Report: Saddam Loyalists in Basra Want to Surrender
Sat April 5, 2003 12:33 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Leaders of President Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party in Iraq's second city Basra want to surrender to British military forces besieging the city, a pan-Arab newspaper said on Saturday.
Asharq al-Aswat said that Baath Party leaders in the city had passed a message to a Shi'ite cleric, Mohammed al-Bosslimi, saying they were afraid of reprisals from the citizens of Basra and wanted to arrange a surrender if Baghdad fell.
"They are afraid but they say that as soon as Baghdad falls they will surrender," the newspaper quoted the cleric as saying. It said he had met 12 of the high-ranking leaders of the Baath two days ago.
He said the Baath Party leaders could also surrender if U.S.-led forces entered the city.
"The problem is that the hated party members want to be protected from the anger of the public if they give up their weapons," al-Bosslimi said.
British forces have been besieging the city of 1.5 million almost since the Iraqi war began on March 20.
They had hoped the city's Shi'ite Muslim majority might rise up against forces loyal to Saddam, a Sunni Muslim, as they did in 1991 after the Gulf War.
But that rebellion was crushed after hoped-for U.S. support never came and analysts say locals are too unsure of the future to risk another uprising.
Instead, British forces have adopted a tactic of brief incursions into the city to try to target Saddam loyalists and gunmen.
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Sat April 5, 2003 12:33 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Leaders of President Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party in Iraq's second city Basra want to surrender to British military forces besieging the city, a pan-Arab newspaper said on Saturday.
Asharq al-Aswat said that Baath Party leaders in the city had passed a message to a Shi'ite cleric, Mohammed al-Bosslimi, saying they were afraid of reprisals from the citizens of Basra and wanted to arrange a surrender if Baghdad fell.
"They are afraid but they say that as soon as Baghdad falls they will surrender," the newspaper quoted the cleric as saying. It said he had met 12 of the high-ranking leaders of the Baath two days ago.
He said the Baath Party leaders could also surrender if U.S.-led forces entered the city.
"The problem is that the hated party members want to be protected from the anger of the public if they give up their weapons," al-Bosslimi said.
British forces have been besieging the city of 1.5 million almost since the Iraqi war began on March 20.
They had hoped the city's Shi'ite Muslim majority might rise up against forces loyal to Saddam, a Sunni Muslim, as they did in 1991 after the Gulf War.
But that rebellion was crushed after hoped-for U.S. support never came and analysts say locals are too unsure of the future to risk another uprising.
Instead, British forces have adopted a tactic of brief incursions into the city to try to target Saddam loyalists and gunmen.
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