by Dave Lindorff

CounterPunch

12/12/04

This army of 150,000 in Iraq has so far experienced 5000 desertions -- an astonishing rate of 3.3 percent. That's remarkable, considering how hard it must be to desert in that environment. In Vietnam, you could hide out in a Saigon brothel, or, as some soldiers did, melt into the jungle, turn yourself over to the VC, and get smuggled north to North Vietnam and eventually Russia or even Sweden. The options in Iraq aren't so good, particularly with an insurgency that is far less organized and disciplined, and that is as likely to kill a wandering deserter as to give him or her shelter and sanctuary. How much longer will it be before desertion and angry questioning, and the occasional mutiny like we saw in late October with the fuel convoy that refused orders because of a lack of guards and armor on its explosion-prone trucks, give way to the same kind of disorder, sabotage and mayhem that plagued the U.S. military in Vietnam descends on the U.S. war machine in Iraq?

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff12112004.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp