One-Third of New Iraqi Soldiers Quit - Pentagon Officials Scratch Heads

Yet another great plan falls apart:

Efforts to create a new Iraqi army to help take over the
country's security have suffered a setback with the resignations of a
third of the soldiers trained so far, Pentagon officials say.
Touted as a key to Iraq's future, the army's first 700-man battalion
lost some 250 men over recent weeks as they were preparing to begin
operations this month, officials said Wednesday. "We are aware that a
third ... has apparently resigned and we are looking into that in order
to ensure that we can recruit and retain high-quality people for a new
Iraqi army," said Lt. Col. James Cassella, a Pentagon spokesman. It was
unclear exactly why they abandoned their new jobs, though some had
complained that the starting salary -- $60 a month for privates -- was
too low, officials said.

Or maybe they've been threatened with death
if they help the Americans. Do I really need to point this shit out?
Rumsfeld might call them a "new Iraqi army", but ordinary Iraqis call
them TRAITORS:

Two hours before the dawn call to prayer, in a village
still shrouded in silence, Sabah Kerbul's executioners arrived. His
father carried an AK-47 assault rifle, as did his brother. And with
barely a word spoken, they led the man accused by the village of
working as an informer for the Americans behind a house girded with fig
trees, vineyards and orange groves. His father raised his rifle and
aimed it at his oldest son. "Sabah didn't try to escape," said Abdullah
Ali, a village resident. "He knew he was facing his fate." The story of
what followed is based on interviews with Kerbul's father, brother and
five other villagers who said witnesses told them about the events. One
shot tore through Kerbul's leg, another his torso, the villagers said.
He fell to the ground still breathing, his blood soaking the parched
land near the banks of the Tigris River, they said. His father could go
no further, and according to some accounts, he collapsed. His other son
then fired three times, the villagers said, at least once at his
brother's head. Kerbul, a tall, husky 28-year-old, died. "It wasn't an
easy thing to kill him," his brother Salah said. In his simple home of
cement and cinder blocks, the father, Salem, nervously thumbed black
prayer beads this week as he recalled a warning from village residents
earlier this month. He insisted his son was not an informer, but he
said his protests meant little to a village seething with anger. He
recalled their threat was clear: Either he kill his son, or villagers
would resort to tribal justice and kill the rest of his family in
retaliation for Kerbul's role in a U.S. military operation in the
village in June, in which four people were killed. "I have the heart of
a father, and he's my son," Salem said. "Even the prophet Abraham
didn't have to kill his son." He dragged on a cigarette. His eyes
glimmered with the faint trace of tears. "There was no other choice,"
he whispered.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 11, 2003 at 10:31 AM | Permalink