Commander of Iraqi division (51st)reported surrendered vows to fight on! (On Al Jazeera)

Space War ^ | 3/24/03

[areafiftyone]

An Iraqi commander near the southern city of Basra said Sunday that his division, which Washington earlier said had surrendered, would continue to resist US and British forces.

"I am with my men in Basra, we continue to defend the people and riches" of the town, Colonel Khaled al-Hashemi, commander of the 51st Mechanized Division, told the satellite television channel Al-Jazeera.

"We have made sacrifices within the division to defend our sacred places and our honour," he said without giving any other details.

The Pentagon announced Friday his troops had surrendered to coalition forces, the first division-sized unit to do so since the start of a US-led ground offensive. Baghdad immediately denied the claim.

Hashemi accused Washington of lying, saying it was part of the "psychological warfare" being put out by "enemy forces".

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said 77 civilians were killed and 366 others injured by US air strikes Saturday on Basra, Iraq's second city.

[areafiftyone]

This is a Frenchy paper so I would assume its not verycredible but it was also mentioned on MSNBC by Lester Holt!

[Shermy]

I think this is the guy Saddam praised by name, no?

[Norse]

I dont know, I think its probably true. These people don't like us, they don't want us there. I wouldn't place too much faith in a warm welcome just yet.

[areafiftyone]

I think so. Its french press so this could be bunk!!

[goldstategop]

He's still afraid of Saddam. But I wouldn't worry about him breaking his agreement for we can smoke him if he tries something stupid. 'Nuff said.

[WhiskeyPapa]

I think this is the guy Saddam praised by name, no?

That's interesting. It takes the some of the shine off the idea that this second message of Saddam's was pre-recorded.

Walt

[areafiftyone]

I am wondering if Saddam's henchmen gave him a call and he heard the lovely sound of power drills in the background!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Colonel Khaled al-Hashemi, commander of the 51st Mechanized Division

I thought it was a general who surrendered?

[wideawake]

I dont know, I think its probably true. These people don't like us, they don't want us there. I wouldn't place too much faith in a warm welcome just yet.

I don't know, but I think it's probably true that you're an America-hating troll. FReepers don't like you, they don't want you here. I wouldn't place too much faith in a warm welcome just yet.

[Noslrac]

I wonder if we didn't just make it known that these guys were surrendering without them actually telling us in hopes that saddam whould whack his military leaders and have problems with C&C.

[Shermy]

I've read some things, including an Iraqi blog, that talks about how people fear Saddam, but are quite worried about the press reporting about "strong resistance" and such. Al Jazeera is going full blast with injured baby pix, Pan-Arabism, and stirring up fears about colonialism and Frank's wonderful (gag) past statement about a two year military governorship, which Bush kind of corrected later.

[GROOVY]

If I am remembering correctly I read somewhere today that officials said that the guy who agreed to the surrender was someone impersonating the commander to win favor with us.

[jwalsh07]

Colonel's don't command divisions unless the General has already surrendered.

[Tarheel]

"We have made sacrifices within the division to defend our sacred places and our honour," he said without giving any other details

Honour!!!!????? A quote about honour, by an Iraqi, reported by a French paper. An oxymoron if I ever heard one.

The Tarheel

[homeagain balkansvet]

So lemmesee. PMSNBC just reported that the Iraqis have dredged up 'the real General X.' General X is the commander of the 51st Armored Division which just happened to have surrendered to us in spite of Saddam's nice words about him. It turns out the 'General X' who surrendered to the US was another, lower ranking officer impersonating 'the real General X in order to get better treatment from the Americans.'

Suuuuuuuuuure. How conveeeeeeeeeenient!

He's dead, Jim. Dead'r'n'dog$#!+.

[homeagain balkansvet]

Weekend at Baghdad Bernie's, in other words.

[areafiftyone]

MSNBC has not put this on their website so I am assuming it is propaganda from the Iraqi slime!!

[Cate]

Hmm, could it be another 'disinformatioooooooon' like Aziz defecting? Could this be a brillant military move by our guys?

[Shermy]

Good point.

[P.O.E.]

I can't believe some of the surrendered have just been asked to give up their weapons and go home.

Shouldn't we at least be fingerprinting them so if they turn up again we can detain them?