Iraqi soldiers deserting new army

[greatauntoftriplets]

Most complain about low pay and death threats

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."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0312090088dec09,1,675764.story?coll=chi-news-hed

[rooboy]

1. I shouldn't laugh but...

ROFLMAO.

[CatWoman]

15. HA ha

[Hubert Flottz]

2. They are mad because:::::::::::::::::::::::

The Republican Guards have been replaced by the Republican Gawds! They know that a GOPer is a GOPer, no matter how he spins it!

[opihimoimoi]

4. Its called risk yo life for tiny dinars

Ain't worth it I guess, Plus no virgins for them like the other guys get.

Come, we find some vinyl dolls for those martyrs.

[Hubert Flottz]

5. I think Bush is having an affair with our money!

He loves it!

[Kinkistyle]

3. The wackiest army in the Middle East!

What a complete farce.

[wildwww2]

6. Bu$h has his penis stuck in a hornets nest. It is a good thing for him

that he has his filthy prick coated with our young service people. To keep from getting stung. All Halliburton and Bechtel employee`s should be required by law to give up their children for this war crime.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[snippy]

13. Mighty small hornets nest. Bush is all bulge and no bone.

[Hubert Flottz]

17. Shrub wants to (sock )it to everybody too!

That's why they appointed him Moran inCh ief!

[DeaconBlues]

7. This is the homegrown Iraqi force that

Bush and his cabal expect to pull our coals out of the fire. We are in big trouble.

[0007]

8. Is it un-American to snicker?

[Military Brat]

9. Go ahead. It's America's favorite candy bar.

That, and Zero, for the WMD fiasco.

[54anickel]

10. "Some people were patriotic most people were not here to serve their...

country. It was to get a job" (education?)

Isn't that what some here at DU have been saying about our reservists?
It's actually very sad that people feel they only way to make a living is to become cannon fodder. If our economy continues to "improve" in the manner it is, we may someday be in the same boat.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. They must have all gone the the GW Bu$h School

of Military Service.

What did they expect from people who deserted Saddam?

[snippy]

12. True. AWOL Iraqis emulating AWOL Bush.

Is this a known unknown or an unknown unknown?

[Polemonium]

20. to Rummy most of the world is an unknown unknown

HA HA HA,

[Hand]

14. Wuh boy... can you spell...

ARVN?

[NNN0LHI]

16. Wonder if we trained and armed them well before they took a hike? n/t

[Vitruvius]

22. You can count on it.

Training & arming the enemy. And some of our boys will die of this stupidity.

[loudnclear]

18. Got all the intel they needed and then took off!

They could even come back and we wouldn't know the difference. This is the worst military operation in our history...uncalled for and unwinnable.

[Hubert Flottz]

19. No, it can be won if they are willing to kill on the scale that Adolf

Hitler killed! I look for the pogroms to begin in Iraq any day!

Speaking of Nazi Pogroms check out this story about Prescott Bush's old bidness partners IG Farben!

Nazi Chemical Giant Declares Bankruptcy

The infamous Nazi poison-gas manufacturer IG Farben is insolvent, possibly leaving thousands of former forced laborers trying to claim compensation out in the cold.

http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1431_A_1026396,00.html

The GW Bush Gang: IG Farben 2001

http://www.rense.com/general7/gw.htm

Bush - Nazi Link Confirmed

The Family Business

SNIP> In 1926, after Prescott Bush had married Walker's daughter, Dorothy, Walker brought Bush in as a vice president of the private banking and investment firm of W.A. Harriman & Co., also located in New York. Bush became a partner in the firm that later became Brown Brothers Harriman and the largest private investment bank in the world. Eventually, Bush became a director of and stockholder in UBC.

However, the government documents note that Bush, Harriman, Lievense and the other UBC stockholders were in fact "nominees," or phantom shareholders, for Thyssen and his Holland bank, meaning that they acted at the direct behest of their German client. MORE.........

http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi%20Link

[NYC]

21. Salary?

How about raising the salary?

[ConcernedCanuk]

23. I don't believe it's about $$$ - not for one second

. . If anyone has even taken a peek at the Iraq Body Count site

. . you can bet your butt that most of these "deserters" have lost a relative or two at the hands of the USA's "liberators"

. . and the USA shold NOT be concerned about the Iraqi's that "deserted"

. . y'all better worry about the ones that STAYED !!

. . I fear this all is just gonna get worse and worse

. (sigh) .

[LeftistGorilla]

24. geesuz....

oh course they want money... how are they gunna feed their families?