Shades of Mogadishu Seen in Iraq's POW Treatment

[thedrifter]

Shades of Mogadishu Seen in Iraq's POW Treatment

Sun March 23, 2003 06:40 PM ET
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As U.S. military leaders condemned Iraqi treatment of American prisoners of war, experts said on Sunday Saddam Hussein may be gambling that the United States turns and runs as it did after the bodies of U.S. troops were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in 1993.

Somali militia fighters ambushed U.S. Army Rangers and special forces troops in bloody street battles on Oct. 3, 1993, that left 18 Americans dead. Some of their corpses were dragged through the dusty streets of Mogadishu by jubilant mobs.

President Bill Clinton later withdrew U.S. forces, who had been sent to Somalia on a humanitarian mission.

Lawrence Korb, who served as assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration, said Saddam, the Iraqi president, is hoping -- incorrectly -- that he can scare off the United States by brutalizing Americans taken captive.

"I think in his own mind, Saddam Hussein thinks it will be another Somalia, where when you saw the Americans being dragged through the streets people said, 'What the hell are we doing there, this is not our fight. How did this happen?"'

Korb, now an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations, said there is a big difference between U.S. resolve in the U.N. mission to Somalia in which U.S. forces participated and the U.S.-led quest to topple Saddam.

Michael O'Hanlon, an analyst with the Brookings Institution, agreed Saddam may be hoping for another Mogadishu, "but I think he'll be proven wrong."

"In fact, I'm surprised that there are not more hostages. I'm surprised some journalists weren't taken hostage," O'Hanlon added. "You have to stick with your war plan, and you accept the possibility that these people may not be released and may not come home."

U.S. officials said an Army supply convoy apparently made a wrong turn during a battle near the southern city of Nassiriya, and U.S. soldiers were ambushed and taken captive by Iraqi "irregular forces," some of whom have been fighting in civilian garb. U.S. officials say 12 soldiers were missing.

Official Iraqi television videotaped Iraqi officials interrogating five shaken U.S. soldiers, at least two of whom appeared to be wounded -- one a woman who said she had a bandaged ankle and the other a man who appeared to have a broken arm lying in apparent agony on a rug on the floor.

'THE PICTURES WERE DISGUSTING'

Iraqi television also displayed grisly footage of dead bodies, apparently those of other U.S. soldiers. Some of the bodies had apparent bullets wounds in the forehead, and were sprawled out on the floor in puddles of blood.

U.S. officials said they did not know where the captives were being held.

During a news briefing in Qatar, U.S. Gen. John Abizaid said, "I would say the pictures were disgusting."

"Certainly, I don't think that these pictures will damage either the psychology of our soldiers, morale of our soldiers or the steadfastness of our government or the resolve of our people. We're a pretty tough people," Abizaid told reporters.

Abizaid criticized satellite news channel Al-Jazeera for broadcasting the videotape around the Arab world. The Pentagon asked news organizations not to air or publish recognizable images or audio recordings that identify prisoners of war.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it was a violation of the Geneva Convention to show such images of the captives. President Bush said those responsible would be punished as "war criminals" if they mistreated U.S. prisoners.

Iraqi officials vowed to respect the Geneva Convention in its treatment of prisoners.

Retired U.S. Army Col. Kenneth Allard, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the treatment of the prisoners could spur U.S. commanders to turn up the heat on Iraq and "remove the gloves" in the war.

"The task is going to be on the U.S. side to maintain a reasonable restraint," Allard said. "But at the same token, they have to take action to let the other side know this will not be tolerated."


Sempers,

Roger