Iraqi Soldiers Deserting New Army

The Bush/PNAC train wreck in Iraq is getting worse by the day...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0312090088dec09,1,741526.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

By Christine Spolar
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published December 9, 2003

KIRKUSH MILITARY TRAINING BASE, Iraq -- The first battalion of the new Iraqi army, once celebrated as a key symbol of Iraq's recovery, has been abandoned by more than a third of its soldiers a week before the battalion is set to begin working alongside U.S. military units.

The 694-man group calling itself the Freedom Battalion was sworn into duty Oct. 4. By the end of November, the payroll dropped to 455 soldiers who stayed amid fierce complaints about low pay and jitters over the occasional death threat, military officials said. Actual attendance is lower still: only 392 soldiers showed up Monday for their last week of drills, said a commander of the U.S.-supervised force at this desert base east of Baghdad.

"The biggest reason for people leaving, from what we can tell, is salary," said U.S. Army Maj. Rick Caya, officer in charge of the 4th Infantry Division Command Advisory Group that trains soldiers beyond basic training.

"Some people were patriotic most people were not here to serve their country. It was to get a job," Caya said in an interview. "So these numbers are something we watch. When you're counting on a battalion to be 690 people and there's not, that's a problem."

(more)

General, your tank is a powerful vehicle
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.

General, your bomber is powerful.
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.
http://www.nonviolence.org/amhvigil/200330.html

I can see where you are leading me. I understand that we will kill, destroy, get hurt and die, and that there is no end in sight. I know that the "ongoing war" of which you speak, will go on and on. I can see that if the "military needs" lead us to lay siege to, hunt down, and starve a whole people, then something about these "needs" is terribly wrong.
I am therefore forced to disobey your call. I will not pull the trigger.
http://www.seruv.org.il/signers/24_1_Eng.htm

The Bodies Come Home
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0350/schanberg.php