Poorly equipped Iraqi soldier faces death from front - and rear

By DOUGLAS HAMILTON

DOHA - Pity the Iraqi soldier. The United States invasion manual says he is poorly trained, ill-equipped, badly dressed and demoralised.

President Saddam Hussein says his troops have nothing to fear in face-to-face combat. But the CIA is telling US forces massing around Iraq the enemy is in a sorry state.

The key question is, will he fight? If he runs or tries surrender, records show he may be shot by his own - Soviet-style commissars impose discipline and elite Republican Guard units are arrayed in the rear.

Compared to the blaze of television and gush of print about American forces, the Iraq soldier is faceless in the West.

The CIA's Iraq Country Handbook fills in some blanks. It says Iraqi forces "lack the ability to engage in sustained high-intensity combat" because of poor equipment, poor logistics and a lack of spares.

With US air superiority virtually guaranteed, the 350,000 soldiers of the Army would be America's main opponents.

There are also about 650,000 ageing reservists and a wild boast of seven million militia to be called on, in extremis.

The soldier's uniform, light brown or olive green, may be Iraqi, French, British or Pakistani.

Helmets are US-style.

Weapons are Iraqi, Russian, Chinese, French, US, British, Italian, Brazilian, Czech, Romanian, Yugoslav or Spanish.

The CIA manual lists elaborate moves befitting a well-organised force, plus unconventional tactics including oil fires to neutralise night-vision and heat-seeking weapons, and electroshock cables laid in swampy territory.

But there is "a disparity between theory and execution on the battlefield", the CIA says.

In 1991, when allied troops took prisoners of war wearing sandals and loafers, Iraq military power was "greatly reduced by catastrophic losses", says the CIA.

Sanctions since then have crippled attempts to rebuild the old prowess.

Iraq's Army was built up by the Pentagon before the Gulf War as the "fourth largest in the world", battle-hardened by years of war against Iranian "human wave" attacks. It turned out to be a paper tiger.

The 100-hour land war was a walkover for numerically greater and qualitatively superior US forces.

Former CIA Iraq military analyst Kenneth Pollack says that today, the bulk of the Army - 150,000 troops with 900 tanks - is deployed in the north opposite Kurdish insurgents.

Facing the Iranian border and restless Shi'ite Muslims in the south are 70,000 troops - including three heavy divisions.

Baghdad has 30,000, including four of Iraq's six Republican Guard divisions.

At the pinnacle are 15,000 Special Security Forces Organisation troops.

Whether the Iraqis deliberately retreat to make a stand in Baghdad streets and how US forces respond is anyone's guess. But as US officers candidly acknowledge: "We are not looking for a fair fight."

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq

January 28, 2003: