US: Iraq Threatening Children, Men Who Don't Fight for Regime

[Jazz]

If true, this would explain why in hell those convoys were leaving out of Basra only to get crushed by the British planes - I couldn't figure it out because it was suicidal.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,82310,00.html

CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar — Iraqi paramilitary forces are seizing children and threatening Iraqi men with execution if they don't fight for the regime, U.S. and British officials said Thursday.

The U.S. commanders around the south-central city of Najaf reported the development to Gen. Tommy Franks, who is commanding forces in the Gulf, said U.S. Central Command spokesman Jim Wilkinson.

"Once again, we see the regime's terrorist tactics, where they bring the innocent onto the battlefield as they try to do anything to stay in power," he said.

He gave no further details. U.S. troops have engaged in fierce firefights in and around Najaf in recent days as they have pressed north toward Baghdad.

Air Marshall Brian Burridge, the top British commander in the Gulf, also reported Thursday that Iraqis loyal to Saddam Hussein were forcing Iraqi conscripts and regular army troops into combat near Basra with the threat of executing them or their families.

British forces destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks that tried to break out of the southern city of Basra on Thursday morning, and one official said the tanks were manned by Iraqi soldiers whose families were threatened.

"They are being forced to fight by these militia. They are going into, apparently, people's homes, forcing the men to drive these vehicles to try and lead the escape out of Basra," said Group Capt. Al Lockwood. "They are obviously coercing them into this action, whereas in fact we would have wished them to surrender."

Lockwood said the most recent behavior by the Iraqis showed the center no longer was holding.

"The enemy's options are now limited. They don't know what to do and they're guessing. It shows the command and control exercised by Baghdad has broken down. It's a suicidal approach which is irrational with no military logic to it. Military cohesion is sadly lacking."

 

[Jazz]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,82290,00.html

CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar — Coalition forces destroyed a column of about 20 Iraqi vehicles that tried to slip out of Basra and attack British troops, a British commander said Thursday.

Air Marshall Brian Burridge said the attempted attack followed fierce fighting in the southern Iraqi city.

"We've come up against some stiff opposition," Burridge said.

He said loyalist Iraqi forces were threatening regular army troops that were trying to desert.

Burridge said British forces had also attacked 11 Iraqi mortar firing positions and some T-55 tanks during fighting around the city.

He said British commandos and U.S. Marines had mostly secured the al-Faw Peninsula near Umm Qasr in southern Iraq and were conducting "mopping up" operations against remaining Iraqi fighters there.

Three wellhead fires had been extinguished but six were still burning, he said.

Many of the wellheads had been rigged with explosives, and troops were examining them to make sure they were not booby-trapped.

Burridge said the column of vehicles that was destroyed was manned by conscripts and regular army troops who were rounded up by Saddam Hussein loyalists and forced to drive toward the British positions.

"This isn't a formation that really knows its business," he said. "You are not dealing with forces that can maneuver."

He urged patience in efforts to secure Basra, saying there were still paramilitary forces in the city.

Burridge would not comment on the apparent attack on a residential area of Baghdad by coalition forces on Wednesday, but reiterated that allied forces were taking pains to avoid civilian casualties.

He said military units will handle security for now in Basra, but Iraqis will be encouraged to take over administration as soon as possible.

He said he believed the Iraqi regime was losing control over some of its forces and that its ability to fight was diminished.

"There are signs that they are finding it exceedingly difficult ... to maintain control," he said.

Burridge also criticized Arab media outlets and Iraqi authorities for showing images of captured British forces.