Remember when all those Iraqi soldiers were "laid off"? Wasn't it something like 400,000? I'm sure they've been none too thrilled with the imperialist war-monger occupiers, since they can no longer earn their daily bread.
And it's not like the occupying forces haven't had plenty of warning:
. . . former Iraqi soldiers are enraged at the US administration's dissolving of Saddam Hussein's military and its failure to deliver their backpay.
The day after US troops opened fired on a protest of Iraqi military veterans in Baghdad, killing two of them, ex-soldiers vowed on Thursday to unleash a wave of suicide bombings and ambushes against the administration if it failed to pay them their wages or rehire them. . . .
"We are all well-trained soldiers and are armed. We will start ambushes, bombings and even suicide bombings. We will not let the Americans rule us in such a humiliating way."
But the commander of the division operating around Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, where most-trusted aide Abid Hamid Mahmud was believed to have been arrested on Monday, played down the danger posed by Saddam loyalists and the recent attacks.
"I really qualify it is as militarily insignificant. They are very small. They are very ineffective," said Major-General Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division. . . .
A group calling itself the Iraqi Resistance Brigades this week claimed responsibility for all attacks on occupation forces in Iraq,
while slamming Saddam as the enemy.from the June 20th South African
The Starhttp://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=vn20030620023922666C532372&set_id=1