Insider story from Iraq under Saddam

Hopefully, the media can take a break from weeping about the one year anniversary of Saddam's hanging and stories about how Christians, Gays, Christian-Gays, Log Cabin Republicans...whoever else they want to con us into thinking was better off under Saddam while not mentioning that al Qaeda WAS better off with Saddam in power...to due more stories like this: WSJ

Times were much different in Saddam's Iraq, when the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was a critical issue to Iraqis. After the outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada in the Palestinian territories in 2000, Saddam, indignant and resentful of Israeli actions, immediately called for Iraqi mobilization and, in a matter of days, formed Al-Quds Army, or Jerusalem Army. Baghdad officials claimed it consisted of seven million Iraqi men and women ready to sacrifice their lives to help their Palestinian brothers. I remember from propaganda at the time that the goal of these volunteers was to "liberate Palestine from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River."

snip

And although it was said that Al-Quds Army was for volunteers, every Iraqi capable of carrying a gun was required to join. Many were college age, but its ranks also included people in their 40s and occasionally older. Soon, training camps mushroomed everywhere, in neighborhoods, schools, government institutions and mosques. The intensive military training lasted for more than a month. Some of the trainers told us they were retired army generals.

I started my training at the end of the spring of 2000. I was a 21-year-old college freshman studying English and had to, along with other college mates, wear a military uniform and carry a rifle while attending classes; we attended training sessions after school. To make sure no student skipped the military training, the school's main doors were locked after classes and anyone entering or leaving had to show a student identification card and explain why he or she wanted to get in or leave.

And the same people who cry about Bush wiretapping al Qaeda operators will ignore this while toasting the greatness of how it was in Iraq "before we f^#%'ed it all up".

Comments

[Mark Eichenlaub]

Awesome find Ray. Are we really sure that the only people training in those camps were Iraqis?