BAGHDAD,
July 27 (IslamOnline.net) - 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.
Speaking
to IOL, 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.
Abdul
Amir al-Hasnawi, a truck driver, alleged he helped two U.S. soldiers
escape to Kuwait.
"Two
Black U.S. soldiers arrived in Basra through a Christian go-between
from Baghdad, who used to work as a translator with the Americans.
They were in jeans and I smuggled them to Kuwait in return for $450
each," Hasnawi told IOL.
"The
go-between told me that the two soldiers did not to be gunned down in
Iraq without a cause," he added.
Kazem
al-Badri, a taxi driver, claimed that cab and truck drivers nowadays
are testing the pulse of search themselves or through go-betweens for
U.S. soldiers who want to escape from the war-scarred country in
return for bucks.
"It
is not a rumor or an Iraqi propaganda but it is a fact, because I
myself know a lot of drivers who helped U.S. soldiers escape from
Iraq," Badri insisted, adding that smuggling rates hit first a
mind-boggling $5,000 for each soldier but were not put down to $500.
“Baathist
Rumors”
The
U.S. colonel, however, said the U.S. soldiers in Iraq are remarkably
committed and it quite natural that they are longing to see their
loved ones.
Iraqi
newspapers said recently that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
had discovered that a number of U.S. soldiers operating in Iraq were
trying to escape from Iraq through the country's western borders.
The
daily Al-Qabas said that the CIA arrested those soldiers and
charged them with duty negligence, adding that the soldiers were
stationing in the flashpoint Iraqi towns.
