Beware of 'suicide prisoners', troops told

The Times ^ | March 17, 2003 | Chris Ayres

[MadIvan]

AMERICAN troops were told yesterday to prepare for “suicide PoWs” as commanders prepared to cope with tens of thousands of Iraqi defectors.

US Marines, likely to be among the first troops to enter Iraqi territory, fear that some prisoners of war will use the suicide tactics of Hamas bombers to cause as many casualties as possible.

The Marines have been given warning that suicide PoWs could take advantage of the chaos caused by tens of thousands of genuine Iraqi prisoners giving themselves up to the invading forces. Despite such fears, the Marines have been ordered to treat prisoners as they would their own men.

Enemy prisoners of war — known by the Marines as EPWs, rather than PoWs — will be issued food rations in yellow vacuum-packed bags, given emergency medical aid and protected as far as possible from hostilities while in US care. They will be disarmed and handcuffed first.

Colonel Michael Marletto, commanding officer of the 11th Marine Regiment, told his troops yesterday that some Iraqis — possibly from the 51st Mechanised Division stationed directly over the Kuwaiti border — had already tried to surrender to British Forces.

“The indications we’re getting from over the border is that there’s not much motivation for a fight,” he said. “A bunch of them (Iraqis came up to the Brits and tried to surrender, but the Brits said: ‘It’s not time yet, go back.’ ”

British Forces in Kuwait played down the suggestion that troops may have turned away a potential source of Intelligence. An army spokesman said: “I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

Colonel Marletto said that many Iraqis may be bemused by the presence of US forces wearing chemical suits and night-vision goggles. “Your average Iraqi is probably going to think he’s having a close encounter of the third kind with an alien,” he said.

US Marines have been practising crowd control at their camps in Kuwait in preparation for prisoners. Staff Sergeant Howard Bradford told assembled Marines at Camp Grizzly to tie prisoners’ hands behind their backs using plastic “flexi-cuffs” and then twist them. This will give a short stab of intense pain, he said, that would “let them know who’s in control”.

“We’re expecting high numbers of EPWs,” Sergeant Nathan Perry said. He is one of a dozen or so Marines who took part in Staff Sergeant Bradford’s training exercise. “As far as the ground force goes, the number of EPWs could be double the number of men in our battalion,” he said. “When we search them, we’re told they can have anything strapped to them, like a suicide bomb. If you can see explosives, you use the EPW’s body as a shield.”

During the 1991 Gulf War, his eight-man unit had to deal with about 200 prisoners, some of whom were US citizens with Iraqi families. Saddam had given them a choice: come back to Iraq to fight or never see their relatives again.

The 1991 effort to round up prisoners did not go smoothly. “We had a lot of people going through the prisoners’ wallets because they wanted souvenirs,” Staff Sergeant Bradford said. He has told his Marines not to repeat such behaviour.

Marines at Camp Grizzly have a small white laminated card — along with a booklet of phonetic Arabic phrases such as “la too-qaa-wim” (“do not resist”) — telling them how to handle prisoners.

[MadIvan]

This could be the biggest problem in the war.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[Consort]

Put all prisoners under the control of the Iraqi Opposition and the Kurds.

[teletech]

Seems simple enough to me. You halt the prisoners at a safe distance and tell them to strip! I mean take it ALL off! Then, if you find they have explosives you give them a choice of removing same at a safe distance or being shot!

[Defiant]

I don't understand why they don't make prisoners strip at a distance. Those that are clean can be marked, and we don't have to worry about them anymore.

This was a problem in Afghanistan, too--remember how the uprising at the prison started? Hopefully, we have worked out some procedures that minimize the risk.

[PoisedWoman]

make prisoners strip at a distance.

Horrible mental image. Yuk! What will we give them to wear? Do we have 2,234,541 orange suits available?

[Defiant]

They would get back in their clothes once it had been checked and all military hardware removed. We could let them keep their stained underwear.

[George W. Bush]

Seems simple enough to me. You halt the prisoners at a safe distance and tell them to strip! I mean take it ALL off!

Probably just to their briefs. We have womenfolk among our soldiers. They can't hide too much in their briefs.

[teletech]

Probably just to their briefs. We have womenfolk among our soldiers. They can't hide too much in their briefs.

Would you rather our women soldiers see something they have all probably seen before or be sent home in body bags because we got careless? I say the former.

[prairiebreeze]

My first solution too.

Prairie

[TimPatriot]

Another possibility that I hope we have thought of is that Sadaam infects "soldiers" with some contagious disease and then lets them surrender. Fortunately, I believe the troops are well innoculated for what is expected to be possible.

[Judith Anne]

Absolutely make them strip at a distance! Safety first!

[George W. Bush]

Would you rather our women soldiers see something they have all probably seen before or be sent home in body bags because we got careless? I say the former.

I expect they won't make them strip at all. I do recall that in the Iran-Iraq war, POW's were shown shirtless, apparently that is pretty standard surrender procedure in the region.

Pretty hard to hide real explosives big enough to kill a bunch of people on the pelvis or along the legs, even with baggy pants. Suicide bombers don't go for one-to-one exchanges. They seem to have a need to take at least 5-10 people with them. And that usually only happens on a bus or in a crowd or some other very confined space where their explosives are more effective.

Also, you have to consider that planting a suicide bomber in the midst of a large group might be difficult because the soldiers trying to surrender might worry that they might get shot if they allow a suicide bomber to kill their captors.

At any rate, I think our military has a good enough handle on the problem. Except maybe for how to feed and handle so many of them over a very long supply line. But I'm content to leave it to the professionals, not the armchair generals.

[Amelia]

Probably just to their briefs. We have womenfolk among our soldiers.

As a womanfolk, I'd rather look at a bunch of butt-ugly naked men than get blown up by a suicide bomber.

The naked men might have a problem being surveyed by a mixed crowd, however.

[teletech]

My first solution too.

Prairie

Safety first!

[George W. Bush]

I doubt any of this will happen. Let the military professionals handle it. The danger is pretty small compared to the climatic problems, NBC danger and regular combat hazards our troops will face.

[tet68]

I imagine it will be similar to what we were told in RVN.

If a combatant tries to surrender to you, and fighting is still going on, you do not have to accept his surrender.
If all fighting stops, and they surrender en mass, then
volunteers will go out and begin to disarm them.

Volunteers, yeah right.

[ConservativeMan55]

I see you liked the way I typed my messages, LOL!

[Consort]

Which messages?

[Centurion2000]

Real simple solution .... all EPW's strip and are searched .... THEN their clothes are searched and everything stripped of weapons.

If ANY prisoner resists ... shot all of them.

Precede this by a loudspeaker announcement in Arabic to prevent people from getting stupid.