003, NY Times)
If you want a preview of what might occur if the United States were to invade Iraq, Elaine Fantham suggests looking at what happened in 53 B.C. when the Romans marched into the territory that is now Iraq. Ms. Fantham, 69, is National Public Radio's mischievous, fruity-voiced classics commentator on "Weekend Edition," and her specialty is drawing parallels between the ancient world and us.Posted by Orrin Judd at February 8, 2003 6:26 AMAs she explained to listeners of her occasional broadcasts, the territory was ruled by the Parthians, who are related to modern-day Iranians. The power-hungry Roman general Crassus set out for the Parthian territory with seven legions. He marched his army into the middle of the desert where, parched, hungry and unused to the terrain, he was roundly defeated by the entrenched Parthians. Crassus' and his son's heads were cut off and used as props by a Greek acting troupe to entertain the Parthian and Armenian kings at a dinner party.
Not a particularly inviting prospect, but as Ms. Fantham, president-elect of the American Philological Association, explained in a recent phone interview, one Americans should pay attention to.
"You, George Bush!" said Ms. Fantham in her English accent with a slight speech impediment that turns all her "r's" into "w's." "You, Donald Rumsfeld and your advisers, you don't know what you are letting yourself in for!"
Guy sounds like the typical conscript.
I doubt the Republican Guard will fold that easily. But then you can never predict how a war will turn out in the first place.
I agree that the Republican Guard (and particularly the Special Republican Guard) will offer resistance, meaning we'll be seeing some more 73 Eastings in a few weeks. As to the "regular" army and the militia, though, what you will be seeing a lot of is scenes like a particularly memorable one I saw on TV during Round One in 1991. The camera captured a bunch of woeful, bedraggled Iranian soldiers on their hands and knees weeping pitifully and begging their captors to spare them, and then cut to a rather befuddled-looking American G.I. doing his best to console the Iraqis, saying, "It'll be all right...you'll be all right, guys..." while making gentle shushing motions with the hand that wasn't holding his M-16. It's going to be just like that all over again.
Posted by: Joe at February 8, 2003 8:16 AMThat should read "Iraqi" for "Iranian" in the post below. Hazards of posting early in the morning with a mild hangover...
Posted by: Joe at February 8, 2003 8:17 AMRe: the updated post.
That's an absurd comparison Fantham made.
Proof that you don't necessarily grow wiser as you grow older.
With Ms. Fantham's absurd comments, preparation for war are now complete. I'll never forget hearing (on radio) Ramsay Clark, addressing a "peace" rally just before the first Gulf War, confidently predicting military disaster for the US based on the military feats of the Babylonian Empire. It's nice to see history repeating itself, first as farce and then as farce.
Posted by: David Cohen at February 8, 2003 11:03 AMDavid:
Thus my disbelief in the idea that humankind progresses.
Ms. Fantham is someone who has been educated beyond her intellegence.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at February 8, 2003 12:54 PMThe Parthian leader, Surenas/ The Suren (not sure whether people have decided whether it was a name or a title yet), was just a little different from Saddam. He was an intelligent tactician who also had the advantage of superior military technology -- the horse archer using a composite bow and the Parthian Shot technique. Neither of these apply to Saddam. If Crassus had marched into Parthia opposed by a Saddam of his day with a peasant army, Babylonia would have been organized as a Hellenistic province just like Syria had just been.
Now there's scope for a counterfactual novel. Would the Arab explosion have been able to take place if the entire fertile crescent was ruled by Byzantium (Byzantium and Persia had fought each other to breaking point just beforehand)?
Mr Murray:
The faithful among us would take that as evidence of God's favour.
Hope you've got a new, better job.
She has to go back 2100 years back and cite one battle, she doesn't point
out, that Baghad was ultimately conquered and held for centuries.
She could cite the battle of Kut a Marah, which was Britain's great
defeat in WW1, but within a year
and a half, Baghdad was again in
British hands, not a good argument.
But then, that's par for the course
for the left's Al Jazeera
"... said Ms. Fantham in her English accent with a slight speech impediment that turns all her "r's" into "w's." "You, Donald Rumsfeld ..."
Anyone here seen the movie "Life of Brian"? Remember the Pontius Pilate scene? (Wewease Wodewick!)
Now imagine this woman saying "Rumsfeld"....
"... said Ms. Fantham in her English accent with a slight speech impediment that turns all her "r's" into "w's." "You, Donald Rumsfeld ..."
Anyone here seen the movie "Life of Brian"? Remember the Pontius Pilate scene? (Wewease Wodewick!)
Now imagine this woman saying "Rumsfeld"....
"... said Ms. Fantham in her English accent with a slight speech impediment that turns all her "r's" into "w's." "You, Donald Rumsfeld ..."
Anyone here seen the movie "Life of Brian"? Remember the Pontius Pilate scene? (Wewease Wodewick!)
Now imagine this woman saying "Rumsfeld"....