The CIA and MI6 reported receiving dramatic accounts from inside Baghdad of summary street executions of Baathist members perceived to be disloyal. One individual was alleged to have been tied to a post and had his tongue cut out, while another was torn apart after being strapped between two cars. There are also reports of men having their genitals cut off in public.
Trouble in the city may have been spurred by the arrival of remnants of the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard. The latest intelligence reports say that after the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force attacked it two days ago the regime set up a checkpoint on the road from al-Kut, where the division was based, to the capital.
“The aim was obviously to prevent retreating soldiers from the division from going into Baghdad to spread stories about how they were routed,” the sources said. However, the retreating troops “just drove straight through the checkpoints” to reach the capital.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-635236,00.html
Trouble in the city may have been spurred by the arrival of remnants of the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard. The latest intelligence reports say that after the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force attacked it two days ago the regime set up a checkpoint on the road from al-Kut, where the division was based, to the capital.
“The aim was obviously to prevent retreating soldiers from the division from going into Baghdad to spread stories about how they were routed,” the sources said. However, the retreating troops “just drove straight through the checkpoints” to reach the capital.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-635236,00.html