U.S. Soldiers Reportedly Escape From Iraq...(real?)

[Guaranteed]

http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20030727115721898

BAGHDAD, July 27 - U.S. soldiers in Iraq are escaping from Iraq under the guise of Kurdish citizens, wearing the famous Iraqi and Arab al-Dashdasha (loose headdress) which has become mush sought-after recently, Iraqis told IslamOnline.net Sunday, July 27.

However, a U.S. colonel categorically denied that 2,500 U.S. soldiers have escaped from duty so far, noting that it was a rumor propagated by the Baathists and the loyalists to ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Saeed al-Aidany, a galabia (gown) seller, said, "We were surprised at the very beginning to see a lot of U.S. soldiers buying al-Dashdasha, but it came to our knowledge that they used it as a camouflage to make their escape to Gulf states".

Aidany further claimed that U.S. soldiers were also seen buying Kurdish costumes to make their way to Turkey through northern Iraq.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

------------------

I don't know if this is just Saddam's propaganda or not, but it sounds plausible to me. I sure as hell wouldn't be sticking around to get shot for the Bush administration.

[BeHereNow]

1. I hope this is true.

If indeed, our young men and women in service
are leaving the situation in Iraq, due to the realization that
they, like the rest of us, have been manilpulated and decieved
into an unjust war- I say, travelin' mercies to them.
BHN
No soldiers=no BFEE
WWJD?

[jiacinto]

3. I doubt it

Consider the source.

[Tinoire]

12. This kind of thing would have made me desert

This kind of thing would have made me desert no matter how close I was to retirement. I can only imagine how I would have felt at 19 if this is what I was seeing.

Do you think our soldiers sleep peacefully at night?

The ones coming home I hear, sit around with a 'vacant scare', have problems relating to their own kids. Combat can make a decent man go mad Jiacinto. Remember how scared you were on the streets of Baltimore that night? Magnify that sensation by 100. Add to that the sound of shelling and machine guns. Imagine that was a combat zone where real people, kids included, were really dying thanks to your unit. Add to that the fear of being killed for something you don't even believe in, where you were lied to. Add to that shame and a bad conscience from knowing that you were asked to do things that were wrong and against International Law. Add to that the knowledge that your Commander-in-Chief had no plans to get you out of there and that no ally was coming to offer any relief. Could you stay? I couldn't have.

Not all of our soldiers are ruthless people with no conscience.

http://www.voxfux.com/archives/liberated_boy. jpg for a picture of why some are deserting (you'll have to remove the space between _boy and .jpg otherwise the picture will show and I wouldn't want anyone to be forced to see what our soldiers are forced to see on a daily basis- could offend their sensibilities and rattle fragile nerves - gee, does one suppose that could be an explanation?)

[MattNC]

2. hope they're ready

to be charged with desertion and be court-martialed if they're caught.

[indictrichardperle]

4. i doubt the 2500 number

but with soldiers saying in the media "morale is non-existant", a rash of suicides, angry families....and a few reports i read and heard myself where there wasnt enough water, father said his son was crying......and "didnt think he would make it".....

well i would easily believe some troops are refusing to report or just trying to leave Iraq AWOL.

[tkmorris]

16. Exactly

You raise a very telling point. We know there have been suicides, it's a virtual certainty that many soldiers would opt to "escape" rather than kill themselves. One simply isn't very plausible without the other.

Based on my experiences in the Navy I'd say that for every servicemember suicide due to inability to deal with miltary life there were 10 who simply went UA (AWOL for those more familiar with that term). It seems likely that a significant number in Iraq would at least try.

[geomon]

22. right after their commander in chief

is tried for his desertion then his lies.

[DemoTex]

5. Sounds like Tim OBrien's "Going After Cacciato"

The escape and chase from Vietnam.

[Cha]

6. I wouldn't doubt it except what would they do about their

status in the military? Would they be a-wol, a deserter?

They wouldn't be able to have a life in the USA would they?

I feel so bad for those Soldliers...WE were out Protesting so that this Would Not be Happening right now.. but no bush had to pull the trigger.

[indictrichardperle]

8. well, escape into Turkey, Kuwait then to Europe

i would imagine.....

They would in effect be de-nouncing their citizenship, just like draftees who went to Canada..

I would find it very difficult to serve this immoral sham of a war, Oil and Likud arent worth one american life in my opinion.

[DUreader]

11. Their status? Why, they too, could become pResident one day!!

The Uniter leads by example

[DBoon]

14. Not true!

These folks (if you believe the story) have actually served in their military.

Unlike the Shrub one, who merely pretended.

COme on, you don't think W would have ever gotten close to Vietnam, would you?

You can't desert from a military that you never joined to begin with.

[Tinoire]

13. Not without a Presidential Pardon. This is a BRAVE act. The penalty

The maximum and accepted penalty for desertion during wartime is still "Death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct". (You can bank on the death or, if they're lenient, quasi life-imprisonment part).

Field Manual No. 22-51: Leaders' Manual for Combat Stress Control: Combat Stress Behaviors

Chapter 4: Combat Misconduct Stress Behaviors
Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington, DC

4-12. The Misconduct Stress Behavior of Being Absent Without Leave or Deserting
Going AWOL or deserting may be misconduct stress behaviors, but are punishable under the UCMJ unless there exists some legal justification or excuse. Possible defenses to a charge of AWOL or desertion include insanity or amnesia with the (rare) trance type of battle fatigue. In the Western democracies, less use of capital punishment for civilian crimes has also reduced the frequency of firing-squad executions of deserters "to discourage the others." Nevertheless, the death penalty is still allowed under the UCMJ for deserting in time of war.


http://www.vnh.org/FM22-51/04FM2251.html

[NYC]

7. Where would they go? What would they do when they got there?

"...make their escape to Gulf states".

What happens to an illegal alien in the Gulf states? It sounds awfully risky.

[Tinoire]

9. I doubt the high numbers also but believe that some are deserting

What I've read in private military forums only confirms this for me.

Many of our soldiers are just sitting around with a 'vacant stare' upon their return. Apparently it's worse than we'll ever know for years.

Months of obscene horrors, that can push you to a 'vacant stare', can also push you to desertion.

Soldiers go AWOL during peace time, right here in the US. What makes anyone think some wouldn't desert in the middle of an unbearable war zone?

And the horrors are not just the Iraqi-imposed horrors but also what they see their own comrades doing to the Iraqis. If anyone doubts me, check out this recent DU Post #17:

We have several soldiers up on investigation for war crimes..not yet charged..NO, these aren't the others in the news that are actually charged.....but yesterday, wives called me constantly wanting to know "are these our troops?"...Fortunately, I could say NO...but I couldn't tell them about the actual investigations within our company....Even if I could, they would deny the wrong committed or try to explain it away with "so?", "it's wrong to charge our troops no matter what", or "who cares about Iraqis?"....and this is what I live with on a daily basis. It's as if right from wrong doesn't play into their thinking....unless it's a wrong they agree with (such as being a democrat-my soldier hubby recently got berated for being a democrat..he laughed at the person)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=36561&mesg_id=36561&listing_type=search#36902


Yes Virginia, some of our soldiers DO have morals, some of our soldiers are BRAVE enough to turn their back on this. For these soldiers, I will work my fingers off for Kucinich because I don't see anyone else besides Braun and Sharpton who would have the courage and conviction to grant them Presidential Pardons.

[bluestateguy]

10. Thank God for Foreign, Non-corporate news

While the 2500 number may be a little too high to escape the attention of American news companies' interests. But I am sure this story has at least a kernel of truth to it.

[Frances]

15. I don't know how many soldiers have committed suicide,

but I suppose it's reasonable to assume that about that number would try to get out of Iraq by other means.

[maggrwaggr]

17. sounds like BS to me.

propaganda from the other side

[DagmarK]

18. Speaking of buying propoganda.....do you REALLY think SADDAM

is running a resistance operation?

I sure don't. I think he is as dead as dead can be (he had terminal metastisized cancer over 2 years ago), was on a lot of pain killers right before the war. And if he isn't dead...he's off on an island at this time counting all his money.

IMO, it is valuable for the bush admin to keep an image of an shadowy evil monster lurking through the streets of Baghdad and Tikrit. Americans standing at Main and Vine Streets in Murika are VERY afraid of Saddam, and the USA gets legitimacy from them if the USA can make them think that the most FEARED MAN in the world is still on the loose.

The Iraqi resistance is an obvious result. And I would not buy one ounce of the bushit about WHO is causing what to happen over there. There is no way to say what the heck is happening there.

Now, to the topic......shoot, if I were a young male...no wife or kids.....and forced to be used for target practice for an unjust war for oil, I would go awol, and just live the rest of my life in some european community.....

2500? That's a lot.....and boy will the USA have to save face about that. Imagine.....the fierce US marines RUNNING AWAY!

[Paschall]

19. Saddam had "terminal metastasized" cancer?

Do you have a credible source--other than Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress--for this rumor? Two years ago, it was reported he had stomach cancer, Hodgkin's disease, and leukemia. It was also reported he died and was replaced by a look-alike. None of that information, in my opinion, is credible.

Uh, by the way, no one recovers from "terminal metastasized" cancer. Not even Saddam.

[0007]

24. In order to help keep the troops

pumped up for combat duty we must keep Saddam Hussein alive. Reward money will keep a lot of troops going.

Saddam is dead as a door nail in my humble opinion.

[tlb]

20. No way.

Has the US ever fought a war with no deserters at all ? Seems unlikely and I doubt the current one would be an exception. Still it is not sensible to think a regiment's worth of men might have light out this way in 2003. The modern professional volunteer US Army simply isn't colonial militia circa 1777.

And does anyone believe turks.us would scoop the BBC on something like this ? C'mon.

[ahimsa]

21. Handy way to explain 2500 missing soldiers

Come to think of it...

[preciousdove]

23. Rense said that there were 500 bodies

before the battle for Bagdad. So you could be right.

[newyawker99]

25. BullGooseLoony

Per DU copyright rules
please post only 4
paragraphs from the
news source.

Thank you.

NYer99
DU Moderator

[Robin Hood]

26. Hey! If dumb ass can go awol, why can't they.

Oh! I forget, dumb ass is special. he's better than us.