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Re: Legions of POWs May Slow Baghdad Advance

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: March 18, 2003

"Legions of Expected War Prisoners May Slow Advance Toward Baghdad

By Denis D. Gray Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 17, 2003

CAMP VIRGINIA, Kuwait (AP) - Taking lots of prisoners normally signifies that a war is being won. But for U.S.-led forces preparing to advance into Iraq, a sea of surrendering soldiers could become a headache of migraine proportions.

That's why units like the 709th Military Police Battalion are planning meticulously to avoid what is called "combat suck" - drawing troops away from the fighting to care for war prisoners, thus slowing down the charge toward Baghdad.

The Pentagon estimates that plenty of Iraqis - as many as 270,000, or more than half the Iraqi army - are expected to lay down their arms. Intelligence reports already tell of very high desertion rates from some of the major units American forces would attack during the first days of war.

In the 1991 Gulf War, weeks of brutal bombardment and a powerful ground attack resulted in thousands of stunned Iraqi soldiers wandering around the battlefields looking for anybody, including journalists, to take them captive. Some American combat units were hamstrung by this excess human cargo.

"It's going to be our most important mission, handling the flow - getting the EPWs (enemy prisoners of war) to flow to the rear as fast as possible," said Maj. Rob Dillon, operations officer of the 709th.

"We are preparing for the worst-case scenario but exact figures are hard to put an arm around."

But, he warned, "There are always going to be more EPWs than MPs to handle them."

Leaflets have been raining down on Iraqi troops, urging them to surrender in the event of conflict but also telling them to stay put and not run around the battle zones.

It also is hoped that many will become "capitulators," a newly coined category for troops and units who surrender before any confrontation with U.S. forces.

American plans call for prisoners taken by combat units to be held for up to 24 hours in crude facilities - "hasty concertina (barbed wire) and shade," Dillon said.

The prisoners then will be sent to an equally austere collection point for up to three days.

Military police, who will be following right behind the infantry and armor during the assault, will collect the prisoners and move them to a better, more secure holding area and then to a permanent detention center.

The center is expected to be inside Iraq since Kuwait and other Persian Gulf states have expressed opposition to having war prisoners on their soils, fearing some might seek permanent asylum or create security problems.

Whether some prisoners, like those suspected of involvement in international terrorist networks or weapons of mass destruction, will be spirited off to the United States or elsewhere outside Iraq was not known.

"We're trained to be firm but at the same time humane. We're trained to meet the highest standards of the Geneva Convention, if not exceed it. If we don't treat prisoners the right way we will just set a precedence for other countries," said Dillon, of Yorktown, Va.

At the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit in northern Kuwait, Marines practiced taking prisoners of war. In one exercise, they had to immediately identify a soldier trying to surrender and one next to him ready to fight, and then respond appropriately.

"They have to go from killing them to protecting them (as prisoners of war) immediately," said Capt. Pete McAleer, 30, of San Diego. "I think that can be difficult."

To ease the process, the Marines issued English-Arabic command cards to front line units, with phonetic translations of such phrases as "Stop or I will shoot," "Surrender" and "You are a prisoner."

Another officer, Capt. Kevin Hanraha of Whitman, Mass., said that at the rear holding area there will be a separation of men from women, officers from enlisted personnel, and members of various antagonistic groups from one another - such as Sunni Muslims from Shi'a Muslims and Kurds from Iraqis.

Army lawyers will accompany the military policemen to insure compliance with international treaties like the 1950 Geneva Convention on treatment of war prisoners. The International Committee of the Red Cross also will have access, Hanraha said.

"They'll be eating and drinking the same things we will. They won't have showers but we won't, either," Hanraha said of the prisoners.

The food will consist of MREs, the military's field rations.

Along the way, information on the prisoners will be stored in the National Detainee Record System, computer software already used in Afghanistan and at the U.S. military installation at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where those captured in Afghanistan and suspected of close links to the terrorist al-Qaida terrorist network are detained.

© 2003, Media General Inc."