Iraqi's are happy to be freed

[redman]

From the BBC:

Southern Iraq :: David Willis :: 1901GMT

I'm with US Marines who have been sent in here, along with British Marines, to secure oil wells. They are close to completing that mission.

This is the region which produces more than a half of Iraq's oil.

I've seen quite a few prisoners of war. I've seen several dozen being looked after by American soldiers and given food to eat.

A lot of people here are very pleased that Saddam Hussein has been attacked in this way.

One group of Iraqis waved at the American soldiers I was with and said "down with Saddam Hussein".

[redman]

from Fox News:

'Saddam Is Done,' Marines Exult in Captured Town

Friday, March 21, 2003

SAWFAN, Iraq — U.S. Marines hauled down giant street portraits of Saddam Hussein in a screeching pop of metal and bolts Friday, telling nervous residents of this southern Iraqi town that "Saddam is done."

Milling crowds of men and boys watched as the Marines attached ropes on the front of their Jeeps to one portrait and then backed up, peeling the Iraqi leader's black-and-white metal image off a frame. Some locals briefly joined Maj. David "Bull" Gurfein in a new cheer.

"Iraqis! Iraqis! Iraqis!" Gurfein yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

"We wanted to send a message that Saddam is done," said Gurfein, a New York native in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "People are scared to show a lot of emotion. That's why we wanted to show them this time we're here, and Saddam is done."

The Marines arrived in Safwan, just across the Kuwait border, after Cobra attack helicopters, attack jets, tanks, 155 mm howitzers and sharpshooters cleared the way along Route 80, the main road into Iraq.

Safwan, 375 miles south of Baghdad, is a poor, dirty, wrecked town pocked by shrapnel from the last Gulf war. Iraqi forces in the area sporadically fired mortars and guns for hours Thursday and Friday. Most townspeople hid, although residents brought forth a wounded little girl, her palm bleeding after the new fighting. Another man said his wife was shot in the leg by the Americans.

A few men and boys ventured out, putting makeshift white flags on their pickup trucks or waving white T-shirts out truck windows.

"Americans very good," Ali Khemy said. "Iraq wants to be free."

Some chanted, "Ameriki! Ameriki!"

Many others in the starving town just patted their stomachs and raised their hands, begging for food.

A man identifying himself only as Abdullah welcomed the arrival of the U.S. troops: "Saddam Hussein is no good. Saddam Hussein a butcher."

An old woman shrouded in black -- one of the very few women outside -- knelt toward the feet of Americans, embracing an American woman. A younger man with her pulled her away, giving her a warning sign by sliding his finger across his throat.

In 1991, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died after prematurely celebrating what they believed was their liberation from Saddam after the Gulf War. Some even pulled down a few pictures of Saddam then -- only to be killed by Iraqi forces.

Gurfein playfully traded pats with a disabled man and turned down a dinner invitation from townspeople.

"Friend, friend," he told them in Arabic learned in the first Gulf War.

"We stopped in Kuwait that time," he said. "We were all ready to come up there then, and we never did."

The townspeople seemed grateful this time.

"No Saddam Hussein!" one young man in headscarf told Gurfein. "Bush!"

[Mad Mike]

Damn evil Americans.

[Kilmer17]

It's all about oil.

[EagleSteve]

I'm quite upset at this. Has anyone informed Susan Sarandon and Martin Sheen about this? I'm sure they'll arrange a demonstration. Something needs to be done. :doh:

Seems there are a lot of clueless people in this world of ours.

God bless our troops and God bless the USA.

[redman]

Yeah, obviously they've fallen for Bush's propaganda too! :shootinth

[Soliloquy]

I think Safwan is where the cease-fire agreement was negotiated back in '91.

[luckydevil]

I am very curious what will be the reaction in Baghdad

[Soliloquy]

Originally posted by luckydevi

I am very curious what will be the reaction in Baghdad

Well, clearly the criminal Americans staged the jubilation. :laugh:

[redman]

More of the same:

Iraqis Surrender, Even to Journalists

Friday, March 21, 2003

SAFWAN, Iraq — Waving white flags and raising their hands to the sky, hundreds of Iraqi soldiers quickly surrendered to coalition forces in southern Iraq — and some even tried to give themselves up to Western journalists.

One Marine traffic control unit manning an intersection in southern Iraq accepted at least 45 soldiers' surrender by sundown Friday. Many of the Iraqis were crammed in the backs of a pickup truck and open-bed trailer, their hands raised. Iraqi officers came in behind, apparently by foot.

Marines pulled the prisoners to the side of the road.

"Hands up!" Marines barked, pushing the Iraqis along.

Skinny, reedy boys who appeared to be still in their teens complied. The Marines searched them and sat them down.

Across the road, three Iraqi lieutenant colonels sprawled briefly on the asphalt to be searched. An Arabic-speaking Marine searched the papers of the officers for intelligence information, then handed back their personal effects.

"Man, I've been in country two hours, and already I've got two wounded and a truckload of prisoners," one Marine, standing guard over the prisoners with weapon ready, told another.

The Marines rolled bales of concertina wire toward the prisoners and planned to keep them in a temporary facility until camps could open up.

Some of the Iraqis who gave themselves up were wearing T-shirts and other civilian clothes instead of military uniforms.

Lt. Col. Rob Abbott of Camp Pendleton, Calif., said the situation matched the expectations he had after seeing Iraqi troops surrender en masse in the 1991 Gulf War.

"I think they're just glad to be out of the fight," Abbott said. "I'd much rather have them come surrender than have me have to go hump them out of holes."

The U.S. military has encouraged Iraqi soldiers to surrender rather than risk annihilation fighting to defend Saddam, and troops seem to have encountered limited resistance.

Even before any shooting began, 17 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to American soldiers Wednesday.

Within a few hours of crossing into southern Iraq, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit encountered 200 or more Iraqi troops seeking to surrender. One group of 40 Iraqis marched down a two-lane road toward the Americans and gave up.

One group of Iraq soldiers alongside a road waved a white flag and their raised hands, trying to flag down a group of journalists so they could surrender.

In the town of Safwan, Iraqi civilians eagerly greeted the 1st Marine Division.

One little boy, who had chocolate melted all over his face after a soldier gave him some treats from his ration kit, kept pointing at the sky, saying "Ameriki, Ameriki."

[Johnny Punani2]

This doesn't sound too good...

"I think they're just glad to be out of the fight," Abbott said. "I'd much rather have them come surrender than have me have to go hump them out of holes."

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Glenn X]

One of the most heartening pieces of video I've seen all day was that of a U.S. soldier walking up to a giant, sidewalk-level billboard of Saddam's face, beginning to tear it down, and being joined by a male Iraqi citizen who pulled off his tattered right shoe and began pounding on the image of Saddam's forehead with it.

[Canyonero!]

Originally posted by Glenn X

One of the most heartening pieces of video I've seen all day was that of a U.S. soldier walking up to a giant, sidewalk-level billboard of Saddam's face, beginning to tear it down, and being joined by a male Iraqi citizen who pulled off his tattered right shoe and began pounding on the image of Saddam's forehead with it.

It seems that most of the networks are playing this now. The part the struck me the most was one of a few Iraqis hugging US Soldiers. I need to get that image on a huge poster to carry around at the next anti-war protest up here.

[Ghost of Woodson]

The most touching picture I've seen YET, until I see larger crowds of children or freed prisoners---

(I know he's an Iraqi soldier, but he may have had no choice in that, and I feel no animus towards him)

It is perhaps THE exemplar of what makes America, America.

[OrangeSkin]

Threads like these make me very happy.

[OrangeSkin]

[luckydevil]

Read the 5th paragraph.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030321-023627-5923r

Lucky Break for Jordan

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

UPI Editor at Large

From the International Desk

Published 3/21/2003 2:46 PM

View printer-friendly version

AMMAN, Jordan, March 21 (UPI) -- An unintended coalition of U.S. air power and Baghdad taxi drivers kept a potential flood of Iraqi refugees away from the Jordanian border Friday. The U.N. refugee agency and the Jordanian government were expecting a quarter of million people to stream across the border. Jordan is already home for 400,000 Iraqi refugees from the first Gulf War.

U.S. fighter bombers took out the only gas station between Baghdad and the border, a distance of 600 kilometers. The one-camel village of Ramadi was also the only phone booth on the desert road and a Jordanian was killed by the explosion of the gas station while making a call to his parents in Amman to let them know he was on his way home.

At the same time, the few taxi drivers in Baghdad willing to run the risk of making it to the Jordanian border are charging $1,500 per passenger. Very few Iraqis can afford the fare. As a result, only some 300 TCNs (Third Country Nationals) reached the border post since the bombing started. They were mostly Sudanese and Egyptians. There were no Iraqis among them. They had to hump their luggage 1.8 miles across no-man's-land on foot to Al Karama, the first Jordanian outpost. From there, they were bused to the tent city at the Ruwaished refugee camp, 36 miles inside Jordan.

The Sudanese and Egyptian governments agreed to pay for Jordanian Airlines charters to fly their nationals home.

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

Iran informed the UN refugee agency Friday that it now has 3,000 Iraqi refugees. Syria said its numbers were "insignificant." The picture could change for the worse as the United States steps up the bombing of Baghdad with a "shock and awe" campaign designed to stun and collapse what's left of the regime. Acute food shortages are expected before U.S. troops liberate Baghdad. U.N. officials in the Iraqi capital radioed today that some 500 disadvantaged children were suffering from malnutrition and they were rounding whatever supplies they could find.

Prior to the war, some 700 tanker trucks shuttled daily between both countries. Jordan consumes 12,000 tons of oil a day. All of it comes from Iraq at discounted prices under the U.N. oil-for-food program. Some 2,600 and 1,500 Iraqi tankers have been involved in the overland oil traffic. Movement was down to 140 tankers the day before the bombing started. It stopped abruptly two days ago.

Jordan had made plans for a quick switch to tankers anchored off Aqaba. Qatar had pledged to replace whatever shortfall Jordan experienced.

Jordanians see a good omen in the daily arrival of almost 1,000 white storks. They alight near the Safeway on one of Amman's seven hills, a pit stop on their way from Africa to their east European breeding grounds. About 100,000 storks are expected at the Safeway for the next month, numbers not seen in 10 years, and a sign of ample rain and a good harvest.

The official and private views of some ranking Jordanian officials appear to be diametrically opposed. Officially, they condemn the war and say they are "deeply troubled" about the repercussions of the war on the region, and describe the situation as "critical."

Privately, and not for attribution, they say the United States is developing a new opportunity for the Middle East. Said one former prime minister, "If the U.S. can get a new Iraq to recognize Israel as a quid pro quo for a final Palestinian settlement, others will fall into place -- Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf states. Iran would then have to pull back its military support for Hezbollah."

Another prominent Jordanian voice said that while Iraq has created a rift between America and its allies, and in Europe itself, the Palestine question -- provided President Bush is serious about a settlement roadmap, without either side allowed to nickel and dime it to oblivion -- could be a reconciling factor. Which all sides now need." The official consensus is that the United States can win wars on its own. But it cannot win the peace. A former foreign minister said, "I can only hope that the $10 billion the U.S. now plans to provide Israel will have a geopolitical price tag."

[Om]

Remarkable. There are, it seems, still people living in this country and participating in the war debate who are unaware of the nature of Saddam Hussein's reign over Iraq for the last 25 years.

You can deliver a newspaper to a man's door, but you can't make him read.

[redman]

More reason to be proud of your country. This contrasts greatly of course with the murderous scum that we're fighting who are executing our prisoners:

'Devil Docs' operate on friend and foe

In field operating room, wounds matter more than sides

Monday, March 24, 2003 Posted: 10:20 AM EST (1520 GMT)

The "Devil Docs" work on a wounded soldier.

SOUTHERN IRAQ (CNN) -- Early Monday, somewhere in the southern desert of Iraq, the "Devil Docs" of the U.S. Navy performed surgery on an Iraqi soldier's abdomen.

In this mobile operating room -- a tent that can be set up or torn down in less than an hour -- it's not unusual for these doctors -- Navy personnel who work for the Marines Corps -- to perform surgery on their enemy.

The most badly wounded fighters from the front lines are treated first, regardless of whether they are friend or foe.

"It's a medical decision based on the patient's physiology and the wound," said Capt. John Percibelli, the chief surgeon. "That's how we decide who goes first."

Percibelli looks more like a desert fighter than a doctor, dressed in military fatigues underneath his medical uniform.

Monday was the first time the Frontline Resuscitative Surgical Suite has been used, and doctors began treating some of the first patients coming from the front line.

In FRSS 4, the Devil Docs operated on the Iraqi soldier, who had suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The bullet entered the left part of the man's back and exited through the right side, tearing holes in his intestine.

The surgeons repaired the man's wounds, sewed him up and wheeled him out to recover.

Conditions in the desert are far from sanitary, especially because the operations are performed in temporary facilities. The doctors lay down a floor on the sandy ground, and the tent has double layers to keep out the dust. Two zippers seal the door.

"We're under pretty austere circumstances here," Percibelli said. "We have to really pick and choose those critically injured patients that have to be taken care of now."

Another complication is the limited blood supply.

Still, the surgeons have the standard tools, including a scrub sink, complete surgical uniforms, antibiotics, and an on-site anesthesiologist. They can perform as many as 18 operations a day.

After surgery, each patient receives an individualized recovery plan that might mean helicopter transport to the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship, or a hospital in Kuwait.

All else being equal, the FRSS rivals any large trauma center in the United States.

The medical tent is mobile and is likely to move north along with coalition forces as they push toward Baghdad.

-- CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta contributed to this report.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This report was written in accordance with Pentagon ground rules allowing so-called embedded reporting, in which journalists join deployed troops. Among the rules accepted by all participating news organizations is an agreement not to disclose sensitive operational details.

[Tarhog]

I guess all of that 'excessive military spending' has its benefits. We need to advertise what makes us 'the good guys' every chance we get.

[Riggo-toni]

One thing to bear in mind is that the celebrating is being done by Shiites. Shiites make up the majority of the population in Iraq, and they are also the most oppressed since the Iranian revolution in '79. They will be the most supportive in the removal of Saddam, and have the most to gain from a democracy, since they'd have enough votes to overrule the rest of the country. They are also the most likely to give us trouble down the road. Iran will do anything to gain influence on the Shiites, whom it views as being kindred spirits. Six months from now, our soldiers could be faced with constant terrorist threats in the south by Iranian backed Shiite radicals.

What will be most telling is how the Sunni minority population reacts. Sunnis are the priviledged ethnic group under Baath rule, and will also face the brunt of allied bombing. They also are part of the largest Arab muslim sect worldwide. If we can win the Sunnis over without alienating the Kurds and the Shias, we will win much more than just a war. If not, we will face a myriad of problems and more fundamentalist paranoia down the road from those outside of Iraq.