Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 13, 1991 TAG: 9102130384
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: AT THE KUWAITI BORDER LENGTH: Medium
Some cite the relentless allied air attacks and the dwindling supplies of food and fuel. Some blame a decade-long cycle of war that they say has not hardened troops, but worn them down.
"It is very bad. Fighting, fighting, fighting, and for what? Nothing," said Saad Shab, 29, a career tank soldier who says he fought every year of the 1980-1988 war with Iran.
"I'll go back to Iraq when Saddam Hussein is dead," Shab said as he sat on Saudi sand.
He spoke against the background thunder of a B-52's 1,900-pound bombs slamming into the desert floor a few miles away - not far from where he was sitting now, but much closer to where he was the day before.
Shab was among 10 Iraqi frontline troops who crossed the Kuwaiti border early Tuesday and surrendered to an Egyptian armored unit just inside Saudi Arabia.
American, Saudi and Egyptian officers on the front say Iraqi desertions have become a daily ritual for the multinational montage of allied units along the border. All say the numbers have steadily climbed in the past few days.
Typically, the Iraqi soldiers leave their units in small groups at night and crawl gently through their army's own minefields, estimated to be 250 yards deep.
At daybreak, they raise their arms and walk toward the man-molded wall of sand that buffers allied positions for much of Kuwait's southern border. Most carry the little leaflets dropped by allied planes that explain how to surrender, and threaten them with death if they refuse.
U.S. officials say 1,000 Iraqis have either deserted or been captured since the war began on Jan. 17, but that number is several days old. Conversations with allied officers at the front in recent days indicate regular groups of five or 10 a day are not uncommon at each of the many posts spanning the front.
The Iraqis who arrived at the Egyptian post said the number of deserters to Saudi Arabia is small compared with those heading north, back toward their homes.
They contend that half the frontline troops have deserted. Many more, they say, are planning to leave.
"Many soldiers don't come because they are afraid for their families," said a 32-year-old soldier who only gave his name as Shakr. Shakr, who has a wife and two children in Iraq, and most of the other soldiers declined to give their full names.
All the soldiers said they heard from commanders that 20,000 Iraqi troops have died in the allied bombing raids since war began.
When they slipped away from their camp during the night, they said they did not encounter the so-called "execution squads" reportedly formed by Saddam Hussein to kill deserters. They said a sentry did spot them crawling through the mine field and ordered them to return, but did not shoot when they refused.
Egyptian officers at other units said deserters have reported such killings, and that other deserters were killed while trying to cross mine fields.
Shab, however, said all the Iraqi mines are plainly visible when traveling on foot. He also confirmed there are large trenches filled with oil that would be set ablaze to slow an allied advance.
The soldiers said Saddam has ordered extra mines laid both in front and in back of his lines to keep his troops from deserting.
About 30 minutes after the group showed up at the Egyptian camp, two more Iraqi soldiers arrived.
While the Iraqis wolfed down Arab bread and slurped heavily sugared tea, the Egyptians politely questioned them while dismantling the Iraqis' Soviet-built Kalashnikov rifles. An Associated Press reporter was allowed to observe.
Their ages ranged from 21 to 32 and their years in the military from two to 10. Most were sergeants and most said they fought in the Iran-Iraq war.
They joked among themselves and said they were relieved to be away from the fighting. Their forest green uniforms looked fairly new and the soldiers looked healthy and relaxed, although they said food rations have been cut to one sandwich a day.
They said they listened regularly to British and French Arab-language news stations and do not believe the reports on official Iraqi radio.
After an initial round of questioning, they were taken to a prisoner holding area about 20 miles from the front. They were destined to be moved to a large sports stadium about 60 miles farther south that the Saudis have converted into a prison camp.
by CNB