U.S. Sends in Secret Weapon: Saddam's Old Commandos

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Public relations coupe or SNAFU?

By Alastair Macdonald

NEAR ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Twenty months after toppling Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), U.S. troops still battling his followers in the heart of Iraq (news - web sites)'s old arms industry are hitting back with a new weapon -- ex-members of Saddam's special forces.



For five months, Iraqi police commandos have been based with U.S. Marines in charge of the region along the Euphrates river immediately south of Baghdad, which roadside bombs, ambushes and kidnaps have turned into a no-go area for outsiders and earned it the melodramatic description "triangle of death."


The performance of these police is a critical test of the ability of U.S. forces to hand security over to Iraqis in order to meet their goal of withdrawing while leaving Iraq stable. U.S. officers in the area say they are increasingly optimistic.


"The hardest fighters we have are the former special forces from Saddam's days," Colonel Ron Johnson, commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, told reporters late on Friday.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=5&u=/nm/20041127/ts_nm/iraq_swat_dc

[bemildred]

1. Ah yes, yet another "critical test".

How many "critical tests" do we get? As many as it takes until
somebody "passes the critical test".

It is interesting that we are now bragging on teaming up with Saddam's
former police/military thugs.

[grumpy old fart]

2. Meet the new boss...same as the old boss.....

Let's just put Saddam back in place and move....er, oh yeah, that's right, we've already got our thug replacement in there.....

[blackhorse]

13. This reminds me of

... how quickly the U.S. and Britain moved from prosecuting Nazi war criminals after the Second World War to sheltering them because of what they knew about Soviet military operations. Can't we resist jumping into bed with the thugs just once? Sheesh.

BH

[UpInArms]

3. the more things change,

the more they stay the same -

Oh, things haven't changed, have they?

We just couldn't let that evil SH kill his own people, we had to do it for him. :eyes:

[NVMojo]

4. the neocons go back to first base ...now!!!

[sonicx]

5. Howard Stern use to joke...

the only way we can get Iraq under control is if we bring back Saddam. ;)

[jwirr]

6. 1200+ men and women dead so we

can turn the country over to the very people we took it away from. We don't care who rules as long as they give us control of the oil. I don't know about the rest of you but I feel dirty.

[daleo]

7. The transition is complete

invading countries - check
rape rooms - check
torture rooms - check
mass graves - check
killing civilians - check
killing political opponents - check
hiring Saddam's "commandos" - check

Bush IS Saddam.

On edit - forgot rigged elections.

[rfranklin]

9. First new rigged elections won't happen until January 30th...

Completing the cycle.

[Massacure]

8. How much money you want to bet they will betray the the U.S. ?

[bemildred]

10. Can I have the "yes they betray us" side?

And what odds do I have to give?

[VegasWolf]

11. Heard they are erecting a Sadam-like bush statue in Fallujah. n/t

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[englishpigdog]

14. Hardly news, folks! Nothing new here

Former wehrmacht soldiers were soon members of the bundeswehr after WWII. Former Imperial soldiers formed the Japanese Self Defense Forces. Did you expect we'd build an Iraqi army from scratch? There's plenty of things to bitch about, this ain't one of them.

[maddezmom]

15. yeah no shit, tell Bremmer and the US military

remember, they are the ones that had the de-Baathification policy, only to reinstate it after Fallujah I. :eyes:

[Ernesto]

16. You better check the NY Times front page story this AM.

A certain USMC lieutenant from the same outfit indicated that these "elite commandos" refused to follow orders & were pretty much worthless. I don't have a link, but the story was also posted here in LBN this AM.
on edit.. I found the link (My son helped me!)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1028539

[maddezmom]

17. this one? - Iraqi Forces Foundering in Face of Killings and Threats by...

MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 29 - Iraqi police and national guard forces, whose performance is crucial to securing January elections, are foundering in the face of coordinated efforts to kill and intimidate them and their families, say American officials in the provinces facing the most violent insurgency.


For months, Iraqi recruits for both forces have been the victims of assassinations and car bombs aimed at lines of applicants as well as police stations. On Monday morning, a suicide bomber rammed a car into a group of police officers waiting to collect their salaries west of Ramadi, killing 12 people, Interior Ministry officials said.

While Bush administration officials say that the training is progressing and that there have been instances in which the Iraqis have proved tactically useful and fought bravely, local American commanders and security officials say both Iraqi forces are riddled with problems.

In the most violent provinces, they say, the Iraqis are so intimidated that many are reluctant to show up and do not tell their families where they work; they have yet to receive adequate training or weapons, present a danger to American troops they fight alongside, and are unreliable because of corruption, desertion or infiltration.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/30/international/middleeast/30police.html?oref=login

[Ernesto]

18. NO, see above, maddezmom

However you have caught a link here that tells the story well. Thanks.