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The troops are said to have deserted fighting in protest at the US practices
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FALLUJAH,
November 9 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Some 200 Iraqi
soldiers have already deserted their US-trained army unit shortly
before the massive US offensive on Fallujah, US and Iraqi military
officials have said.
According
to Iraqi and US estimates, 200 others are vacationing to avoid taking
part in the widely-censured US onslaught, CNN reported Tuesday,
November 9.
“Some
soldiers are afraid because they have received death threats,” an
Iraqi soldier said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
Interim
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had made a surprise visit on Monday,
November 8, to the Iraqi forces stationing around the western Iraqi
city.
Thousands
of US Marine and Army forces, backed by hellish air strikes, ground
fire and tanks, began Monday, November 8, a
massive assault on Fallujah, west of Baghdad, after the
US-handpicked premier gave the go-ahead for an all-out assault.
Latest
Desertion
A
senior Iraqi officer is the latest to desert his army unit hours after
he had been briefed on the US-led massive offensive on the resistance
bastion of Fallujah.
"This
man has no known ties with Fallujah and they [the US military] don't
believe in the first instance that he is headed for Fallujah. They
believe that since the captain is a Kurd, he is more likely headed up
north and going home," CNN quoted US officers as saying.
"It
is significant that he disappeared after he had a full and detailed
brief on the full battle plan for the assault on Fallujah."
The
deserted captain was in command of 160 Iraqi soldiers training with US
marines at a base on the outskirts of the restive Fallujah.
It
was reported in April that the US occupation military was
detaining some 200 Iraqi civil defense soldiers, who
refused to take part in a massive US offensive against Fallujah.
Ali
Al-Shamari, who managed to make escape, told Reuters at that time that
his 36th Security Brigade refused en masse to fight against their own
people.
“Major
Sin”
Sunni
and Shiite religious parties had urged the Iraqi forces not to join
the US incursion.
The
Association of Muslim Scholars, Iraq’s highest Sunni body, has
warned the Iraqi troops that they would be committing a “major
sin” if they helped the US forces storm Fallujah.
The
Association has further decided not to participate in the anticipated
January election, urged other Iraqi factions and political powers to
boycott election and held Allawi responsible for the bloodshed, saying
that history would not forgive him.
The
Fallujah Shura Council had also urged the Iraqi guardsmen to not join
the fighting against the Iraqi resistance men in the flashpoint city.
The
same message was expressed by the anti-occupation firebrand Shiite
leader Muqtada Al-Sadr.
“The
Iraqis should not be used as a tool in the hands of the occupation
forces,” said Abdul Hadi Al-Darraji, head of the Martyr Sadr Office
in Baghdad.
“Offensive
on Fallujah targets the whole Iraq.”
The
successive raids on Fallujah have, in effect, left thousands of Iraqis
dead and homeless.
In
April alone, at least 700 Iraqis, mostly
women and children , were killed and 1,500 others injured when
US occupation forces imposed a
tight siege on the town and intensified air strikes on
its densely-populated areas.
