CBC News - Indepth Iraq.htm

Don Mac Lean Thu, 27 Mar 2003 19:39:21 -0800

Title: CBC News - Indepth: Iraq

Reality Check: Saddam's fedayeen
CBC News Online | March 27, 2003

On The National The CBC's Neil Macdonald looks at Saddam's fedayeen.
�Real Video runs 2:44

The U.S. and its allies didn't take Saddam's fedayeen seriously as a military force, at least until the past few weeks They have a cultish machismo, they wear the black pajamas and hoods.

"The fedayeen and his special police forces are putting up a struggle," says Sgt. George Hume, Royal Horse Artillery. "And as that struggle becomes more asymmetric, more terrorist-like in its nature, it becomes harder for us, configured here as conventional forces, to fight against it."

Their commander, Saddam's son Uday, dispatched the fedayeen south from Baghdad to meet the U.S. advance. The U.S. says they've staged ambushes, pretending to surrender and then opening fire, and have generally harassed soldiers

Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. defence secretary, says, "I'm not going to call them troops because they are travelling in civilian clothes and they are essentially terrorists."

Saddam Hussein has referred often to the fedayeen in his most recent speeches, warning them to obey their oaths, to fight unpredictably, and assuring them U.S. soldiers will eventually run scared.

The fedayeen reportedly number between 20,000 and 60,000. They try to project a ferocious image; they're supposed to be trained to survive on snakes and wolf meat (although wolves are rather scarce in Iraq). They are selected for viciousness and loyalty, and operate as the Iraqi equivalent of Adolf Hitler's brownshirts, terrorizing the population, crushing dissent.

"They are the muscle on the street. They maintain a high profile street presence. The fact that they are there is intimidation for the average citizen. They do exercise the power of life and death," says Michael Eisenstadt of the Washington Institute.

In particular, say Western experts, the fedayeen carry out political executions, often at the home of the victim. They are renowned for their practice of beheading women they accuse of prostitution - often, in reality, female relatives of dissidents. In the paranoia of Saddam's regime, they serve as a check on other security services.

And, experts say, they have good reason to fight on.

"They are not well-trained, they have no ethos of professionalism, they are cutthroats, no more than that," Eisenstadt says. "They are closely involved in the crimes of the regime. There has been a bond created there. So if the regime goes, their goose is cooked."

They also have one other thing to fear: the families of their victims. With the regime gone, revenge will doubtless be a blood sport in postwar Iraq.

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