py() 

Joint Forces Command (JFCOM), which is responsible for operations resea

learned. JCOA’s work informs JFCOM’s transformation of the joint force 

recommendations derived from direct observations and analysis of curr

exercises, and experiments. To accomplish this mission, JCOA maintains 

analysis teams worldwide in support of United States operations. In the p

JCOA has conducted missions in support of the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Ce

mudslides, Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistani earthquake, US Presidential E

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, and OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM.

JAWP was established at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) to serve 

stimulating innovation and breakthrough change. It is co-sponsored by the U

of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics; the Under Secret

for Policy; the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and the Comma

JAWP includes military personnel on joint assignments from each Servi

specialists from IDA. As a Federally Funded Research and Defense Cent

the Department of Defense and other agencies in addressing important na

issues, particularly those requiring scientifi c and technical expertise. It add

problems; analyzes technical and policy questions; and provides creative

cost-effective solutions to national security problems. 

Cover: Cover photograph is reprinted with permission from Laurent 

AP/World Wide Photo. 

ISBN 0-9762550-1-4
FOREWORD

Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) overthrew Saddam’s regime and opened up one of the world’s 

most secretive governments to outside analysis, presenting a once-in-a-generation opportunity for 

military leaders and historians to delve deep into the decision-making processes of a former adversary. For the fi rst time since a similar project at the end of World War II, we have an opportunity 

to evaluate military events from not only our own vantage point but also from the perspective of 

the opposing political and military leadership. 

Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani originated this vital and interesting work when he was 

Commander, United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM). As part of a major effort to ensure 

we fully understood the lessons of OIF, he commissioned a comprehensive analysis of US strengths 

and weaknesses. This fi rst-of-its-kind venture was led by Brigadier General Robert W. Cone, the 

then-Director of USJFCOM’s Joint Center for Operational Analysis and Lessons Learned (JCOA). 

Almost as soon as this effort got underway in the spring of 2003, Admiral Giambastiani realized 

that the study would not be complete unless information about what drove the Iraqis to make the 

decisions they did was fully integrated into the analysis. 

To accomplish this, project leader Kevin Woods led a small team of professionals in a systematic two-year study of the former Iraqi regime and military. This book is the fi rst major product 

of that effort. It presents a comprehensive historical analysis of the forces and motivations that 

drove our opponent’s decisions through dozens of interviews with senior Iraqi military and political leaders and by making extensive use of thousands of offi cial Iraqi documents. Kevin and his 

team have crafted a substantive examination of Saddam Hussein’s leadership and its effect on the 

Iraqi military decision-making process. Moreover, it goes a long way towards revealing the inner 

workings of a closed regime from the insiders’ point of view. Presented herein is crucial information currently missing from still ongoing analyses of OIF, and much of its content will counter 

currently accepted wisdom. 

While the practice of self-critique and gathering lessons learned are distinguishing features of 

the US military, in almost every past instance our understanding of events remained incomplete 

because any assessment was limited to a “blue” only view of the situation. While we often had a 

relatively complete picture of what our adversary did, we remained in the dark as to what motivated 

his actions. At the conclusion of past confl icts, we were left to speculate which of our actions were 

causing specifi c enemy responses and why. Expert analysts and “red team” assessments attempt to 

make this speculation as informed as possible, but because of the impenetrability of closed regimes, 

even their usefulness is somewhat limited. In this case, however, by adding the actual “red team’s 

view” to the compilation of multiple, differing viewpoints, this study hopes to contribute to a more 

fully developed history of the war, and allow all concerned to get closer to “ground truth.” 

General Lance Smith, the current USJFCOM Commander, and the JCOA team remain committed to this and similar projects as part of an ongoing process of learning and improving through 

the sharing of “ground truth.” Though this project is an important initial step, we acknowledge 

the history of OIF is far from complete. Researchers continue to locate, translate, and analyze 

information that will shed new light on our former adversary’s perspective of the confl ict. It is in 

the interest of getting as much accurate information as possible into the hands of those already 

studying Operation Iraqi Freedom that we release this book.

 Anthony A. Cucolo III

 Brigadier General, United States Army

 Director, Joint Center for Operational 

 Analysis and Lessons Learned

 U.S. Joint Forces Command
A NOTE ON CITATIONS

As described in the Annex, this study derived its Iraqi perspectives from the most relevant 

material available. Wherever possible a full citation to the original material is used. In some cases, 

footnotes refer to a “Classifi ed Intelligence Report” and a date. These “reports” are, for the most 

part, interviews of senior personnel from the former regime of Saddam Hussein conducted by 

personnel not directly associated with the Iraqi Perspectives Project. The record copy of some of 

this material remains classifi ed for reasons unrelated to the specifi c topics contained in this study. 

All materials derived from these classifi ed reports and contained in this study were cleared for 

public release by the appropriate US Government agency.
i

CONTENTS 

Introduction ....................................................................................................vii

Chapter I. The Nature of the Regime .................................................................1

 The Setting ...............................................................................................1

 Seizing Power ...........................................................................................3

 Flawed Decisions .....................................................................................8

 War Planning .........................................................................................11

 Saddam’s Leadership Style ......................................................................12

 Saddam’s Distorted Worldview ...............................................................14 

 Notes .....................................................................................................17

Chapter II. Skewed Strategy ............................................................................25

 Saddam’s Priorities .................................................................................25

 Hobbling the Iraqi Military .....................................................................27

 Strategic Calculus ...................................................................................28

 Confident of Victory ...............................................................................31

 Last-Minute Diplomatic Maneuvering ....................................................32

 Notes .....................................................................................................33

Chapter III. Military Effectiveness ....................................................................39

 Assessing Iraqi Tactical Capabilities ........................................................39

 Schemes and “Bureaucratic Eloquence” .................................................40

 Irrelevant Guidance ................................................................................46

 The Rise of Private Armies ......................................................................48

 The Al-Quds .................................................................................48

 The Fedayeen Saddam ..................................................................51

 Relatives and Sycophants ..............................................................56 

 Security and Command Limitations ........................................................59

 Reflections ....................................................................................64 

 Notes ............................................................................................66
ii

Chapter IV. Crippled Operational Planning .....................................................75

 The Operational Concept before December 2002 ..................................75

 The Operational Concept after 18 December 2002 ................................80

 Notes .....................................................................................................84

Chapter V. The Regime Prepares for War .........................................................89

 The Diplomatic Campaign ......................................................................89

 Countering Psychological Operations .....................................................95

 Logistical Preparations for War ...............................................................96

 War and the Oil Wells ............................................................................98

 The Ba’ath Party and Its Militia ...............................................................99 

 Regular Army Preparations ...................................................................103

 Defending Basra ..................................................................................105

 Republican Guard Preparations ............................................................109

 Final Events Prior to 19 March ..............................................................113

 Notes ...................................................................................................115

Chapter VI. Doomed Execution ....................................................................123

 The Coalition Psychological Campaign—Effects of Precision Weapons .125

 The Air Campaign .................................................................................126

 Regime High Value Targets ............................................................126

 Military Targets .............................................................................128

 The Defense of the Southern Cities and Confusion out West .................130

 The View at the Top .......................................................................130

 The View of Local Ba’athists ..........................................................134

 The Military View ..........................................................................136

 The Ba’ath Regime Ends With a Whimper, Not a Bang .........................148

 Notes ...................................................................................................151

Illustrations ................................................................................................................157

Annex. The Iraqi Perspectives Project: Methodology and Sources of Information .. 175

 I. Methodology .....................................................................................175

 Understanding ..............................................................................176 

 Accounting for the Nature of War .........................................................177

 The Trade Space ............................................................................177

 Preconceived Notions About the Adversary ..................................178
iii

 II. Major Sources of Information ...........................................................179 

 People ..................................................................................................179 

 Documents ...........................................................................................183 

III. Iraqi Perspectives Project Research Methodology .....................................184 

 Phase I: Background Research ..............................................................184

 Phase II: Collection ..............................................................................185

 Phase III: Exploitations and Analysis .....................................................187

 The Iraqi Perspective ............................................................................188

 Notes ...................................................................................................189

References ....................................................................................................193

 Captured Iraqi Documents ...................................................................193

 US Government Documents .................................................................199 

 Iraqi Perspectives Project Interviews .....................................................200

 Other ..................................................................................................201

Abbreviations and Acronyms ........................................................................207

INTRODUCTION
vi

Statue of Saddam being torn down, April 9, 20031

They want the Regime to be overthrown and they want to bring it down. Even if they fi ght 

for one thousand years the Regime won’t be overthrown and for one thousand years they 

won’t be able to bring it down.

—Saddam Hussein2
vii

INTRODUCTION

Professional historians...tend, perhaps naively, to underrate the degree 

of unwisdom prevalent in the world of action, and too often expect 

political leaders to behave rationally—as men of goodwill with the 

advantage of hindsight defi ne rationality. Mussolini’s outwardly erratic course and irresponsible decisions, and above all his failure, have 

therefore aroused widespread contempt, which in turn has inhibited 

analysis of his intentions and actions on their own terms.3

 — MacGregor Knox

Iraq’s response to the Coalition’s military threat was dictated by the nature 

of the regime and of Saddam Hussein himself. While to Western eyes the choices 

Iraq made may appear dysfunctional or even absurd, the regime’s responses to 

the threat and then the invasion were logical within the Iraqi political framework, even if later proven to be counterproductive. Saddam may have been, 

to a large extent, ignorant of the external world; he was, however, a student of 

his own nation’s history and culture. Thus, the Iraqi response to threats and 

the invasion of Coalition forces was a function of how Saddam and his minions 

understood their own world, a world that looked nothing like the assessments 

of Western analysts.

As the massive buildup of coalition forces proceeded in 2002 and early 

2003, two major assumptions governed Saddam’s preparations. The fi rst assumption was that the greatest danger the regime faced was an internal coup. 

In fact, Iraq’s national history is littered with military coup attempts with one 

following another in dreary progression. Even Saddam’s Ba’ath Party saw its 

fi rst try at seizing power in the early 1960’s collapse under the hammer blow of 

a military coup that overthrew the fi rst efforts of the Ba’ath party to mold Iraq 

in accordance with its ideology. In response to the catastrophic defeat of Arab 

armies by Israel in the Six Day War, another military coup ushered the Ba’ath 

return to power on July 17, 1968, with Saddam as one of its leading players. 

Saddam and his colleagues were determined that this time the military 

would not overthrow their new Ba’ath regime, and created a multitude of secret police organizations to ensure the unswerving loyalty of the population. 

These secret agencies immediately proceeded to infi ltrate the military in order 

to ensure its loyalty. Once he had established himself in absolute power, Saddam set about creating a number of military organizations in addition to the 

regular army. In the desperate days of his war with Iran, Saddam created the 

Republican Guards to have a military organization closely tied to the regime 

and its ideology rather than to the country. With the best military equipment 

that Iraq’s oil money could purchase, the Republican Guard, unlike most other 

private armies, established a regional reputation for military competence.

However, the fundamental purpose of the Republican Guard was to protect 
viii

the regime from not only the Iraqi Army but also the Iraqi people. In the 1991 

Gulf War, its units died in large numbers while accomplishing little against 

Coalition forces. However, when the Shi’a and others rebelled in March 1991 

in reaction to the regime’s military defeat at the hands of the Coalition, the Republican Guard proved its worth, putting down the rebellion with devastating 

effect. Yet even among the elite Republican Guard, connections to Saddam’s 

family or to his tribe counted for more than military competence. 

For the remainder of the 1990s, Saddam confronted increasing discontent 

among his population as United Nations sanctions signifi cantly impacted the life 

of Iraq’s people. The discontent spilled over into several failed coup attempts, 

including at least one by members of the Republican Guard. Hence the need to 

establish the Special Republican Guard, and then the Saddam Fedayeen, the Al 

Quds, and the martyrs brigades, as means to ensure that Iraq’s military forces 

would be too splintered to organize a coup. The regime’s security was the priority in military affairs, not preparations to fi ght against an external enemy. 

Because Saddam was unwilling to trust anyone except for his sons and a 

few close relatives, he forbade the military to train in anything resembling a 

rigorous fashion. Fearing that any training maneuvers might well turn into 

another coup attempt, Saddam severely restricted unit movements and even 

social contacts between senior offi cers. For commanders, Saddam only picked 

the most loyal, those tied to him by blood. Most of the competent fell by the 

wayside, retired if they were lucky, dead if Saddam had any reason to distrust 

them. Military effectiveness, at least in Western terms, ceased to exist.

The second assumption that Saddam made had to do with the nature of 

his opponents. Through the distortions of his ideological perceptions, Saddam 

simply could not take the Americans seriously. After all, had they not run away 

from Vietnam after suffering what to him was a “mere” 58,000 dead? Iraq had 

suffered 51,000 dead in just one battle on the Fao Peninsula against the Iranians. 

In the 1991 Gulf War, the Americans had appeared on the brink of destroying 

much of Iraq’s military, including the Republican Guard, but then inexplicably 

stopped—for fear of casualties, in Saddam’s view. Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo 

all added to Saddam’s belief that the Americans could not possibly launch a 

ground invasion that would seriously threaten his regime. At best they might 

be willing to launch an air campaign similar to OPERATION DESERT FOX4in 1998 

with a few small ground attacks around Iraq’s periphery. But from Saddam’s 

point of view, the idea that the Americans would attack all the way to Baghdad 

appeared ludicrous.

A few senior military offi cers believed that the coalition might launch a 

ground campaign, especially given the enormous buildup that was taking 

place in Kuwait. But even they believed that as in OPERATION DESERT STORM, 

the Americans would wage a sustained air campaign before they launched 

their ground forces on an invasion of Iraq. Therefore, the entire Iraqi leadership—military and civilian—was surprised by Coalition ground forces begin-
ix

ning their offensive into Iraq at the same time the air campaign was starting. 

Adding to their incomprehension were the speed and power of the American 

offensive, which were simply beyond their understanding of military operations and logistical capabilities.

Undergirding Saddam’s assumption about the Americans was a profound 

misunderstanding of things military. Like the First World War generals, 

Saddam’s conception of military effectiveness revolved around the number of 

casualties that an army suffered. To Saddam war was about warriors willing to 

die for their country, not about killing the enemy. In effect, he turned General 

George S. Patton’s famous aphorism (“No bastard ever won a war by dying 

for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his 

country”) on its head. Thus, the lack of training in Iraq’s military organizations 

never crossed Saddam’s mind as carrying with it dangers in a war against a 

foreign opponent. Ignorant of military history, logistics, technological changes, 

and any conception of modern military operations, Saddam was incapable of 

addressing the looming threat in any sensible fashion.

Exacerbating all these diffi culties was the atmosphere of fear that Saddam 

had instilled throughout his civil and military bureaucracies. Iraqis at all levels 

understood that in this regime the bearer of bad news was in almost every case 

punished severely. When Saddam developed a new plan for the defense of Iraq 

that made no military sense, his generals with few exceptions applauded the 

wisdom of their great leader. 

Once combat operations began, Iraqi commanders at the rapidly moving 

front reported one success after another against the invading Coalition forces. 

On 31 March 2003, the Minister of Information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf 

(“Baghdad Bob”), reported to the international press:

Those mercenaries of the international gang of villains sent their 

failing louts, but the snake is trapped in the quagmire now. The 

lines of communications now extend over 500 kilometers. Our 

people from all sectors, fi ghters, courageous tribesmen, as well 

as the fi ghters of the valiant Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party fought 

battles and pushed the enemy back into the desert...Now hundreds of thousands of the fi ghters of the valiant Iraqi people are 

distributed in all places. Saddam’s Fedayeen and some small 

units of the Iraqi Armed Forces began to engage the louts of 

the villains of the US and British colonialism day and night. We 

have decided not to let them sleep...[W]e destroyed 13 tanks, 8 

tracked personnel carriers, and 6 half-tracked vehicles.5

In the West such comments appeared as palpable nonsense. But from the 

point of view of Iraq’s leaders, Baghdad Bob was largely reporting what they 

were hearing from the front. In such an atmosphere Iraq’s leaders could not 
x

make coherent decisions on what they were actually confronting. 

The conduct of Coalition operations also helped to contribute to Iraqi 

misperceptions as to what was going on. The Ba’ath Party bureaucrats in the 

cities along the Euphrates reported that the fanatical Saddam Fedayeen attacks, in which the Iraqis died by the thousands, were having an enormous 

success. What made these reports even more believable was the fact that the 

US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division had screened off these cities, rarely entering 

them. “Baghdad Bob” was able to claim that the Americans had been driven 

back into the deserts with which few urban Iraqis had any experience. But those 

at the top appeared convinced that their strategy was working. When the US 

Marines pulled back from ad-Diwaniyah during the Coalition “pause” at the 

end of March to avoid giving away their next move, the Ba’ath regime was able 

to claim another success for Iraqi arms. 

But the largest contributing factor to the complete defeat of Iraq’s military forces was the continued interference by Saddam. Just as soldiers of the 

3rd Infantry Division were about to push through the Karbala Gap, Saddam 

decided that all of that fi ghting was a mere feint, with the real threat coming 

from American forces moving from Jordan. His attempted reorientation of 

Iraqi forces added to the list of targets destroyed by Coalition aircraft. More 

important was the fact that those defending the Karbala Gap were robbed of 

any chance to establish defensive positions that could hold the Americans for 

anything more than a couple of hours. Once the Americans were through the 

gap, the Iraqi regime was fi nished.

The arrival of American forces at Saddam International Airport must have 

brought some sense that things were not going well. The desperate claims of 

Baghdad Bob were becoming even shriller. Now the regime’s military forces 

were literally falling apart at the seams, no longer possessing the ability to put 

together anything resembling an effective defense. Most of the Iraqi army were 

voting with their feet. Those who still desired to fi ght had to do so in small 

groups with no coordination and little leadership.

There were Iraqis who had suggested alternative courses of action. General 

Raad Hamdani, the commander of the Republican Guard II Corps, suggested a 

defensive approach in which Iraq’s military forces would use urban landscapes 

to defuse the advantages that Coalition forces enjoyed with their superior technology. Such an approach would not likely have changed the outcome—the 

disparity between Coalition forces and those of the Iraqis was just too great—but 

it would have probably added considerably to the casualties the Iraqis could 

infl ict on Coalition forces. However, Saddam and his advisors lived in a world 

determined by personal ideology and the narrow perspectives of people who 

grew up in small Iraqi villages. It is this insular mindset, and its subsequent 

manifestations, that this book describes. 
xi

Notes

1

 Reprinted with permission from Laurent Refours, AP/World Wide Photo. 

2

 Captured media fi le (approximately 1997) “Saddam meeting with Iraq Aziz.”

3

 MacGregor Knox, Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy’s Last 

War (Cambridge University Press, 1982) p.1.

4

 December 16–19, 1998. 

5

 FBIS, (31 March 2003) “Iraq’s Al-Sahhaf Holds News Conference on Military Situation,” Doha 

Al-Jazirah Satellite Channel Television.

I. THE NATURE OF THE REGIME
The Leader1

We are here to serve our nation, not to kill them, yet, we are not that easy and whoever needs 

slaughtering, we will slaughter him! Furthermore, we will even ...we will even cut heads off, in 

order to serve fi fteen million, if it is necessary. – Saddam Hussein2

The measure of a regime of terror is the victims of its peace, not the casualties of 

its wars. – Kanan Makiya3
1

I. THE NATURE OF THE REGIME

“You could not be sure in your own house that you are safe.” 

 

 — Chief of Iraq’s Military Industrialization Committee4

The Setting

Saddam Hussein did not spring upon the world from the ether. Both he 

and his Ba`ath Party were products of a region whose modern history had been 

shaped by violence. Being a product of a violent political culture does not absolve Saddam for his role over the past three decades. He was, in fact, not just a 

product of a violent era, he was the master of it. In an environment of violence, 

Saddam rose to the pinnacle of power because he was the most ruthless and 

determined of the lot. His atrocities differ from those of Hitler and Stalin only 

in scale, not intent. However, it is only by appreciating the historical and social 

milieus that formed the modern Iraqi state and Saddam’s world view that we 

can understand the choices Saddam and his military made during the course 

of his fi nal war.5

Iraq, as part of the Cradle of Civilization, possesses a long, complex, and 

often tormented history. The valley formed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers 

gave rise to man’s earliest civilizations and also the birth of the fi rst empires, 

armies, and interstate warfare. Its geography may have made ancient Mesopotamia rich, but it also made it vulnerable to invasion. Since the rise of the fi rst 

rich city-state at Sumer, envious neighbors have launched themselves in a succession of invasions over the region. The new rulers subsequently formed their 

own empires, only to be toppled in turn, leaving remnants of their cultures and 

echoes of their people in their wake. At one time or another, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, Parthians, Romans, Arabs, Mongols, Ottoman 

Turks, and the British conquered the lands that currently form modern Iraq. 

But the strongest persisting infl uences are from the Ottoman Turks who ruled 

Iraq with a combination of political guile and authoritarianism for almost half 

a millennium. The Ottoman infl uence could be seen in Iraqi politics long after 

the Ottoman Empire’s expiration and the formation of modern Iraq. 

The British formed modern Iraq somewhat haphazardly in the aftermath 

of the Ottoman Empire’s collapse in 1918. At fi rst the British government was 

set on making Iraq a colony within the Empire. However, a massive uprising, 

mainly among the Shi’a, challenged this attempt in 1920. The rebellion caused 

signifi cant British casualties and was only put down after a diffi cult counterinsurgency campaign.6

 The political and material costs of this rebellion added to 

a growing Iraqi restiveness and nationalism, which, in turn resulted in a 1932 

British decision to confer independence on Iraq.

At independence Iraq was a state in name only. Its king received a crown 
2

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

that rested on the promises the British had made during World War I to the 

Hashemite sheiks and a Sunni minority who were installed as a ruling class 

by the British. The new state remained ethnically divided between the Arabs, 

Kurds, and other smaller groups left behind by three thousand years of history. Iraq also had to fi nd a way to meet the challenge of the religious division 

between Sunni and Shi’a. The Sunni, as was the case in the Ottoman Empire, 

held power, but the Shi`a were more numerous. The only semblance of political 

loyalty in the new country was that which Iraqis felt towards their local tribes 

and leaders. Tribal loyalty was an uncertain base for a nation where tribal blood 

feuds made confrontation more common than cooperation. 

Threatened by early rebellions, one of the new Iraq’s fi rst acts was to 

launch its British-trained army to crush a minor uprising in Kurdish Mosul 

in the far north. This 1933 attack began a long tradition of using the army to 

brutally suppress various elements of Iraq’s own population. It also led to the 

Iraqi Army’s involving itself closely in political affairs. Military involvement in 

politics became commonplace. Between 1936 and 1941, Army offi cers launched 

six temporarily successful coups and a number of unsuccessful efforts, the last 

of which in 1941 aimed to bring the Nazis into the region. The British, who had 

maintained bases in Iraq after its independence, rapidly crushed the attempted 

pro-Nazi coup of May 1941 and, for the remainder of the war, ruled Iraq in 

near-Ottoman fashion. The British success in 1941 so humiliated the Iraqi Army 

that it remained aloof from politics until 1958, when a small group of offi cers 

overthrew the monarchy and established what became the Iraqi version of a 

“republic,” that is, dictatorial rule by a small group of ambitious offi cers. Saddam would refi ne this concept of a “republic” by centering power on a single 

person—himself.7

As the nascent Iraqi state and army struggled to fi nd their moorings, the 

Ba’ath ideology that was to have a major effect on Iraq was hatching elsewhere. 

In the early 1930s, two young, French-educated Syrian intellectuals, Michel 

Afl aq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar, developed a peculiar creed that mixed elements of Marxism with a solid dose of Adolf Hitler’s National Socialism. While 

neither possessed Hitler’s political acumen nor “will to power,” their ideas 

proved seductive to many Syrians and Iraqis, with its mixture of an emphasis 

on the strong “leader” with Arab nationalism, a rejection of Communism, and 

a ferocious anti-Semitism.8 Dubbed Ba’athism, this new ideology stressed Arab 

nationalism but paid only lip service to Islam. At its heart, Ba’athism was a 

secular, fanatical belief that the Arab world should be restored to its former 

greatness as the world’s leading civilization. 

The 1958 military coup, which overthrew the Hashemite monarchy ushered 

in renewed political instability. An evolving Ba’ath Party took advantage of 

the political chaos and seized power in 1963. At the time the Party possessed 

neither the infrastructure nor the discipline to maintain its grip on power. A 

counter-coup quickly overthrew the Ba’athists and restored control of the state 

to the army. The Ba’athists went off to lick their wounds, learn the lessons failure 
3

The Nature of the Regime

teaches the survivors, and bide their time. 

One of those survivors was a street-tough youth named Saddam Hussein. 

Possessed with cunning and ruthlessness, Saddam contributed his talents as a 

hit man to the underground movement. A short period of exile in Egypt provided a veneer of education and a bit of social acceptability as he paid his dues 

on his way up the Ba’ath ranks. 

Seizing Power

Anger and humiliation over Israel’s overwhelming victory in the Six Day 

War in 1967 destabilized Arab governments. Sensing opportunity, the Ba’athists 

struck. Proving they had learned from past mistakes, the party leadership selected Saddam, now a senior leader, to organize its secret police and conduct a 

reign of terror that eventually touched all aspects of Iraqi society and life. The 

party faithful soon ensured no one would dare question the Ba’athists’ right 

to govern. 

However, it was not just the Party that absorbed the lessons of the past: 

Saddam also proved himself a very attentive pupil. For him, the fundamental 

lesson of past failures was that, in the grim roulette of Iraqi politics, gaining 

power was the easy part. Staying in power, however, required the neutralization of the military through a harsh regimen of purges and spying on those 

displaying any independence of mind. For Saddam, slavish political obedience 

should be the foremost military attribute, with competence coming in a distant 

second.9 This approach worked well in controlling Iraq, but it had devastating 

consequences in foreign wars. 

By making liberal use of methods developed and refi ned by the Soviet Union 

and Nazi Germany to quash internal dissent, Saddam rapidly consolidated the 

Ba’ath party’s grip on power. Spies and informers became omnipresent and Iraq 

truly became what Kanan Makiya called a “Republic of Fear.”10 

Normal societal intercourse broke down as neighbor no longer trusted 

neighbor, and citizens feared denunciation even by their families. Children 

denounced their parents:

A woman whose father had forbidden her to marry a Lebanese 

businessman denounced both her father and her brother for 

spreading rumors and insulting the Ba’ath regime. After an 

extended stay in care of Saddam’s Security Service, during 

which the son attempted suicide, both received six months in 

prison.11 

And brother turned upon brother:

In a meeting of Ba’ath Party offi cials one of Saddam’s thugs 

singled out for special praise to Saddam a man who had 
4

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

executed his own brother for blaspheming the regime.12 

Such individual cases only hint at the extent of Saddam’s and the Ba’athists’ 

ruthlessness. Stalin once said, “One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.” 

In Saddam’s Iraq there would be many individual tragedies and many more 

“statistics”: whole tribes, ethnic groups, and non-Sunni religious factions were 

to become “statistics” under his rule. Saddam’s soldiers killed Kurds by the tens 

of thousands, and used chemical weapons on Iraqi citizens. In 1991, the military 

was unleashed to slaughter hundreds of thousands of Shi’ites as punishment 

for their revolt against Saddam’s tyranny.13 

Had the United States failed to expel him during the 1991 Gulf War, 

Saddam’s plans for Kuwait suggest the degree to which he was willing to use 

violence against civilians: 

Saddam: We will divide the [Iraqi] tribes into groups. 

 Each group will be assigned to liberate a 

 certain area of Kuwait and allowed to take 

 any spoils they fi nd there.

Minister: What kind of spoils?

Saddam: Spoils like buildings and stores. Also the 

 chief of the tribe will take full control of 

 the area his tribe has liberated-though the 

 chief and tribe must obey my orders without 

 arguing. I ask the security services to kill 

 any rebellious individuals they fi nd, their 

 children as well.

Minister: Your Excellency, what if we fi nd that some 

 of the rebellious ones have little brothers 

 and sisters that may one day avenge them?

Saddam: Kill them all.14

The power to speculate about actually exercising such savagery was yet to 

come however. But fi rst Saddam had to secure absolute authority within the 

Ba’ath Party and then within Iraq. By July 1979, he felt strong enough to make 

his bid for power. In a meeting of the senior Ba’ath leaders, Saddam purged those 

colleagues who might one day stand against him.15 Throughout the meeting 

Saddam watched silently, smoking Cuban cigars, as his henchmen announced 

the discovery of “a painful and atrocious plot” to overthrow the party’s rule.16

One by one they identifi ed 66 senior party members as betrayers of the party. 

They were then led out of the conference hall. All 66 were executed. According 

to one source, their replacements provided the fi ring squads.17 In one stroke 

Saddam had wiped out the potential political opposition, put blood on the 

hands of his new ministers, and focused the minds of the surviving Ba’athists 
5

The Nature of the Regime

on the fate of any who dared oppose Saddam. Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s Foreign Minister, recalled this purge as, “The cruelest thing Saddam did that I know of...

He executed them all. That could have been taken care of differently. It was 

not necessary.”18 

For the next quarter century Saddam kept his grip on power through merciless repression of all dissent, which he viewed as the only way to deal with 

enemies, real and imagined. Externally, Iraq’s enemies were generally of his 

own making. Iran became an implacable foe when Saddam launched his Army 

against it only eight months after seizing power. He greatly exacerbated the 

internal threats by the eight years of bloody and fruitless war that followed. 

In the north, the Kurds remained restless and eager for independence. When 

they received outside support, which on occasion the Iranians happily provided, they became particularly troublesome. Additionally, the Shi’ites, who 

predominated in Southern Iraq, were always under suspicion of supporting 

their Iranian co-religionists. 

Saddam’s atrocities, such as the 1987 gas attacks on the Kurds, created an 

undying hatred for the regime within large segments of Iraq’s population. So 

while Saddam’s aggressive foreign policies added to the list of the nation’s external enemies, his regime also had reason to feel besieged by internal threats 

as well. The resulting personal and organizational paranoia profoundly affected 

how Iraq addressed its strategic and military problems.19

Always high on Saddam’s list of worrying conspiracies was that of international Zionism. In the early 1990s, Saddam explained that Iraq’s diffi culties with 

the United Nations were exacerbated by the fact that Butros-Butros Ghali had 

a mother who was Jewish and, even more damningly, had married a Jewess.20

Among Saddam’s other apparently strongly held beliefs was that the Zionists 

were responsible for diverting the Mongols away from the Christian West and 

towards Baghdad, which they had then sacked, leaving a vast pyramid of skulls 

in their wake. As Saddam explained to his entourage, “The Jews and their supporters played a remarkably malicious role against Baghdad in the past, and 

this conspiratorial, aggressive, and wicked role is again today evident...”21 

Saddam and his security services could at times become absurd in their 

attempts to uncover Zionist plots. In one particular example, in 2001 the General Security Directorate provided Saddam a memorandum reporting that the 

cartoon character “Pokemon” really represented a subterfuge by international 

Zionism to undermine Iraq’s security. Supposedly, “Pokemon” meant “I am 

Jewish” in Hebrew. They found the fact that the Pokemon character was “widely 

beloved by Iraqi youth” particularly alarming.22

Once secure in power Saddam Hussein saw himself as an Arab leader to 

rival Nebuchadnezzar and Saladin.23 His growing sense of destiny not only allowed him to justify many horrendous acts, but it also led to the destruction of 

much Iraq’s historical heritage. For instance, Saddam ordered the reconstruction 

of Nebuchadnezzar’s ancient Babylon, in which the builders were to inscribe 

every brick with Saddam’s own initials.24 He had this new Babylon built directly 
6

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

over the remains of the ancient ruins, resulting in irrecoverable damage to one 

of the world’s greatest archeological treasures. 

Almost from his fi rst days in power Saddam sought ways to create an empire commensurate with his vision of himself as the new Saladin. It is ironic 

that Saladin was born in Tikrit (like Saddam Hussein), and was ethnically a 

Kurd. Saddam became convinced that he too was charged with leading the 

Arab world in liberating Jerusalem. Once that task was completed he would 

be positioned to establish a new pan-Arab caliphate with himself as Caliph 

(leader of all Muslims everywhere). In a 1990 meeting with the leader of the 

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, he was even encouraged to declare himself Caliph, 

to which he responded “It is too early for that.”25 

For the new Saladin nothing was impossible, even driving the United States 

out of the Middle East. In April 1990, shortly before Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, 

in a bizarre but revealing conversation with Yasser Arafat, the leader of the 

Palestinian Liberation Organization, Saddam made it clear that he was seeking 

a direct confrontation with the United States in the near future. He announced 

to a thoroughly attentive Arafat:

We are ready for it, we will fi ght America, and, with God’s will, 

we will defeat it and kick it out of the whole region. Because it 

is not about the fi ght itself; we know America has a larger air 

force than us...America has more rockets than us, but I think 

that when the Arab people see real action of war, when it is real 

and not only talk, they will fi ght America everywhere. So we 

have to get ready to fi ght America; we are ready to fi ght when 

they do; when they strike, we strike...26

The conversation then meandered until Arafat brought up how America 

recently destroyed Manuel Noriega’s Panamanian regime in a single evening. 

Saddam exploded, 

“Panama—Panama is nothing while comparing to us! I swear we 

are something to defeat, we will roast them and eat them.”27

 Just as Louis XIV believed it when he uttered “l’état, c’est moi” (“I am the 

state”), Saddam identifi ed Iraq with his own persona. In a speech in the summer 

of 2000, Saddam articulated his position at the “center” of Iraq:

The one talking to you is Saddam Hussein, a son of a poor peasant father who died just months before my birth, and if it weren’t 

for my Iraqi nationality and the Ba’ath Party I would have been 

lost... Many people lived through better circumstances than 

I, yet they didn’t benefi t from them. None of them left their 

fi nger prints on the course of history. There were many elites 

that weren’t recognized in their time, and weren’t tested under 

pressure; they came and left without any recognition. If one isn’t 
7

The Nature of the Regime

given a chance, he must create it in such a way that he becomes 

the center of rotation for the lives benefi ting from him.28

Once Saddam identifi ed himself as the center of the Iraqi state, from which 

all things great and good fl owed, it was a small leap to the conviction that his 

own survival was of paramount importance.29 He became wary of competent 

subordinates, and soon undertook a policy fi rst described by Herodotus 2,500 

years ago of “cutting the ears of grain that stuck out above the rest.”30 Warning 

his supporters about the futility of attempting a coup became a constant refrain 

within the regime. An example from a 1999 gathering of Ba’ath Party offi cials 

depicts the typical warning: 

People coming from here and there could create one of these 

days a coup. But it won’t work against us. No one will make a 

coup against us. The one who would do it, we will smash him 

and use iron chains to stop him immediately.31

After OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, Tariq Aziz commented on how dangerous 

it became to raise one’s head above the others, “If a military leader disappeared 

one did not ask to know what happened, since it was known that the security 

services had dealt with the unfortunate individual.”32 Ali Hassan al-Majid, 

better known as “Chemical Ali,” and a consummate regime insider, observed 

that Saddam was always wary of intelligent people, especially those who made 

frequent appearances on television.33

A commander in the Republican Guard commented after the war, “By his 

decisions [Saddam] throws out the clever men, or the clever men learn not to 

involve themselves in any decision making.”34 Reminiscent of earlier despots, 

fear stalked the corridors of power. Saddam’s subordinates knew that torture 

and death were always imminent possibilities. Stories circulated widely in the 

military about generals imprisoned or shot by Saddam personally for transgressions, which included excessive competence or an argumentative nature. 

Innocence was not a defense: Saddam would announce that he knew when 

someone was going to betray him, even before that person himself knew it.35

In the absence of real grounds for punishment, Saddam did not shy away from 

fabricating charges against those he wished to destroy.36 

A 1982 incident gives a small taste of what the next two decades of Saddam’s 

tyranny would entail. At one low point in the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam asked his 

ministers for candid advice on what to do. With some temerity the Minister of 

Health suggested that Saddam temporarily step down but resume the presidency after the establishment of peace. Saddam had him carted away immediately. The next day chopped-up pieces of the minister’s body were delivered to 

his wife. According to the head of the Military Industrialization Committee, a 

relative of the murdered minister, “This powerfully concentrated the attention 

of the other ministers who were unanimous in their insistence that Saddam 

remain in power.”37
8

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Flawed Decisions

As time passed, Saddam developed a reputation of punishing the bearers 

of bad news. Not surprisingly, lying became endemic throughout the Iraqi 

government and the military. In time, rumors began circulating among senior 

offi cials that summary execution awaited anyone contradicting the dictator.38 

Offi cers were aware of the story of the brigadier general who spent over a 

year in prison for daring to suggest that American tanks might be superior to 

those of the Iraqi army.39 Unable or unwilling to risk speaking the truth, most 

of those around Saddam fed him a regular diet of lies and half-truths. As one 

military adviser put it, “Telling the truth was not to your own benefi t.”40 Iraqi 

offi cers who tried indirect routes for getting truthful information to Saddam 

soon learned that Saddam was not alone in his distaste for bad news. According 

to the Director General of the Republican Guard General Staff, Saddam’s son 

Qusay found the truth similarly distasteful: “Any commander who spoke the 

truth to Qusay would lose his head.”41 

By the mid-1990s, most of those near the regime inner circle recognized that 

everyone was lying to everyone else. All of this lying soon had a crippling effect 

on military readiness and planning. The effect of this environment is clearly 

demonstrated by this recounting of a 1995 meeting between Saddam and his 

senior military commanders:

On 23 December 1995, there was a big military science lecture 

and conference. Saddam attended along with most of the military leadership. Three of us were scheduled to make presentations. The central idea of my presentation was simple. I realized 

in 1993 that the gap between us and the Americans was growing. 

Our capabilities were weakening. The Americans’ technological 

capabilities were growing. The American dependence on air 

was growing. They own the big space.42 They know everything 

because they own this space. Even if you build a new brigade 

America can see it and destroy it. So why try to build it? If you 

build up a large army the Americans will just destroy it again. 

By 1995 we knew we were moving to confl ict and lacked the 

capability. I said we should immediately change the whole 

picture of the Iraqi military. We need to change from a heavy 

mechanized force to a light infantry force. We should make 

simple light infantry formations and start fi ghting right away 

in a guerilla war. Like in Vietnam—fi ght and withdraw. In war 

there is fi ght and there is maneuver. Maneuver cannot happen 

without air cover. So all we had left is the fi xed fi ght—we cannot win with that.

I was the fi rst presenter and Saddam became very angry at my 

thesis. I was singled out as being a mental hostage of American 
9

The Nature of the Regime

thinking. Saddam said, “If Hamdani’s presentation is right then 

all these offi cers (Saddam pointed at the assembled offi cers) 

would be dead. But since they are here he is wrong and we 

were victorious [referring to the 1991 Gulf War].” Even an infant 

could see his logic was fl awed. 

At the same conference (23 December 1995), Saddam was so mad 

at my presentation that the other presenters who were going 

to say something similar became too scared and changed their 

reports. About two days later the Air Force was going to deliver 

a major report to Saddam. The report said that by the end of 

1996 the Iraqi Air Force was fi nished (lack of parts, training, etc). 

They changed the study so Saddam would not get mad. They 

reported that, instead of being fi nished, the Air Force would 

increase its capability by the end of 1996. 

It was around this time, 1996 and 1997, that everyone started 

lying. Everyone started lying a lot. They lied about things like 

“we won the 1991 war” and such as that. Since that time all 

military planning was directed by Saddam and a selected few. 

It was much like Hitler and his generals after 1944. Saddam 

took interest with military plans in great detail.43 

By 2003, Saddam’s personal secretary reported that Saddam was substantially unaware of the weaknesses of the Iraqi military. The secretary stated that 

earlier in his time in offi ce, Saddam would visit units and talk with individual 

troops. However, as time went on, he relied more and more on written reports 

of doubtful veracity.44 Not surprisingly, others blamed the secretary as being 

complicit in Saddam’s deception.45 In December 2002, only months before the 

American invasion, some senior Republican Guard commanders had steeled 

themselves to tell the truth about Iraqi military readiness. However, shortly 

before their meeting with Saddam, the personal secretary came to them and 

instructed, “If you talk with Saddam you must do so with high morale. You 

must make him happy.”46 So warned, they went in and lied once more.

Saddam’s ignorance of contemporary military affairs encouraged an interest in various wonder weapons, including many programs that his technical 

experts knew to be infeasible. In late 2002, for example, he ordered the Military 

Industrialization Commission to provide a young hacker nicknamed “Usama” 

with anything he required to support his claim he could hack into and infect US 

reconnaissance satellites with a computer virus.47 More generally, entrepreneurs More generally, entrepreneurs 47

who were not part of the Military Industrialization Commission continually 

sought opportunities to attract Saddam’s attention to their pet projects. Saddam 

would often latch onto such projects on only the fl imsiest evidence that they 

were practicable. He would then reward their proponents with money, new cars, 

and an order to the Military Industrialization Commission to fund their work. 
10

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

As the Military Industrialization Commission chief recounted it, “This created 

a perverse incentive for poorly paid university professors to exaggerate their 

results in an effort to gain further favor with the President.”48 

Given this incentive structure, anything became possible, even easy, at least 

when it was reported to Saddam and Qusay. Military units always reported their 

morale, training, and equipment as “good” or “very good”; scientists always 

reported the next wonder weapon was right around the corner; and everyone 

constantly told Saddam how beloved he was by the Iraqi people.”49 

This unwillingness to present unpleasant news or contradictory opinions 

worked its way downward through the power structure. A general offi cer in the 

air defense forces noted, “One lied to the other from the fi rst lieutenant up, until 

it reached Saddam.”50 As a result, faulty information permeated the military 

and security structures. So diffi cult did it become to know what to believe that 

many actually believed the Minister of Information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf 

(“Baghdad Bob”), when he denied US forces had entered Baghdad on April 7, 

2003. A Ba’ath party militia commander who had a close encounter with an M-1 

tank in central Baghdad, later recalled, “I was absolutely astonished...I had no 

idea there were American tanks anywhere near the city.”51 

Constant spying on offi cers and other offi cials coupled with demands that 

all underlings act only when given direct orders created a stultifying atmosphere throughout the Iraqi bureaucracy and military chain of command. The 

result was a climate of “pervasive inaction.” As one senior Iraq general noted 

after the war:

Based on...my contacts with officials involved in strategic 

planning, I found in most of them in a pattern of behavior that 

always put a positive spin on the fate of Iraq, because political 

behavior imposed itself on all the levels of offi cialdom. They 

ensured their hold on their current positions, even though the 

Iraqi ship was about to sink.52

Saddam could not avoid entrapment in this world of his own making. 

Because he had concentrated all important and often trivial decision-making 

in his own person, the fact that much of what his subordinates told him were 

lies or otherwise corrupted ensured that major decisions had little relationship 

to international realities. Tariq Aziz asserted that Saddam, despite all of his 

achievements over the years, had “lost touch with reality during the 1990s” 

and had taken on an “unrealistic outlook.” Aziz added that he believed that 

Saddam was in denial about his loss in the 1991 Gulf War, and that this denial 

resulted in the demise of his regime.53 
11

The Nature of the Regime

War Planning

As Iraq began its run-up to a fi nal confrontation with America, Iraq’s 

information and decision processes became even more dysfunctional. By the 

late 1990s, the regime had generally succeeded in cutting most Iraqis off from 

outside infl uences. While this helped to keep a lid on internal dissent, it had 

a pernicious effect on the governmental instruments concerned with national 

security. Nowhere was this isolation more destructive than within the armed 

forces, which remained “offi cially” isolated from nearly all military thought and 

analysis outside the borders. For the military, no secure method was available to 

use the information they could access as it might counter Saddam’s self-styled 

military genius.54 

It is still unclear as to what the Iraqi Intelligence Services were able to collect or what parts of their collection efforts actually went forward to Saddam. 

We do know they collected voluminous open-source materials from the West, 

ranging from articles written by American analysts such as Kenneth Pollack 

and Richard Betts to military and technical journals.55 On the other hand, Iraq’s 

intelligence services were just as likely to gather information from sources such 

as Lyndon LaRouche’s political organization and Masonic organizations, which 

they then treated as respectfully as if they had a key source of strategic insight.56

It appears that volume counted for more than substance and that the security 

services had no adequate method of sifting the important from the trivial.

For most of the developed world, this information vacuum is hard to understand. After all this is the information age where the biggest problem is avoiding 

the constant bombardment of unwanted information. In Saddam’s Iraq, the 

situation was the exact opposite. Among government offi cials, only a select few 

had access to the Internet. Ironically, most of those with access refused to use it 

because the secret police monitored their activities and could charge them with 

disloyalty for visiting the wrong site even inadvertently. Even for those who 

did access the Internet, attempting to gather information was often an exercise 

in frustration. A captured document dated late 1999 from the Directorate of 

General Security notes that “reliance on the Internet is very limited because 

the National Center for Internet Service has put in place restrictions against 

all information on the Internet that is hostile to the country...these restrictions 

hinder our examination of the Internet.” In Saddam’s Iraq, it appears that even 

his secret police often remained in the dark. Another fascinating document from 

the same fi le notes that there were not enough secret police to watch over the 

other secret police who were tasked with spying on Iraqis using the Internet. 

The secret police, in particular, were vexed on how to establish an organization 

that could effectively spy on their own use of e-mail.57 

In short, quality information was not available to the only decision-maker 

who counted. Instead of accurate reports of the realities around him, Saddam 

received increasing amounts of fl awed assessments and lies that only served to 

strengthen his preconceptions. Real knowledge was not a prized commodity in 
12

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Iraq, and its fi nal worth was established by the dictator himself when, in front 

of a group of senior offi cers, he singled out a future Republican Guard Corps 

commander, known to read widely in military history and theory, and publicly 

ridiculed him for “thinking like an American.”58

 

Saddam’s Leadership Style

Based on accounts of Saddam’s personal style of leadership, even if he had 

received wholly accurate information, it is not clear this would have prevented 

an eventual disaster. In the computer world, “garbage in, garbage out” is a 

well-known aphorism. In Saddam’s world, even the input of quality information could easily lead to the output of disastrous decisions. This resulted from 

Saddam’s reliance on a decision-making process that according to some senior 

aides verged on the mystical.59 

A close associate once described Saddam as a deep thinker who would 

remain awake at night, pondering problems at length before inspiration came 

in dreams.60 These dreams became dictates the next morning, and invariably 

all those around him would praise Saddam’s great intuition. Questioning these 

dictates was only done at great personal risk. Often, the dictator would make 

a show of consulting small groups of family members and long-time advisers, 

though his record even here is erratic.61 All of the evidence demonstrates that 

he made his most fateful decisions in isolation. The decision to invade Iran, 

for example, occurred while he was visiting a vacation resort and was made 

without any consultation with his advisers. He made the equally fateful decision to invade Kuwait in consultation with only his son-in-law.62 

In a wide-ranging discussion with his closest advisors in the fall of 1990, 

Saddam provided an insight into his “unique” abilities:

America is a complicated country. Understanding it requires a 

politician’s alertness that is beyond the intelligence community. 

Actually I forbade the intelligence outfi ts from deducing from 

press and political analysis anything about America. I told 

them that [this] was not their specialty, because these organizations, when they are unable to fi nd hard facts, start deducing 

from newspapers, which is what I already know. I said I don’t 

want either intelligence organization [IIS or GMID] to give me 

analysis—that is my specialty...we agree to continue on that 

basis...which is what I used with the Iranians, some of it out of 

deduction and some of it through invention and connecting the 

dots, all without having hard evidence.

63 

Saddam’s supreme, even mystical, confi dence in his own abilities and 

wisdom allowed him to ignore or discount the practical considerations raised 

by others. All things were possible. For instance, in October 1994, he called his 
13

The Nature of the Regime

senior Republican Guard offi cers to a meeting. Qusay, speaking for his father, 

announced that Saddam had decided on a second invasion of Kuwait. The commander of the Republican Guard immediately jumped on the bandwagon and 

said that his forces could easily conquer Kuwait. However, some of the division 

commanders summoned up suffi cient courage to gently warn Saddam that their 

forces were not yet capable of fi ghting the U.S. forces. Saddam told them their 

thinking was faulty since they saw war in terms of numbers of losses, whereas 

he saw it as a “spiritual battle.”64 He reportedly considered imprisoning the chief 

naysayer, but in the end only warned him, not for the fi rst time, not to read so 

much.65 In the event, war was averted when the Iraqi build-up was detected 

and tens of thousands of American soldiers poured into Kuwait.

The voice of caution by Republican Guard division commanders in the 1994 

case was unusual. Normally, once Saddam had made a decision, his subordinates were loathe to question his judgment. An Iraqi Brigadier General recalled 

that before the American assault in the 1991 Gulf War, no senior offi cer had the 

courage to suggest to Saddam the possibility of a withdrawal before President 

Bush’s 15 January deadline. Such a suggestion might have implied Saddam’s 

original move into Kuwait had been a mistake, and the dictator’s response to 

such impertinence was likely to be fatal.66 

Occasionally, courageous individuals did offer dissenting opinions or pessimistic analyses. Such negative commentaries rarely made it past the surrounding gatekeepers. Not only did Saddam’s secretary manage to cut off a realistic 

assessment of Iraq’s military power, but so did Qusay, Saddam’s youngest son. 

The Republican Guard II Corps commander, alone among his peers, objected 

to Qusay that Saddam’s plan for the defense of Baghdad as being unworkable. Qusay immediately brushed aside the objection with the argument that 

Saddam had already approved the plan and “it is you who will now make it 

work.”67 No appeal to Saddam himself was possible after Qusay had invoked 

his father’s name.

The rare dissenting opinions that did mange to reach Saddam seldom 

changed his mind; more often than not, the opinion rebounded against the 

dissenter. Typical was the experience in 1990 of Army Chief of Staff Nizar alKhazraji, who had not been a party to the decision to invade Kuwait. Not long 

after the invasion, he submitted his analysis of the situation to Saddam:

I explained that war with America was now inevitable...there 

were clear indications. I explained the potential dangers for 

Iraq. I also explained the status of the balance of powers, saying 

that Iraq would lose the war. A meeting was held at the general 

command on 18 September to discuss my two reports in Saddam 

Hussein’s presence. I began by reviewing the strategic and fi eld 

situation and explaining the balance of powers and the huge 

technological gap between the Coalition forces and the Iraqi 

forces, which were exhausted after the eight-year war with 
14

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Iran. The commander in chief expressed his anger and ended 

the meeting before I finished my report.68 

Khazraji was fired from his post prior to the American assault because he alone 

had the impudence to warn Saddam that an American victory was certain.69 

Saddam’s Distorted Worldview

For all the reasons outlined above, Saddam’s conception of the world beyond his country’s borders was particularly distorted. What is apparent from 

listening to Saddam discuss his opponents is that his understanding of them 

was based on the belief that none possessed the ruthlessness, competence, or 

ability to thwart his aims over the long run. His actions seem to indicate that 

he believed he could intimidate or buy off foreign opponents off as easily as 

potential foes in Iraq.70 

It is not clear that his opponents in the West understood the full implications of Saddam’s perceptions of reality. For instance, in October 1994 when 

he ordered two Republican Guard divisions to deploy to the Kuwaiti border, 

the reaction from the United States and world community was swift and sure. 

American military forces rapidly deployed to the region, and the United Nations 

Security Council issued Resolution 949 condemning Iraq’s moves. When Iraq 

pulled back from the brink, the world community was certain that its show of 

common resolve had forced Saddam to back down. Saddam’s impression could 

not have been more different or wrong: 

It is really something, four nations, among them two of the 

greatest nations of the world: Russia and America. I mean, 

they have nuclear bombs, missiles and so on...and England and 

France. They came to me and handed me a memo. They gave 

me a warning and timing. In case we would not abide by it, we 

would endanger our existence.71 

In other words, Saddam found the world’s response contemptible. He was 

prepared to launch a war and all the world could do was send him a “memo.” 

After his speech commenting on the weakness of America’s response, Saddam 

left the room, trailed by a loud chorus from the assembled Ba’athist sycophants: 

“You know that the Iraqi army is the strongest army in the region!” and “It is 

the strongest, the strongest army...”72

The 1994 near-confrontation was just one more example of interactions that 

seemed to strengthen Saddam’s world view and increase his contempt of world 

opinion and resolve. Scornful of others and supremely confident in his own 

abilities it seems that Saddam was, by the end of 2000, incapable of listening to 

advice. In his recorded conversations with senior staff, he constantly reminded 

them of the source for his confidence. Had he not by force of his own extraordi-
15

The Nature of the Regime

nary will led Iraq to its great victory in the Iran-Iraq War? Was he not responsible 

for designing the successful invasion of Kuwait? Had he not stood up to the 

Americans and won the “Mother of All Battles”?73 Had he not suppressed the 

Shiite and Kurdish rebellions during the “Page of Treason and Treachery” of 

1991? And had he not successfully defi ed the United Nations and the United 

States for over a decade? Saddam’s political and strategic logic had recast all 

of his greatest setbacks as victories. Consequently, by the end of the century 

Saddam viewed himself as enormously competent in every fi eld of policy—not 

only in Iraqi internal affairs but in diplomatic and military matters as well. 

A growing conviction of his own infallibility coupled with the desire to 

become the new Saladin and lead the Arab world against the “New Crusader” 

state of Israel was a prescription for another war. Despite his 1991 military 

defeat and the continuing sanctions, Saddam became ever more disdainful 

of the remnants of the Gulf War Coalition in general and the United States in 

particular. In an address in 2000 to senior members of Iraq’s air defense forces, 

Saddam described his (and Iraq’s) superior position vis-à-vis America:

There may be some people who say they are like the Iraqis. But 

so far, we do not have any evidence to say that any of them fi ght 

as well as the Iraqis. You are brave men, and your bravery is 

exceptional. Iraq is qualifi ed to carry a heavy burden because 

God Almighty has given it a strong back, a great degree of 

perseverance, and an extraordinary ability to endure. You have 

broken the morale of America, and this is much more important 

than warplanes and missiles. We have lost some material things, 

true, but who remained fi rm in the fi eld at the end? Your faith, 

which is supported by great morale, remained fi rm. You broke 

America’s confi dence and made people make fun of them. Despite their allegations that they are a superpower, they shamelessly say that their planes fl ew, bombed, and returned safely 

to base, as if they consider their safe return to base a gain for 

the superpower that considers itself the leader in technology 

and so forth.74

From Saddam’s point of view the possibility of an American invasion 

verged on nonsense: After all, America ran away from Vietnam in complete 

disarray after suffering only slightly more than 58,000 killed in action. Iraq had 

suffered as many dead in a single battle on the Fao Peninsula during the war 

with Iran.75 More recent events only confi rmed Saddam’s conviction that lack 

of will made America a “paper tiger.” The United States was simply not the 

long-term threat. He began learning this lesson with his fi rst direct encounter 

with American military power, when Iraqi aircraft accidentally attacked the 

USS Stark. The American response, which he had been awaiting with some 

trepidation, was a diplomatic note. 

Even OPERATION DESERT STORM (1991) failed to impress Saddam. A sum-
16

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

mary of Saddam’s opinion derived from hours of taped discussions is that 

America had spent an inordinately long time bombarding Iraq from one end 

of the country to the other before they were fi nally willing to commit ground 

forces.76 Once American ground troops were committed, American irresolution 

allowed the bulk of the elite Republican Guard forces to escape; left the oil 

exporting city of Basra unoccupied; and, most critically, failed to do anything 

that threatened the regime’s survival. 

Immediately after the war ended, America did encourage the Shi’a revolt, 

but then left them in the lurch as Republican Guard forces and Ba’ath secret 

police slaughtered the rebels by the tens of thousands.77 Saddam thought 

that the Americans almost unceasingly displayed a complete unwillingness 

to engage in what he regarded as real war: straight up, direct slugging it out, 

mano-a-mano. Saddam offered this diagnosis of American timidity: “America 

is not in the prime of youth. America is in the last stage of elderliness and the 

beginning of the fi rst stage of old age.”78 

Nothing that occurred in the decade after DESERT STORM did anything to 

change Saddam’s view that the United States remained irresolute and could 

ultimately be deterred. The American exit from Mogadishu in Somalia after 

suffering what to Saddam were a mere 19 killed in action further fueled his 

contempt.79 The ongoing spectacle of American and European policy in the 

Balkans as the Serbs ethnically cleansed their neighbors and generally ignored 

Western military might hardly alarmed the dictator. The eventual air war against 

Serbia over Kosovo also failed to impress, particularly since Iraq was proving 

daily that it could endure constant air attacks throughout the northern and 

southern “no-fl y zones.”80

Finally, while the method of the American success in Afghanistan caused 

concern, it failed to make a deep impression. Saddam seemed incapable of 

appreciating that September 11th, 2001, had changed everything. From his 

perspective, he had seen America topple an enemy on the cheap, with airpower 

and a few Special Forces operators, and with most of the hard fi ghting being 

done by the Northern Alliance. It must have been apparent to Saddam that 

when America did have a chance to destroy its enemy at Tora Bora, it shrunk 

away from committing enough conventional military forces to ensure the job 

was done properly.

Given his impressions of previous military engagements with the United 

States, Saddam likely found it inconceivable that America would engage in a 

major land campaign to overthrow his regime.
17

The Nature of the Regime

Notes 

1

 Captured document, (1 January 1998) “The Leader and the Masses: A Book About Saddam.” 

2

 Captured audio tape, (27 May 1987) “Saddam and Inner Circle Discuss USS Stark Incident.” 

3

 Samir al-Khalil (AKA Kanan Makiya), Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq (Berkeley: 

University of California Press, 1990).

4

 Classified Intelligence Report, June 2004. 

5

 A biographer of Saddam described Saddam’s use of violence to achieve his aims as “not strictly 

a personal characteristic, but rather an unattractive trait of the Iraqi people reinforced by their 

history.” Said K. Aburish, Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge (Bloomsbury USA; 1st US 

edition (January 15, 2000), p.1. 

6

 For a recounting of the 1920 rebellion, including descriptions of the nature and challenges of 

counterinsurgency operations in Iraq that might well have been written in 2004, see Sir Aylmer 

L. Haldane, The Insurrection in Mesopotamia, 1920 (Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood 

and Sons, 1922).

7

 A concise description of this period of Iraqi history can be found in Phebe Marr’s, The Modern 

History of Iraq (Second Edition, Boulder CO, 2004)

8

 For the most thorough examination of Ba’ath ideology see the brilliant study by Samir al-Khalil 

(Kanan Makiya), Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq (Berkeley, CA, 1990).

9

 Dozens of captured media files containing conversations between Saddam and his generals over 

a 25 year time span demonstrated the impact of this characteristic. See also Chapters 3 and 4. 

10 Samir Al-Khalil, aka. Kanan Makiya. Republic of Fear. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 

1990).

11 Captured document, (1992) “Interrogation records of a father and son for insulting the Saddam 

Regime, the daughter informed the IIS.” The investigation record of this seemingly trivial offense is over 200 pages. There are hundred like it in the captured document files. 

12 Captured document, (8 July 1999) “Saddam Meeting with Ba’ath Party Comrades.” 

13 According to a U.S. Agency for International Development report over 250,000 Iraqi Shia were 

killed following the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Andrew S. Natsios, Iraq’s Mass Graves, (USAID, 22 

July 2004, http://www.state.gov/s/wci/rm/36198.htm)

14 Captured media file (Pre-August 1990) “Saddam Hussein and Officials discuss the case of Kuwait 

and the American Position.”

15 This tactic may have been inspired by Stalin, whom Saddam appears to have admired deeply; 

he read extensively about the Soviet dictator. Said K Aburish, Saddam Hussein: The Politics 

of Revenge (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000), p. 178. Saddam was reportedly only one 

of two foreigners to visit all of Stalin’s dachas. The other person was reportedly Simon Sebag 

Montefiore, the author of Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. 

16 Con Coughlin, Saddam: King of Terror (New York: Bloomsbury, 2002), p. 156.

17 Samir al-Khalil (Kanan Makiya), Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq (Berkeley, CA, 

1990), p.72.

18 Classified Intelligence Report, May 2003.
18

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

19 Perhaps the most glaring example of this effect is the regime’s prioritization of internal threats 

over external threats even as Coalition forces crossed Iraq’s borders in March 2003. See Chapter 

3 and 4.

20 Captured media file, (15 April 1995) “Saddam Hussein, Council of Ministers, and Ba’ath Party 

Members Discussing UN sanctions against Iraq.” 

21 Saddam’s Public Speeches, http://www.infoimagination.org/ps/iraq/iraq.saddam.html, 17 

January 2003.

22 Captured document, (2001) “A Report on a Cartoon Character Called ‘Pokemon’ from Directorate of General Security.” This Directorate of General Security report states that the name of 

the character is Jewish and means “I’m Jewish.” The specific threat to Iraq was described as 

“pictures of this character have invaded the local Iraqi markets” and that the Iraqi kids “love it 

very much.” 

23 Nebuchadnezzar (reigned 605 BC - 562 BC) was perhaps the best known ruler of ancient Babylon. 

He is famous for his conquest of Jerusalem, in addition to his monumental buildings within 

his capital of Babylon. Saladin (1137-1193) was a 12th century Kurdish Muslim military general 

who founded the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt and Syria. He was renowned in both the Christian 

and Muslim worlds for his leadership and military prowess, as well as for his chivalry in battles 

during the Christian Crusades.

24 Voice of America Report, 16 May 2003, www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news /

iraq/2003/05/iraq-030516-3e198477.htm. Downloaded 16 April 2004.

25 Captured document, (30 September 1990) “The Minutes of the Reception Held Between Saddam 

Hussein and As’ad Byud Al-Tamimi, Chief of the Islamic Jihad Movement (Bait Al-Maqis).” 

Also see captured document, (undated—believed to be pre-1990) “Discussion between Saddam 

and His Advisors about the Election in Iraq and Transportation after the War.”

26 Captured media tape, (19 April, 1990) “Conference between Saddam and Yasser Arafat.” 

27 Captured media tape, (19 April, 1990) “Conference between Saddam and Yasser Arafat.”

28 Captured document, (12 July 2000) “Saddam Speech to the Iraqi People Regarding Preparations 

for the Coming Battle.” 

29 Classified Intelligence Report, June 2004

30 Saddam here is in the role as a modern-day student of Thrasybulus, who demonstrated for the 

benefit of the novice ruler of Corinth his secret for remaining in power for more than thirty 

years. Herodotus, The Histories, trans. by G.C. Macaulay, revised by Donald Lateiner. (New 

York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2004), p 290. 

31 Captured media tape, (1999) “Saddam Hussein’s Meeting with a Group of Ba’ath Party Members 

to discuss Ba’ath Party Theories and Issues.” 

32 Classified Intelligence Report, April 2003.

33 Classified Intelligence Report, August 2003.

34 Iraqi Perspectives Report, “Perspectives on OIF from the Former Commander of the Iraqi II 

Republican Guard Corps,” v3.3, 28 May 2004. [Hereafter noted as “Perspectives II Republican 

Guard Corps”]

35 Interview with Said K. Aburish. Frontline - The Survival of Saddam: Secrets of his Life and 

Leadership. Program aired November 2001. Transcript downloaded 15 March 2003. (HTTP://

WWW.Pbs.Org/Wgbh/Pages/Frontline/Shows/Saddam/Interviews/Arburish.Html) 

36 Classified Intelligence Report, March 2004. 
19

The Nature of the Regime

37 Classified Intelligence Report, June 2004. 

38 Classified Intelligence Report, September 2003. 

39 Jeffrey Fleishman, “Ex-Ba’athists Offer U.S. Advice, Await Call to Arms,” Los Angeles Times, 

27April, 2004, p. 1.

40 Iraqi Perspectives Project Report, “Perspectives on OIF from the Former Commander of the 

Iraqi Navy and Assistant Senior Military Advisor to the Central Euphrates Region,” v2.02, 17 

March 2004. [Hereafter noted as “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.”]. Throughout 

this book the reader will note two distinct personalities in the Iraqi senior military. The first are 

those Iraqi Generals that, to the best of their ability, focused on the military tasks at hand and 

by their determination to work through the issues demonstrated a soldier’s appreciation for 

the truth. The second, and more common variety, posses neither the soldiers appreciation for 

the truth nor the determination to work through the often Machiavellian world of Saddam’s 

inner circle. 

41 Project interview of Major General Hamid Isma’aeli Dawish Al R’baei, Director General of 

Republican Guard General Staff, 18 Nov 2003.

42 The Arabic translation includes the notion of air and space. 

43 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps”. Saddam’s reaction to this suggestion appears to 

have been more theatrical than real. It appears that from Saddam’s perspective there were two 

implications of an honest assessment of the 1991 war; first that Iraq actually lost in 1991 and 

second, that there was a better or alternative plan to the one taken. Both suggestions were clearly 

outside the political boundaries for Saddam. In fact, Saddam directed studies of other nation’s 

wars, experiences against the Americans, in addition to a liberal dose of revised Arab history. 

44 Classified Intelligence Report, April 2004. 

45 Classified Intelligence Reports, June 2004. 

46 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

47 Classified Intelligence Report, August 2004.

48 Classified Intelligence Report, June 2004. 

49 Remy Gerstein, “Documents Show Urgent Iraqi Push to Recruit and Control Troops,” New York 

Times, 18 April, 2003.

50 William Branigin, “A Brief, Bitter War for Iraq’s Military Officers,” Washington Post, 27April, 

2003, p. A25.

51 David Zucchino, “Iraq’s Swift Defeat Blamed on Leaders,” Los Angeles Times, 11August, 2003, 

p. 1.

52 Unpublished memoirs of Raad Hamdani, (Former Commander of the II Republican Guard 

Corps). Original and translated copies held in project database, paragraph 26. 

53 Classified Intelligence Report, May 2003.

54 See Michael Eisenstadt and Kenneth Pollack, “Armies of Snow, Armies of Sand: The Impact 

of Soviet Military Doctrine on Arab Militaries,” Middle East Journal, vol. 55, no. 4, Autumn 

2001.

55 Captured documents, (15 March 2002) “Report on the Study ‘Next Stop Iraq’ by American Kenneth Pollack“ and (28 June 2002) “Report on Study by Richard Betts.” 
20

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

56 For Lyndon LaRouche, see captured document, (12 May 2001) “Open Letter to the President 

of USA Regarding the Case of Lyndon LaRouche.” On Masons, see captured documents, (22 

October 1999) “Correspondence from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Iraqi Embassy in Tripoli 

Regarding Jehovah’s Witesses and Other Groups,” (April 1998) “Um Al-Ma’arik Magazine 

Article Regarding Masons Coalition with Zionists,” (26 April 2000) “SSO Study on Masonic 

Movement and Its Conspiracies Against Iraq,” and (4 May 1998) “SSO Report on The Masons 

and the Secrets Behind Their Hatred of Iraq.” 

57 Captured document, (1999) “Presidential Order to Monitor All Internet News Concerning 

Iraq.” 

58 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

59 Classified Intelligence Report, Oct 2003.

60 Project interview of Abid Hamid Mahmud Al-Khattab, Saddam’s Personal Secretary, 15 Nov, 

2003. 

61 International Crisis Group, “Iraq Backgrounder: What Lies Beneath,” ICG Middle East Report, 

Number 6, Amman/Brussels, 1 October 2002, p. 9.

62 “Saddam Hussein, the Ba’ath Regime, and the Iraqi Officer Corps,” Armed Forces in the Middle 

East, ed by Barry Rubin and Thomas A. Keaney, (London: Frank Cass, 2002). http://iraqexpert.

org/iraq_articles_2.htm and Classified Intelligence Report. 

63 Captured media tape, (Sept/Oct 1990) “Saddam and Members of the RCC Discuss American 

Reactions to Invasion of Kuwait.” 

64 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” Also Classified Intelligence Report, May 2003.

65 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

66 “Saddam Hussein, the Ba’ath Regime, and the Iraqi Officer Corps.” Found online at http://

iraqexpert.org/iraq_articles_2.htm

67 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

68 Ahmed Hashim, “Saddam Husayn and Civil-Military Relations in Iraq: The Quest for Legitimacy 

and Power,” Middle East Journal, vol. 57, no. 1, Winter 2003.

69 Hashim, “Saddam Husayn and Civil-Military Relations in Iraq.”

70 While Saddam had no problem resorting to assassination of internal opponents (even those who 

lived abroad) but with the possible spectacular exception of the plot against former President 

Bush in 1993, he seemed reticent to kill a foreign leader. 

71 Captured media tape, (late 1994) “Saddam Meeting with High Ranking Officials Regarding the 

New Clinton Administration and Its Attitudes about Iraq.” 

72 Captured media tape, (late 1994) “Saddam Meeting with High Ranking Officials Regarding the 

New Clinton Administration and Its Attitudes about Iraq.”

73 That was certainly how Saddam viewed the war not only in political terms, but in military 

terms as well. And the further Desert Storm receded into the past, the more Saddam became 

convinced that his forces had thwarted an American victory in political terms.

74 FBIS, “Saddam Addresses Air Defense Officers,” Baghdad, Republic of Iraq Radio Main Service, 

13 May 2000. 

75 Unpublished memoirs of Raad Hamdani. Lieutenant General Hamdani comments in his memoirs 

that in the 1986 battle against the Iranians on the Faw Peninsula that the Iraqi Army suffered 

no less than 51,000 martyrs by the end of the battle.
21

The Nature of the Regime

76 Saddam often referred to the 1991 coalition as the 33 nations that attacked Iraq. But more often 

than not any discussion of the strategic decision making or related military issues the focus was 

on the United States and its political leaders. 

77 For the methods and the results of how Saddam suppressed the rebellion see Kanan Makiya, 

Cruelty and Silence, War, Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World (New York, 1993). 

78 Captured media tape, (date unclear—late 1994) “Saddam meeting with high ranking officials 

regarding the New Clinton Administration and its Attitudes Towards Iraq.” 

79 In a speech sometime after 1993, Saddam notes that “...a country’s size and population has 

nothing to do with its strength.” His examples were Somalia and Iraq who, although smaller 

in area and populations, “expelled” the aggression on their countries. Captured audio file, 

(Date unclear, but after June 1993) “Saddam Speaking about US, World, and Iraqi Politics to 

Republican Guard.” In another audio tape Saddam opines that “if America doesn’t condition 

[itself] to the new international situation and the new reality [that]...we now see in Somalia, 

they will see problems from it. Now those pagans [Somali’s] didn’t they shame the US Army? 

Didn’t they ruin it...?” Captured audio tape, (Date Unclear- Late 1994) “Saddam Meeting with 

High Ranking Officials Regarding the New Clinton Administration and Its Attitudes Towards 

Iraq.”

80 In a meeting with the leader of Serbian Radical Party in 2001, Saddam discussed how he was 

not impressed with the “Imperialist tactics” of the U.S. because, in his opinion, Serbia was able 

to withstand them. Captured Iraqi document, (12 December 2001) “Meeting Minutes Between 

Saddam Hussein and Leader of Serbian Radical Party.” 

II. SKEWED STRATEGY
Poster for the 2003 Iraqi Military Intelligence Conference2

The camel is crying and the Bedouin 

asks him why he cries.

The camel replies that he, the camel, 

carries the Bedouin, carries the things 

for him and when the Bedouin drinks 

the camel waits and maybe doesn’t 

drink anything for himself. He knows 

the desert and how to get to the best 

places for water and forage, and when 

the Bedouin eats he has dates and tea 

while the camel has only rough thorn 

bushes, but all this is the life chosen 

for him by Allah.

The Bedouin then ask, so why are 

you crying?

Because you tie me behind a donkey 

who knows nothing of the desert and 

leads us all astray.

(Bedouin saying as related by the 

former commander of the II Republican Guard Corp’s when describing 

Saddam’s impact on Iraq.)1
25

II. SKEWED STRATEGY

Debriefer: “What did you think was going to happen with the Coalition invasion?”

Director of General Military Intelligence: “We were more interested 

in Turkey and Iran.”3

In early 2003, mere weeks before the kick-off of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, 

an invasion by Coalition ground forces remained low on Saddam’s list of concerns. To understand why this was so, one must form an appreciation of the 

formative events during Saddam’s rule. From an American perspective, Iraq’s 

1991 defeat in Kuwait should be foremost among them. However, for Saddam, 

OPERATION DESERT STORM paled in comparison to the Iran-Iraq War and the 

post-DESERT STORM Shi’a uprising. The hundreds of thousands of deaths suffered 

by Iraq in the war against Iran convinced Saddam that Iran was his foremost 

regional and enduring opponent—one that would shrink from nothing in efforts to topple him. Internally and not unrelated to the fi rst concern, the revolt 

of millions of Shi’a throughout southern Iraq, which was only put down after 

a horrendous bloodletting, was the seminal event during Saddam’s rule.

Saddam’s Priorities

According to a senior Republican Guard offi cer, after the 1991 Shi’a and Kurd 

uprisings Saddam gave his armed forces three priorities: fi rst, secure the regime; 

second, prepare to handle regional threats; and third, defend against another 

attack by an American-led Coalition.4 Thereafter, only the air defense forces 

received signifi cant resources in order to address the external (non-regional)5 

threat. The former Iraqi vice president recalled that Saddam considered only 

Israel and Iran as worthy conventional military threats. The dictator considered 

Iran the more formidable because it was the only power positioned to occupy 

Iraq physically.6 Other senior Iraqi offi cials confi rmed that Saddam always 

viewed Iran as the primary external threat, followed by Israel and then Turkey. 

However, some claimed Saddam was not so much alarmed by Iranian military 

power as by its political and theological threat, particularly given Iran’s close 

ties to the rebellious Shi’ites.7 

In fact, the link between the primary external threat (Iran) and the most 

signifi cant internal one (Iraqi Shi’ites) was never far from the considerations of 

Saddam and his closest advisers. In this regard, Iran was not the only culprit. 

Saddam also knew the Americans had encouraged the Shi’ite uprising after 

Desert Storm and believed the United States had sponsored a series of coup 

attempts during the 1990s. With the imposition of no-fl y zones after Operation 

Desert Storm, and throughout the 1990s, Saddam became increasingly incensed 
26

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

that the Western powers were enforcing two no-fl y zones, which impeded 

his ability to bring the Kurds and, to a lesser extent, the Shi’ites, in line. This 

symbiosis between external and internal threats led Saddam to focus more on 

the immediacy of internal security even as the United States ratcheted up the 

external pressure. 

One result of the no-fl y zones was that the Kurds carved out a de facto 

independent state in northern Iraq under the protection of Coalition airpower. 

When the United States launched several days of intensive bombing in December 1998 (OPERATION DESERT FOX) as punishment for Iraq’s non-compliance with 

United Nations resolutions, Saddam became concerned that the attacks would 

encourage a new round of rebellions. To forestall that possibility, he split the 

country into four administrative regions and placed trusted advisers in command of each region.8

 These politically loyal Ba’athists received full control of 

all military forces within their areas of responsibility. Perhaps this would have 

been an effective measure if revolts had been the primary threat, but it proved 

disastrous during the upcoming war. For instance, in the sector known as the 

Central Euphrates region, Saddam appointed a politically reliable former naval 

offi cer to the position of military advisor to Mizban Khidher Hadi, the regional 

commander and Revolutionary Command Council member. The new advisor, 

who possessed neither experience nor training in the coordination of large-scale 

ground forces, found himself tasked with coordinating the military response 

to the Coalition invasion soon after his appointment.

By 2002, Saddam was aware of various American efforts to induce Iraqi 

generals to cooperate in the event of US invasion. He was also becoming increasingly more concerned with the subversive activities of a Shi’a political 

group, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SCIRI), which 

was being sheltered by Iran. Tariq Aziz referred to this group and the Shi’a in 

general as the greatest internal threat to the Ba’ath regime.9 These events fed 

into the regime’s paranoia about internal enemies. Even as war with the United 

States loomed in the fall of 2002, Saddam met with his Revolutionary Command 

Council and senior offi cials of the Ba’ath Party, intelligence services, and other 

organizations to warn them that they must “keep the internal situation under 

control” while keeping the Iraqi people “satisfi ed.” He further added that he 

did not wish to face internal unrest at the same time the United States was 

posing a direct threat.10 

While in Coalition detention, one of Saddam’s closest advisors, Ali Hassan 

al-Majid Takriti (“Chemical Ali”), made a similar point: “The key Iraqi weakness lay in the fact that the longer we were at war, the more diffi cult it would be 

to maintain control of the civilian population.”11 By mid-2002, even Saddam’s 

oldest son Uday perceived a connection between internal and external threats. 

He noted the importance of meeting the “basic needs of the people in order to 

avoid discontent that could escalate into a repetition of the episodes of deceit 

and treason [the uprisings following DESERT STORM] on a wider scale.”12
27

Skewed Strategy

 The security organizations of the regime, of course, had long experience 

with suppressing rebellions. The March 1991 reaction, “through killing, destruction, and eradication,” to the Shi’ite rebellion represented only the most massive 

exercise of this type.13 By 2003, Saddam was devoting enormous resources to 

internal security, creating a complex system to monitor and control not only the 

populace but also his various military and security organizations to preclude 

any possibility of a coup d’etat. This intricate collection of organizations was 

charged with spying on each other and specifi c individuals; as such, they proved 

quite suited for crushing dissent. It was not, however, well-suited for meeting 

and defeating a Coalition invasion. 

Hobbling the Iraqi Military

On the eve of war, the primary intelligence and security services had developed their own military-like capabilities, often at the expense of both the 

Iraqi regular Army and the separate Republican Guard. On a day-to-day basis, 

the Iraqi Army was controlled by the Iraqi National Security Council, with 

Saddam ostensibly heading the Council, but in reality it was controlled by his 

younger son Qusay.14 Saddam personally chaired a separate defense council 

that controlled the confusing welter of military forces (the regular Army, the 

Republican Guard, the Special Republic Guard, the Fedayeen Saddam, and the 

Al-Quds Army). As war approached, Saddam’s decision to split the country 

into four military regions further centralized power under Saddam personally.15

The four regional heads were charged with maintaining domestic order and 

reported directly to Saddam, bypassing the bureaucracies of the Ministry of 

Defense and the Iraqi intelligence chiefs.16 

Fear of a military coup so dominated Saddam’s thinking that he imposed 

a series of security restrictions on Iraq’s assorted military organizations, which 

severely hobbled preparations to defend the country:

• Military forces were to be deployed in concentric rings, with the least 

trustworthy regular army on the outer ring and the more trustworthy 

Republican Guard closer to the center of the country. However, not 

even the trusted Republican Guard was permitted to enter Baghdad. 

Only the Special Republican Guard, which was carefully screened for 

loyalty and closely watched, was allowed.17 At a time when Coalition 

military leaders were worried about Saddam using the Republican 

Guard to create a “Mesopotamian Stalingrad,” he would not even allow his army to have maps of the city of Baghdad. 

• Saddam forbade the Special Republican Guard (SRG) from coordinating with other forces. As the SRG Commander recalled after the war, 

“We never coordinated with the Republican Guard...I had no relation 

with any other units or fi ghting forces. No other units were ever allowed near our unit. No visits between offi cers [of the different military 
28

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

organizations] were ever allowed.”18

• Saddam’s security forces prevented military units from coordinating 

their defense plans and schemes with the units on their fl anks. In Saddam’s eye, the only possible reason general offi cers would ever want 

to talk to each other was to plan a coup.19 Senior military leaders often 

stopped meeting each other even socially to be sure the security services did not misinterpret the nature of such meetings. 

• In peacetime, any decision to initiate the movement of even minor 

military units required a complex and redundant approval process that 

often ran all the way up to Saddam.20 

Strategic Calculus

Throughout the years of relative peace, Saddam continued to receive and 

give credence to optimistic assessments dished up by his top military offi cers. 

Tariq Aziz described the dictator as having been “very confi dent” the United 

States would not dare to attack; if it did so, it would be defeated.21 In the draft 

of a speech to the Ba’ath Party leadership in 2002, Saddam asserted the United 

States would not attack Iraq because America had already achieved its strategic 

goals in the region. Tariq Aziz disagreed and carefully interceded and got Saddam to excise some of the language prior to the speech, but Saddam returned 

to the theme again in a public speech a month before the war, which suggests 

that he truly believed he would not have to confront an American invasion.22

What was the acute source of Saddam’s confi dence on the eve of OPERATION

IRAQI FREEDOM? Judging from his private statements, the single most important 

element in his strategic calculus was his faith that France and Russia would 

prevent the United States from invading Iraq.23 Tariq Aziz’s revealed that this 

confi dence was fi rmly rooted in the nexus between the economic interests of 

France and Russia and the strategic goals of Saddam:

France and Russia each secured millions of dollars worth of 

trade and service contracts in Iraq, with the implied understanding that their political posture with regard to sanctions on Iraq 

would be pro-Iraqi. In addition, the French wanted sanctions 

lifted to safeguard their trade and service contracts in Iraq. 

Moreover, they wanted to prove their importance in the world 

as members of the Security Council; that they could use their 

veto to show they still had power. 24

Undoubtedly, such confi dence was likely perceived to be the fruit of 

Saddam’s decade-long efforts to gain support in the United Nations Security 

Council through bribery and political infl uence buying. He had often received 

assurances and indications during this period that his strategy was paying off. 

For example, open sources have reported that the Iraqi Ambassador to Moscow 
29

Skewed Strategy

sent a note to Baghdad on 4 October 2002 stating the following:

Our friends [in Russian intelligence] have told us that President 

Putin has given very clear instructions to the Ministry of Foreign 

Affairs vis-à-vis Iraq. Our friends instruct us that Russia is very 

clear in its opposition to any attack on Iraq. It will not allow the 

new resolution to include any intention that would allow the 

use of force against Iraq.25 

To help promote such efforts, Saddam avoided taking actions in the year 

after the September 11th terrorists attacks in the United States that would appear 

obstructionist or threatening. In late 2002, he told a group of offi cers that Iraq 

would provide UN inspectors with the access they needed, thus denying President George W. Bush and the Americans any excuse for starting a new confl ict.26

As the war approached, Saddam was bombarded by requests from Qusay and 

elements within the military to mine the Gulf, destroy the oil infrastructure, 

and conduct preemptive military operations in Kuwait. Saddam refused all of 

these requests to ensure that Iraq was not blamed for starting a war.27 

Throughout fall 2002 and into 2003, Saddam’s public and private comments 

refl ected his belief that the United States and the United Kingdom lacked the 

stomach for war when confronting the “heroic resistance” of a united Iraqi 

people.28 Indeed, this is the second major element of Saddam’s strategic calculus. He remained absolutely convinced that Iraqis were intrinsically superior 

fi ghters to Americans. The Commander of the Republican Guard II Corps recalls 

Saddam speaking to his offi cers “in very spiritual terms about the fundamental 

difference between the character of the American and Iraqi troops.” Saddam 

told them that Allah wanted to insult America by giving his strongest personal 

abilities to the materially weak Iraqis.29 Saddam made a similar point in public 

in February 2003: 

Sometimes we see a champion boxer take vicious blows from 

a man who is not a champion boxer. What is his problem? The 

point is morale and faith. The latter believes in himself, and with 

belief he will surely win. The former does not believe in himself, 

and the shreds of his belief are undermined by blows from one 

who isn’t a champion boxer. Thus, he is defeated even though 

he is a champion boxer...True, we do not have the means of the 

Americans and the British. But our superiority in other things, 

which we have already mentioned, is clear and decisive...30

A number of factors fed this delusion of American military incompetence. 

Foremost, was what Saddam saw with his own eyes. The fact that the United 

States had changed its policy on Somalia after sustaining what to him were 

incredibly minor losses amplifi ed his contempt for American military might 

and the political will to use it.31 Later, there were stories that he had copies 

of the movie Black Hawk Down issued to his lieutenants and ordered them to 
30

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

watch it, both to play up American strategic vacillation and to present it as a 

primer on how to defeat American forces in combat. Not surprisingly, given 

the nature of the regime, many of his ministers accepted Saddam’s conception 

of America. Tapes of many of his meetings fi nd ministers repeatedly parroting 

Saddam’s own ideas. In a ministerial discussion of potential reactions to Iraqi 

brinkmanship with the United Nations in 1995, one of Saddam’s senior ministers 

offered his “unique” opinion:

I believe if any incident occurs, the Americans will utilize 

their air strike methods, which they prefer and used recently, 

instead of sending troops, based on their horrifi c experience in 

Somalia.32

It was not lost on Saddam that since DESERT STORM the American response 

to every Iraqi provocation was to launch air strikes. His conviction that America 

was hesitant to deploy ground forces was further reinforced by the US decision 

to bring Serbia to its knees through sustained air strikes. Even Iraq’s attempt 

to assassinate former President George H. W. Bush in Kuwait was met with a 

relatively muted reaction by President Clinton.33 Saddam likely believed that if 

this was the best America could offer in retaliation for trying to kill their former 

President was blowing up his intelligence headquarters long after everyone had 

gone home for the evening, then America surely was a paper tiger. In Saddam’s 

calculus, the United States was unwilling to undertake any action that could 

result in even small numbers of Americans being sent home in body bags. It is 

clear from the totality of interviews that Saddam stubbornly maintained this 

belief even as Coalition forces massed in Kuwait. 

If his international supporters failed him and America did summon the will 

to launch a ground invasion, there was a fi nal element to Saddam’s strategic 

calculus. If the invasion came, Saddam expected Iraq’s “superior” forces to put 

up “a heroic resistance and to infl ict such enormous losses on the Americans that 

they would stop their advance.”34 Moreover, the Army Chief of Staff claimed that 

Iraqi leadership believed American forces would rapidly bow to international 

pressure to halt any war, while simultaneously heavy casualties would prove 

politically unsustainable in the United States.35 Saddam remained convinced that 

“Iraq will not, in any way, be like Afghanistan. We will not let the war become 

a picnic for the American or the British soldiers. No way!”36 

In the fi nal months, Saddam’s confi dence in ultimate victory grew. He told 

a group of senior offi cers that he hoped to avoid war, but if the United States 

im-posed it on him, Iraq would infl ict great pain on the Coalition.37 Several 

weeks later he explained to the Director General of the Republican Guard 

that the United States would not engage in ground combat and that “there is 

no way the Air Force would win a battle or a war as long as there is an Iraqi 

infantry soldier left.”38 Incredibly, Saddam held to his conviction of American 

moral weakness even after hostilities had begun. As he stated in a speech on 

20 March shortly after the fi rst bombs fell, “We will pursue them until they lose 
31

Skewed Strategy

their nerve and until they lose hope.”39 

Sources suggest that Saddam and many senior Iraqi leaders believed the 

worst-case scenario for Iraq would be to survive air attacks and a Coalition 

occupation of southern Iraq, much as it had occupied northern Iraq after the 

previous war.40 The commander of the Iraqi Air Force and Air Defense Forces 

noted, “We thought that this war would be like the last one in 1991. We fi gured 

that the United States would conduct some operations in the south and then 

go home.”41 Similarly, the Director General of the Republican Guard’s General 

Staff commented, “We thought the Coalition would go to Basrah, maybe to 

Amarah, and then the war would end.”42 In fact, “Chemical Ali” joked during 

a post-war interview that America would quit the region after they had to deal 

with the troublesome Shi’a on a regular basis.43

Confi dent of Victory

When the Coalition assault did come, Saddam stubbornly held to the belief 

that the Americans would be satisfi ed with an outcome short of regime change.44 

Surprisingly, the overwhelming bulk of the evidence indicates that even with 

US tanks crossing the border, an internal revolt remained Saddam’s biggest 

fear.45 His belief in the regime’s ultimate survival was also the primary reason 

his forces failed to torch Iraq’s oilfi elds or open the dams to fl ood the south, 

options many analysts predicted would be his fi rst moves in the event of war. 

In the words of Tariq Aziz, “He thought that this war would not lead to this 

ending.”46 If his strategic calculus was correct, Saddam realized he would need 

the oil to prop up the regime, the bridges to remain intact, and the fi elds to be 

open, i.e., not fl ooded) to rapidly move his forces to quell any revolt. According 

to the Chief of Staff, Armed Forces and Army Al-Sattar, “No Iraqi leaders had 

believed Coalition forces would ever reach Baghdad.”47 On this basis, Saddam 

planned his moves.

Some senior military offi cers did not share these assumptions, taking a more 

pessimistic view. The Director of Military Intelligence commented that except 

for Saddam and the inner circle, most knowledgeable Iraqis secretly believed 

that the war would continue all the way to an occupation.48 The commander of 

the I Republican Guard Corps admitted, “There was nothing that could have 

been done to stop the Americans after they began.”49 The Minister of Defense 

later said, 

Iraqi military professionals were not surprised at US actions at 

all. We knew what preparations were required, and what would 

happen if those preparations were not done properly...Even if 

we had a real defense we wouldn’t have stopped the Americans, 

but we would have made the price greater.50 

So even as Saddam remained confi dent of victory, defeatism stalked his 
32

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Army. As one Iraqi colonel put it, “We wanted the Americans to come on quickly 

and fi nish the war rapidly.”51 

As the war progressed, Saddam continued to receive optimistic reports from 

the civil and military bureaucracy, and from Ba’ath functionaries. These reports 

emphasized the effects of weather; Fedayeen Saddam attacks on Coalition forces; 

and, at least early in the fi ghting, the “failure” of the Coalition troops to enter 

most major cities. When gloomy reports did fi nally get to Saddam and Qusay, 

they either discarded them or considered the tidings to be exaggerated.52 As late 

as the end of March 2003, Saddam apparently still believed his understanding 

of events to be correct. If not winning the war, neither was Iraq losing it—at 

least it seemed to the dictator. In the meantime, the Americans were amused 

by the seemingly obvious fabrications of the Information Minister (nicknamed 

“Baghdad Bob” by the media), wondering who could possibly believe such 

declarations. The evidence is now clear: Saddam and those around him believed 

virtually every word issued by their own propaganda machine.53

Last-Minute Diplomatic Maneuvering

During the fi rst ten days of the war, Iraq asked Russia, France, and China 

not to support ceasefi re initiatives because they believed such moves would 

legitimize the Coalition’s presence in Iraq.54 As late as 30 March, Saddam thought 

that his strategy was working and the Coalition offensive was grinding to a halt. 

On that day, Lieutenant General Abed Hamid Hamoud, Saddam’s Principal 

Secretary, directed the Iraqi Foreign Minister to tell the French and Russian 

governments that Baghdad would accept only an “unconditional withdrawal” 

of American forces because “Iraq is now winning and...the United States has 

sunk in the mud of defeat.”55 At that moment, American tanks were a hundred 

miles south of Baghdad, refueling and rearming for the fi nal push.
33

Skewed Strategy

Notes 

1

 “Perspectives of the II Republication Guard Corp.” 

2

 Captured document (2003) “Organizational Conference Poster.”

3

 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, November 2003. 

4

 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” According to interviews, interrogations, and debriefs, 

other senior offi cers shared this same observation, including Tariq Aziz, the Minister of Defense, 

Saddam’s Personal Secretary, and “Chemical Ali.” 

5

 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

6

 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, February 2004.

7

 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004. See also the section, “Strategic Intent,” in Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD, vol. 1 (Central Intelligence 

Agency, 30 September 2004), pp. 29–30. Also Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004; and 

Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004.

8

 OPERATION DESERT FOX was a combined series of air attacks conducted against Iraq by the United 

States and United Kingdom, 16–19 December 1998. Primary targets were regime control and 

suspected sites of weapons of mass destruction. This operation was conducted after nearly two 

years of Iraqi interference and its ultimate expulsion of United Nation’s monitors.

9

 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003. 

10 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003. While this report indicates some deception on the 

part of Prime Minister Muhammad Hamza Zubaydi because of his past personal involvement 

in war crimes, it clearly demonstrates the high level of concern for internal control within the 

inner circle. 

11 Project interview of Ali Hasan Al-Majid (“Chemical Ali”), 10 November 2003. 

12 MEMRI, “Iraq Wire Number 7,” 12 August 2002. Found online at http://www.memri.org/bin/

articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iraq&ID=INW702#I. Downloaded 17 October 2003.

13 For documents on the brutal suppression of the Shi’ite rebellion, see among others captured 

document, (22 March 1991) “Notes Between [fi eld] Agents and General Military Intelligence 

Directorate (GMID) About the Riot Incidents in 1991.”

14 Ibrahim Al-Marashi, “Iraq’s Security and Intelligence Network: A Guide and Analysis,” Middle 

East Review of International Affairs, September 2002, p. 2.

15 Anthony H. Cordesman, Iraqi Armed Forces on the Edge of War, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, 7 February, 2003, p. 2; and FBIS, (15 March 2003) “Iraq RCC 

Decree Forms Four ‘Commands of Regions’ in Case of War,” announcement over Baghdad Iraqi 

Satellite Channel Television Arabic.

16 Project interview of Sultan Hashim Ahmed Al Hamed Al-Tai, Minister of Defense, 13 November 

2003.

17 Project interview of Kamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan Al-Tikriti, Secretary of the Republican 

Guard and Special Republican Guard, 14 November 2003. According to this interview and 

many debriefs of high-level Iraqi military offi cers, this restriction against Republican Guard 

or Regular Army forces operating inside Baghdad did not change until the fi rst week of April 

2003.

18 Project interview of Barzan Abd Al-Ghafur Sulayman Al-Tikriti, Commander, Special Republican 

Guard , 16 November 2003. 
34

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

19 IPP interview of Majid Hussein Ali Ibrahim Al Dulaymi, Commander, I Republican Guard 

Corps, and “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

20 Project interview of Salih Ibrahim Hammadi Al Salamani, Commander, Baghdad Republican 

Guard Division, 10 November 2003. 

21 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003. 

22 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004.

23 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003. Saddam’s “faith” in his ability to infl uence the policies 

of these nations does not mean he was actually able to infl uence them. Like many things dealing with international relations, Saddam often overstated and acted on perceptions of success 

rather than the actual events. Numerous documents and interviews with senior regime offi cials 

support this contention. According to an August 2003 interview with Major General Keith W. 

Dayton, US Army (Iraqi Survey Group) after his extensive interaction with senior members of 

the former regime: “They thought that the French and Russians would protect them (they were 

told that would happen). They believed the French and Russians would prevent the war through 

UN action or would get it halted once it started. They thought the pause during the sandstorm 

was the end of it and were again surprised when we kept coming. Saddam was in denial for 

days and in that time Uday began issuing contradictory orders that had units scrambling if 

they acknowledged the direction.” See also Steve Coll, “Hussein Was Sure of Own Survival,” 

Washington Post, 3 November, 2003, p. A1. 

24 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003.

25 Richard Beeston, “Secret Files Show Saddam Deluded to the Very End,” The Times (UK), 18 

March 2004. 

26 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

27 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003; and project interview of Kamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan Al-Tikriti, Secretary of the Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard, 14 November 

2003

28 In the right public context, Saddam seemed willing to take note of other “heroic” defenses in 

search of an optimal defensive strategy against the Americans. In 1995, Vietnam’s Deputy Chief 

of the Army Staff made a secret visit to “exchange experiences between the two armies.” Captured Document, (22 November 1995) Military Directorate Correspondence Regarding Secret 

Visit from Vietnam Army Chief of Staff.” In 1999 Iraq hosted Major General (now Lieutenant 

General) Nguyen Van Than of the Vietnamese Air Defense and Air Forces to “discuss and study” 

American and British techniques and exchange “ideas and experts in operations and electronic 

[warfare].” More contemporary help with the Americans came in the form of a visit in early 2000 

from a Yugoslavian delegation offering help with radars and “discussing the way of hitting an 

American F-117A [Stealth fi ghter].” Captured document, (3 February, 2000) “Correspondence 

Between Yugo Import and MOD Regarding Visiting Yugoslav Delegation.” 

29 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

30 Saddam speech printed in the Iraqi newspaper Al-Jumhouriyya, 4 February, 2003. Reported in 

MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series, No. 467, The Iraq Crisis (1): Iraq Prepares for War, 11 February, 

2003 (http://memri.org/bin/articles). Also Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004.

31 Captured document, (13 October 1993) “Iraqi Intelligence Service Memo to Iraqi Head of State 

Regarding American Position in Somalia.” Saddam believed the Somalis took a lesson from 

Iraq’s 1991 war with the United States. Iraq’s refusal to surrender inspired the Somali people 

to refuse “in spite of their poverty and lack of weapons. The Americans couldn’t fi nd any signifi cant targets to hit in that poor country.” Captured document, (after 1999) Saddam Discusses 

Western Politics and America’s Involvement in Somalia.
35

Skewed Strategy

32 Captured media tape, (Approximately 1995) “Saddam and Senior Advisors Discuss international 

reaction to UN Inspection Report.”

33 On June 26, 1993, US naval forces launched 23 Tomahawks on the principal command and control 

complex of the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) in Baghdad. IIS had planned to assassinate the 

former president during his visit to Kuwait in April of that year. According to the White House, 

the strike took place at 2 a.m. Iraq time, which was “chosen carefully so as to minimize risks to 

innocent civilians.” The White House, Offi ce of the Press Secretary, White House Announcement of Tomahawk Strike (Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of 

Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate), June 28, 1993.

34 Sama Abdul Majid, Saddam’s personal interpreter cited in “Saddam May Be Using Vietnam 

Tactics,” USA Today, 13 November, 2003, p. 10.

35 Classifi ed Intelligence Report May 2003

36 MEMRI, “First Interview with Saddam Hussein in 12 Years,” 5 November 200, www.memri.

org.

37 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

38 Project interview of Major General Hamid Isma’aeli Dawish Al R’baei, Director General of 

Republican Guard General Staff, 18 November 2003.

39 “The Power and Peril of High-Speed Warfare,” Brookings Iraq Series Briefi ng, Brookings Institution, 20 March, 2003. See also FBIS, “Saddam Addresses Iraqis on US Attack,” 20 March 2003.

40 Project interview of Zuhayr Talib Abd al Satar Al Naquib, Director of Military Intelligence, 16 

November 2003. 

41 Project interview of Hamid Raja Shalah Al Hadithi Al Tikriti, Commander, Iraqi Air Force, 12 

November 2003. 

42 Project interview of Hamid Isma’aeli Dawish R’baei, Director, RG Staff, 18 November 2003. 

43 Project interview of Ali Hasan al-Majid (Chemical Ali), 10 November 2003.

44 Project interview of Hamid Raja Shalah Al Hadithi Al Tikriti, Commander, Iraqi Air Force, 12 

November 2003. Also interview of Zuhayr Talib Abd al Satar Al Naquib, Director of Military 

Intelligence, 16 November 2003. 

45 Captured document, (15 March 2003) “Letter from Qusay Hussein Presidential Secretary Regarding Preparation of Fedayeen Forces to Strike Deep Within Kuwait if American Forces Converge 

on Baghdad.” Also Classifi ed Intelligence Report, July 2003. 

46 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003. 

47 Project interview of Zuhayr Talib Abd al Satar Al Naquib, Director of Military Intelligence, 16 

November 2003.

48 Project interview of Zuhayr Talib Abd al Satar Al Naquib, Director of Military Intelligence, 16 

November 2003. 

49 Project interview of Majid Hussein Ali Ibrahim Al Dulaymi, Commander, I Republican Guard 

Corps.

50 Project interview of Sultan Hashim Ahmed Al Hamed Al-Tai, Minister of Defense, 13 November 

2003.

51 Joint Forces Command interview of COL Jamal Altaaey, Iraqi prisoner of war, Camp Bucca, 10 

July 2003. 
36

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

52 Project interview of Hamid Isma’aeli Dawish R’baei, Director, RG Staff, 18 November 2003. 

53 Media transcripts of the Iraqi Minister of Information press conferences during OIF are amazingly consistent with reporting to Baghdad through the Ba’ath chain of command on the 

battlefi eld.

54 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004. 

55 Richard Beeston, “Saddam Stuck to His Fantasy of ‘Victory’ as Evil Regime Collapsed,” New 

York Post Online Edition, 18 March, 2004. Found online at www.nypost.com/news/worldnew/21186.htm. Downloaded 20 April 2004. This is a reprint of an article that fi rst appeared in 

The Times (UK).
III. MILITARY EFFECTIVENESS
Cover of Undated Iraqi report titled “Lessons Learned from Past Trials”1

“We understand the theory of proper decision-making but are unable to do this in practice. Our academies teach the ideas of debate and discussion but for the last 10 years 

or so our reality has been tribal. In a tribal situation you do not question things...I told 

(Qusay) that I thought we were having a kind of cultural trouble that was limited our military effectiveness. I told him that most commanders understood the nature and theory of 

modern warfare but in Iraq it was in confl ict with the tribal nature.”2

— Iraqi Corps Commander
39

III. MILITARY EFFECTIVENESS

Yes, the guards play a very important role, and we thank Allah. In 

history when they write about Napoleon’s guard, they will arrange 

them next to the Republican Guard of Iraq.3 

— Saddam Hussein

Any evaluation of Iraqi military effectiveness must fi rst take cognizance 

of the often pathological behavior of most Iraqi generals and senior offi cers.4 

Saddam’s Iraq, however, was a world apart from a Western conception of military professionalism. Iraqi offi cers rarely expected to give professional advice. 

Instead, they understood that their role was to ensure Saddam’s dictates were 

followed to the letter, often no matter how infeasible or irrelevant to the military problem. They also expected and accepted intrusions into even the most 

mundane military affairs. For example, in a meeting in 1995 on the readiness 

state of the Republican Guards, a senior offi cer reported to Saddam:

May God protect you sir. Despite all the moral considerations, 

there is another subject that should be brought up to you, sir, 

with complete honesty. We, the Republican Guard, feel prouder 

day after day. We are in better shape when it comes to training 

and accuracy in our job. The truth is we could not have achieved 

this without accurate follow up and the supervision of our honorable supervisor [Qusay Hussein]. He didn’t leave any place 

of the Republican Guard without visiting it, whether at training 

or during normal daily activities. He visited the soldiers, their 

sleeping places, and the kitchens...All the guards are now talking about the visit of the honorable Qusay, and they declare it 

proudly in front of all people.5

In such an atmosphere, it is almost useless to judge Iraqi military effectiveness by the standard measures of equipment, organization, and doctrine. In 

Iraq, internal political concerns infused every aspect of the military and its 

employment. Simply put, the Iraqi military’s main mission was to ensure the 

internal security of the Ba’ath dictatorship. Its second was to fi ght wars.

Assessing Iraqi Tactical Capabilities 

Before the war, the US Central Command had developed a fairly accurate 

assessment of Iraq’s tactical capabilities.6 Nevertheless, the way the Iraqis 

employed those capabilities during the war often surprised US combat commanders. They found it a constant challenge to try and fathom future Iraqi 

military moves: so little of what they were witnessing on the battlefi eld made 

sense to soldiers trained in the Western tradition. However, within the context 
40

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

of Saddam’s regime, even apparently logic-defying moves made perfect sense. 

None of this should suggest that reasonable courses of action were actually 

open to the Iraqis that could have changed the war’s outcome. Coalition forces 

had prepared to meet an Army that would fi ght tenaciously but in a style more 

familiar to their own outlook on the employment of military forces. That the 

Coalition fought a force focused on internal affairs and bedeviled by political 

interference was so much the better. However, to develop an understanding of 

Iraqi decision-making and actions on the battlefi eld, it is vital to understand 

all of the factors within their political-military system that limited military effectiveness. 

By 2003, the Iraqi military was reeling from 13 years of almost continuous 

engagement with Coalition air forces, the accumulating effects of sanctions, and 

the insidious impact of dysfunctional regime policies. These pressures had all 

helped to propel the Iraqi military into a state of chronic decline. Concerned 

about everything except fi ghting wars, the cultural and organizational dynamics 

of the Iraqi military, which once aspired to a Western-like profession of arms, 

became focused on militarily irrelevant—but for them life or death— issues.

The foremost example of declining Iraqi military effectiveness lay in the 

condition of the Iraqi Air Force, which failed to launch a single sortie against 

the Coalition invasion force. According to the commander of Iraq’s Air Force 

and Air Defense Force, failure to launch was the result of Saddam Hussein’s 

decision that the Air Force would not participate in the war. Apparently, Saddam reasoned that the quality and quantity of the Iraqi Air Force’s equipment 

would make it worse than useless against Coalition air forces. Consequently, 

he had decided to save the Air Force for future needs, ordering his commanders to hide their aircraft.7

 This decision is yet another indication that he did not 

believe Coalition ground forces would reach into the heart of Iraq and that his 

regime would survive whatever confl ict ensued. 

To implement the decision to preserve the Air Force, which Saddam decided 

only two months before the war, the Iraqis moved most of their aircraft away 

from operational airfi elds and camoufl aged them in palm groves. They also 

buried other aircraft literally in sand to hide them from prowling Coalition air 

forces, where American forces dug them up after the war. The refusal of the Iraqi 

Air Force to engage is reminiscent of DESERT STORM when Saddam ordered a 

signifi cant portion of the Air Force to fl ee to Iran. This time, however, Saddam 

ruled out the option of seeking Iranian sanctuary. He remarked, “The Iranians 

are even stronger than before; they now have our Air Force.”8 Even with his 

regime under dire threat, Saddam’s thoughts were never far away from the 

regional power balance.

Schemes and “Bureaucratic Eloquence”

Besides the regime’s political calculus, which constantly worried senior 
41

Military Effectiveness

offi cials and focused on almost everything except resisting a Coalition invasion, another factor reduced military effectiveness: sanctions. For more than a 

dozen years, United Nations sanctions had attacked the very fi ber of the Iraqi 

military by making it diffi cult to purchase new equipment, procure spare parts, 

or fund adequate training. Attempts to overcome the effects of the sanctions 

led Saddam to the Military Industrial Commission as a means to sustain the 

military.9 The Commission and a related series of special organizations steadily 

promised new capabilities to offset the effects of poor training, poor morale, and 

neglected equipment. Saddam apparently waited for the delivery of wonder 

weapons that would reverse the tide of defeat.10 

One Republican Guard offi cer described the insidious effect of sanctions 

on the military in the following terms:

The government made rapid efforts to limit the negative direct 

and indirect effects of the savage sanctions on the weapons and 

activities of the military forces. Unfortunately, they were the 

wrong kind of efforts. The army continued to fi ght the schemes 

of the Military Industrial Commission, which played an important role in promising secret weapons it would never deliver 

while most types of things we needed were neglected. These 

people received large amounts of fi nancial support, but the army 

could not get simple things. As time passed, President Saddam 

Hussein set aside many resources for the commission departments that were diffi cult to afford and led to a large amount 

of administrative corruption in the commission directorates to 

keep the money coming to them.11

The Iraqi naval forces fared no better. According to a former commander 

of the Iraqi Navy: 

The best we could ever hope to do was defend the beaches with 

light infantry, artillery, and light weapons. We had a regiment of 

infantry, which we could only man at a level of 60 percent, maximum. Between 1991 and 1998, the navy’s personnel strength 

dropped from approximately 25,000 to 9,000. We no longer had 

much equipment, so our need for high numbers of personnel 

was gone. At one point we tried to get boats made for us. We 

went to the Military Industrial Commission to get a private 

company to make boats for us. The commission also promised 

to get missiles as well. They made the launchers, but were late 

in making the missiles because some essential equipment was 

caught in so-called ‘procedural delays.’ After the two years of 

this project we still had no boats, and by the end of the third 

year, the war came and interrupted the plans.12 

A captured Military Industrialization Commission annual report for 2002–
42

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

2003 investments showed more than 170 research projects with an estimated 

value of more than 320 million Iraqi dinars. The Commission divided projects 

among areas such as equipment, engineering, missiles, electronics, strategic 

weapons, artillery, and air forces. One senior Iraqi offi cial alleged that the 

Commission’s leaders were so fearful of Saddam that when he ordered them 

to initiate weapons programs that they knew Iraq could not develop, they told 

him they could accomplish the project with ease. Later, when Saddam asked 

for progress reports, they simply faked plans and designs to show progress 

when no program existed. 

This constant stream of false, or at best optimistic reporting, undoubtedly 

accounts for why many of Saddam’s calculations on operational, strategic, and 

political issues made perfect sense to him. According to Tariq Aziz: 

The people in the Military Industrialization Commission were 

liars. They lied to you, and they lied to Saddam. They were 

always saying that they were producing or procuring special 

weapons so that they could get favors out of Saddam—money, 

cars, everything—but they were liars. If they did all of this 

business and brought in all of these secret weapons, why didn’t 

they work?13

However, the Military Industrial Commission members were not the only 

ones lying. This was particularly true of the most trusted members of the inner 

circle—especially if negative news refl ects poorly on their responsibilities or 

reputation.14 In the years before OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, everyone around 

Saddam understood that his need to hear only good news was constantly growing and it was in their best interest to feed that need. As noted earlier, honest 

reporting of military readiness and capabilities became the exception, not the 

rule. Many commanders simply became afraid to put their positions, possibly 

their livelihoods, or even lives at risk by challenging the given truth.15 One senior minister noted, “Directly disagreeing with Saddam Hussein’s ideas was 

unforgivable. It would be suicide.”16 Another offi cial said that there existed an 

almost refl exive tendency to pass on good news and to never contradict what 

they had previously told Saddam. According to one former high-ranking Ba’ath 

offi cial:

Saddam had an idea about Iraq’s conventional and potential 

unconventional capabilities, but never an accurate one because 

of the extensive lying occurring in that area. Many reports were 

falsifi ed. The ministers attempted to convey a positive perspective with reports, which were forwarded to Saddam’s secretary, 

who in turn passed them up to Saddam.17

In another instance, Saddam commissioned a series of reviews and studies of lessons learned after the 1991 Gulf War with the Coalition. One might 

assume this would have represented a singular opportunity for the military 
43

Military Effectiveness

to bring some reality into Saddam’s conception of the world. Just the fact he 

was calling for a lessons-learned discussion could be interpreted that perhaps 

Saddam recognized something had gone wrong However, these reviews and 

studies started from the assumption that Saddam’s decision to invade Kuwait 

was militarily sound. Therefore, the “lessons learned” efforts did not take into 

account the complete scope of Gulf War experiences. 

The opportunity was too much for the military commanders to handle. 

Presented with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to tell the truth, they passed. 

During one recorded review of a post-DESERT STORM study, the Commander 

of the Republican Guard strode to the podium with confi dence and listed the 

“great” accomplishments of his forces during the “Mother of All Battles,” 

among them: 

• Creating impenetrable and perfectly camoufl aged command bunkers.

• Analyzing the battlefi eld and deploying in such a way as to make the 

American nuclear-tipped Pershing missiles useless (no mention of the 

facts that the United States did not deploy Pershing missiles during 

the war, or that by dispersing their forces to avoid nuclear attack, the 

Iraqis became easy prey for the massed Coalition armor). 

• Determining the specifi c method and timing of US operations so that 

“once the attack began, we were clearly expecting it.” (Nothing was in 

the presentation about how the Iraqis were helped by President Bush 

giving them an ultimatum and countdown.)18

According to the then-Republican Guard Commander, 

As a result of all these successful preparations, our losses were 

not as devastating as the arsenal that was used against the Iraqi 

Army during the period should suggest. So this clearly shows 

that the Republican Guard and the other Iraqi armed forces 

were able to dig in and deploy wisely, and thus minimize the 

damage of the aerial power...19 

In Saddam’s conception of victory, the ability to escape total annihilation equated 

to military success. 

Fear of Saddam’s reaction to bad news was not the sole prerogative of his 

ministers and soldiers. Its pernicious tentacles even reached into Saddam’s 

immediate family. One former high-level offi cial related the following story 

about Qusay Hussein and an opportunity for at least a modicum of honest 

readiness reporting: 

At the end of 2000, it came to Saddam’s attention that approximately seventy military vehicles were immobile. Saddam told 
44

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Qusay to resolve the problem. Republican Guard mechanics 

claimed they could repair the vehicles if the funds were made 

available. Qusay agreed to the work and funds were provided 

for the task. Once the work was completed, Qusay sent a representative to inspect the vehicles and he found them lined up 

on a vehicle park thirty fi ve vehicles on each side. The vehicles 

looked like new, having been freshly painted and cleaned. 

After Qusay’s representative inspected them, a second inspection was conducted to verify that they were now operational. 

The staff was told to supply drivers to move all vehicles to the 

opposite side of the vehicle park to ensure they were in working order. None of the seventy vehicles would start. When 

this was reported to Qusay, he instructed that Saddam not be 

informed, as Qusay had already told Saddam that the vehicles 

were operational.20 

In the end, Qusay did not order mechanics to fi x the vehicles—it appears 

that he was only eager to have this failure be hidden from his father.

As if lying were not enough, there were further impediments to the fl ow 

of information within the regime. One such impediment was the requirement 

to embellish even the simplest fact with fawning over Saddam, as evidenced 

by the Minister of Defense’s relation that a training exercise called GOLDEN

FALCON took place:

In reference to your Excellency’s instructions regarding the 

large exercises at the Public Centre, having strong faith in the 

only God of our hearts, and God’s permanent support to the 

believers, the faithful, the steadfast, and with great love that 

we have for our great homeland and our Great Leader, our 

Great Leader has won God’s favor and the love of his dear 

people in the day of the grand homage. 

Your enthusiastic soldiers from our courageous armed forces 

have executed GOLDEN FALCON Exercise number 11. In this 

exercise we have tested our readiness and confrontation plans 

against any who attempt to impure the lands of civilization 

and the homeland of missions and prophets. This exercise 

is the widest and most successful in achieving the required 

results. Soldiers from the III and IV Corps have participated 

in this exercise. And, on this occasion, and on behalf of your 

heroic men in the great army of Iraq, I have the pleasure and 

the honor to reaffi rm the manhood pledge to confront plans of 

conspiracy and aggression, and in the name of God, we shall 

not bargain the truth for vanity, neither let depravity prevail 

against mortality, nor shall we fear anyone save God, and we 
45

Military Effectiveness

shall bow-down only before God.

The curse and the entire curse shall be put upon Washington, 

Lon-don, and Tel-Aviv, who are the supporters of the devil, 

depravity, and corruption and upon whom ever supports them. 

And, God willing, The Great Iraq shall achieve victory, and 

with God’s help this victory is very near.21

More notable was the fact that the Iraqis conducted GOLDEN FALCON in 

anticipation of an Iranian invasion just months before the Coalition invasion. 

This was one more indicator of how Saddam actually considered Iran to be the 

real threat and how little he regarded the potential fi nality of decisive American action. There was no indication that the two corps actually conducted any 

signifi cant maneuver or fi eld training exercise during this period. 

This kind of bureaucratic “eloquence” extended to every level of military 

organization. Some documents show that fl owery language replaced actual 

orders to units. One example is a 9 March 2003 instruction marked as a movement order from the Al-Hussein brigade to one of its combat groups: 

The Third Group, al-Quds Army...and other formations attached 

to it are fi ghting valiantly, placing their trust in God Almighty, 

until the end that He proscribes, which God willing will be the 

enemy’s defeat and his withdrawal, and a victory for us that 

will please our friends and grieve our enemies...22 

After the war, several of the more capable military commanders commonly 

noted four other factors that seriously affected military readiness, each of which 

is discussed in greater detail in the following sections.

• The mostly irrelevant military guidance passed from the political leadership to the lowest level of military operations.

• The creation and rise of private armies.

• The tendency for relatives and sycophants to rise to the top national 

security positions.

• The combined effects of the onerous security apparatus and the resulting limitations on authority. 

Many senior Iraqi military offi cers blamed this “coup-proofi ng” of the 

regime for most of what befell the Iraqi Army during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

23 
46

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Irrelevant Guidance

According to one Iraqi general, “All military planning was directed by Saddam and a selected few. It was much like Hitler and his generals after 1944.”24 

After 1991, Saddam’s confi dence in his military commanders steadily eroded, 

while his confi dence in his own abilities as a military genius strengthened. 

Like a number of other amateurs in history who dabbled in military affairs, 

Saddam began to issue a seemingly endless stream of banal instructions. He 

could not resist giving detailed training guidance at the same time he became 

fascinated with the ethereal military capabilities promised by the Military 

Industrial Commission. 

Dozens of surviving memoranda mirrored the 2002 Iraqi top secret document “Training Guidance to the Republican Guard” (described below). They 

all hint at the guidance military offi cers received from Saddam on a regular 

basis. One chapter from the Training Guidance document, “Notes and directions given by Saddam Hussein to his elite soldiers to cover the tactics of war,” 

charged them to train in the following ways:

• train in a way that allows you to defeat your enemy;

• train all units’ members in swimming;

• train your soldiers to climb palm trees so that they may use these places 

for navigation and sniper shooting; and

• train on smart weapons.25

Similar instructions were repeated in almost every training manual issued 

to the armed forces. In time, Saddam’s wisdom became a substitute for real 

training.

In Saddam’s view, such simple guidance was necessary to keep his commanders focused on what he considered the important issues in combat. For 

him, the key to all things military was violence of execution. In discussing the 

proper employment of the Republican Guard, he reminded his generals that

it should be kept away from skirmishes. I mean, if it is sent in, 

I want it to be decisive. The Republican Guard will consider 

anyone on the battlefi eld an enemy. I don’t want to complicate 

things for them.26 

For most Western military organizations, a key to effectiveness rests on its 

ability to absorb and profi t from past battlefi eld experiences; and one thing Iraq 

was not short of was recent battlefi eld experience. However, even if they understood the lessons, the senior leaders in the Iraqi military appeared incapable of 

either applying them or else extrapolating from their own experiences to deal 

with future contingencies. For instance, the Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988) appeared 
47

Military Effectiveness

to have conditioned Iraq’s generals to fi ght bloody, slow-tempo, slugfests over 

prolonged periods. Therefore, when the high-tempo Coalition forces smashed 

into Iraqi forces in DESERT STORM, the Iraqi operational command structure 

became overloaded and largely collapsed. Whatever lessons Iraq’s generals 

took away from DESERT STORM did nothing to prepare them for the speed and 

tempo that Coalition forces imposed on them in OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

As usual, this problem started at the top. In the aftermath of the 1991 war, 

the Iraqis made extensive efforts to “learn” from their experiences on the battlefi elds in DESERT STORM. These attempts were hampered by Saddam’s conviction 

that his ground forces had performed well in the fi ghting. This forced offi cers 

compiling Iraqi lessons-learned analyses to avoid issues that might involve 

Saddam’s prestige or questioned Iraqi fi ghting abilities. Instead, they focused on 

peripheral issues that were almost totally irrelevant to winning wars. We have 

already seen how these self-imposed restrictions led to such perverse claims as 

the Republican Guard actually won the war by avoiding annihilation:

If it were not for these precautions, we would have suffered great 

loss, but when we compare our losses with the large number 

of fi ghter aircraft, missiles, and artillery bombing that the Iraqi 

Army was subject to we fi nd these losses trifl ing. That proved 

that the Republican Guards and the armed forces managed to 

reduce the danger from air strikes.27

This was just one of dozens of briefi ngs on DESERT STORM that drove home 

the point that in the issues that mattered, Iraq had done well in that confl ict. 

In a short time, the constant repetition of these lessons—dispersing, digging 

deep bunkers, and hiding the Iraqi Army—became the de facto operational 

doctrine.

Little evidence exists that any of the politicized Iraqi generals understood the 

advantages in maneuverability, speed, exploitation, command and control, or 

the training that the US forces enjoyed.28 However, by the time the military was 

ready to brief Saddam on the lessons of the Gulf War, they fully understood the 

danger of presenting Saddam truths other than those of which he had already 

convinced himself. Truthful analyses, therefore, gave way to belittlement of the 

American victory and discounting that America had any advantage over Iraq 

other than in military technology. This comment from a mid-1990s conference 

is typical:

After the liberation of our land in Kuwait, and despite the fact 

that more than thirty countries headed by the occupation forces 

of the US rushed madly upon our Republican Guard, our performance was heroic.29

One author captures well the reality behind these revisions of Gulf War 

history:
48

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

From the ruins, Baghdad radio spoke of the war as “a great 

achievement” and called the withdrawal “heroic.” Baghdad’s 

offi cial version of the events reminded some Iraqis of the story 

of an Italian general defeated at Al-Alamain by General Montgomery. When reproached for having allowed his forces to fl ee 

the battle, he solemnly remarked, “Yes, we ran away—but like 

lions.”30

The Rise of Private Armies

It is hard to overestimate the effects that the Shi’a and Kurd uprisings in 1991 

had on Saddam’s outlook. The threat of another uprising consistently remained 

his top security concern. One of the precautions he took to prevent and, when 

necessary, quell a future disturbance was to create private armies made up of 

politically reliable troops: the Saddam Fedayeen, the Al-Quds Army, and the Ba’ath 

militia. Most Western analysts have argued that Saddam created these (and 

spin-off organizations) to help defend Iraq from external attack. This was indeed 

the case but only much later in their development and after Saddam’s growing 

fascination with the success of the Palestinian intifadas and with the American 

experience in Somalia. However, documents emerging after OPERATION IRAQI

FREEDOM indicate that the original and primary purpose of the paramilitaries 

had little to do with defending Iraq from invasion. Because these organizations 

had a dramatic effect on army recruiting and stripped the military of needed 

equipment, they actually had negative impacts on conventional elements of 

national security. Worse still, when they eventually were committed to battle 

against the onrushing Coalition forces, they were obliterated in short order.

The Al-Quds Army

The Al-Quds Army was a regional militia created to control specifi c areas, 

and after the experience of 1991, to crush as rapidly as possible any disturbance 

that did occur. Always conscious of Iraq’s “historic” mission, Saddam created 

the Al-Quds (named after the Arabic word for “Jerusalem”) and claimed the 

liberation of Jerusalem as its purpose. Its actual size could not be determined 

at the time of this writing, but it was likely an order-of-magnitude less than 

the seven million strong Saddam’s advisors claimed it to be. The best estimate 

is that close to 500,000 joined the Al-Quds, but coming with widely varying 

degrees of commitment. 

Currently available documents on the Al-Quds organization indicate that 

its leaders never seriously considered marching to liberate Jerusalem. Rather, 

they exclusively focused on defending specifi c Iraqi locales listed in various 

Ba’ath “emergency” plans. For example, the August 2002 emergency plan for 

the city of Kirkuk, located 50 miles north of Baghdad, described the friendly 
49

Military Effectiveness

forces as including the various Governate and local Ba’ath militia commands 

as well as the Al-Quds force. This detailed planning document described the 

mission Al-Quds “fi ghters” as follows:

The Ba’ath Governate Forces Command—Al Quds, supported 

by subordinate troops, shall fi ght the enemy rebels boldly. With 

deep belief in the Mighty God, our forces shall achieve an earth 

shaking triumph on that enemy, and will prevent that enemy 

from achieving any despised goals. We shall keep stability and 

security.31

The specifi ed tasks that fl owed from this less-than-specifi c mission statement 

provides a glimpse of the national security utility of various Ba’ath military 

capabilities: 

• Defend the sector of responsibility from Al-Hurriyyah playground east 

to the Laylan Bridge south and...prevent the enemy rebels from occupying it, no matter what it may cost

• Protect vital establishments within responsibility limits by assigning a 

proper force and identifying the commandant and the assistant.

• Prevent rebels from infi ltrating into the town to achieve their goals. 

Maintain security and stability in town.

• Keep all possible village routes and roads under surveillance to prevent 

saboteurs infi ltrating into town.32

One fi nds the same tone in contingency planning for the Al-Quds in southern Iraq, where the Shi’a represented the main threat. The Commander of the 

Al-Quds Karbala Division issued a detailed plan on 9 March 2003 for dealing 

with internal and external threats. His plan took the form of protecting against 

what he termed “agent-inspired spontaneous disorder against vital targets in 

order to destroy the infrastructure of Iraq and create pressures against the nation.”33 This commander also worried that this time the Coalition might assist 

the rebels with “a media and psychological war meant to affect morale” and 

possibly “a push towards vital targets with the use of infantry supported by 

air force and helicopters.”34 

In response to the anticipated threats, the order spelled out the following 

tasks:

• Prepare alternative methods to deal with the possibility of an interruption in communication.

• Combat rumors and hostile propaganda.

• Keep the main roads open at all times and adopt fl exible and effective 

measures if bridges are destroyed.
50

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

• Move, camoufl age, and hide all weapons, equipment and vehicles to 

their assigned holes. Disperse and evacuate. Move to alternative headquarters. 

• Avoid using the entire force in the early stages until after the most serious threat has been identifi ed.35

 

As to their value as a military force in time of war, the Minister of Defense 

best expressed the conventional military evaluation of their capabilities: 

The Quds Force was a headache, they had no equipment for a 

serious war, and their creation was a bad idea. The Ministry of 

Defense was required to give them weapons that were taken 

from the real Army. But the Army had no control of them. Their 

instructions came only from the President’s offi ce and not from 

normal military channels.36

According to another senior Iraqi general, the Al-Quds was not a serious 

combat force: “It never had anything to do with the liberation of Jerusalem or 

fi ghting the Zionists, and was merely another organ of regime protection.”37

During the war, the system crafted by Saddam continued to pass a stream 

of boasts, half-truths, and of lies about the abilities and performance of the AlQuds. Because he fully expected its members to fi ght like lions and bleed the 

Americans dry, no one was courageous enough to tell him the truth. A typical 

report from early in the war was captured by a public release from the Iraqi 

Army General Command:

A hostile force backed by jets fi ghters and helicopters attempted 

to approach the outskirts of the Al-Muthanna Governate. Our 

unrivaled men of the Al-Quds Army confronted it and forced 

it to stop and then retreat. They infl icted on it huge human 

and equipment losses. This included the destruction of seven 

vehicles of various types. Congratulations to the Al-Quds Army 

on its absolute victory over the allies of the wicked Zionists.38

That the event never happened as described was immaterial to the Ba’ath 

Command. It closely mirrored the stream of Al-Quds reporting throughout 

late March 2003. For the military high command, reality was whatever Saddam 

expected it to be. 

The military advisor to the Commander of the Central Euphrates Region 

presented a more realistic assessment of the Al-Quds martial spirit on the same 

day as the above report:

According to the leadership, the Ba’ath party members were to 

fi ght inside the city and had built some sandbagged positions, 

while the Al-Quds Force was to remain outside. During my in-
51

Military Effectiveness

spection I could not fi nd even 10 percent of the 30,000 Al-Quds 

that they assured me were ready. When I asked where they were, 

I was told they were all locals and at that moment they were 

either at home or changing shifts—but I was assured that they 

would be right back. In the Al-Quds fi ghting positions, where 

I should have should have found approximately 200 soldiers, 

there were not even 50 present.39

The reality that Saddam’s inner circle refused to tell him was that the AlQuds started dissolving as American tanks approached. By the time Coalition 

tanks arrived at many Al-Qud defensive positions, Saddam’s vaunted warriors 

had vanished. As another military advisor to the Central Euphrates region 

noted after the war:

The Quds Force numbers were not fi xed. Before the war (in 

normal times) each regiment had 300 fi ghters. These numbers 

started dropping to zero during the war. Some were wounded 

in action, but most deserted.40

This same advisor went on to state that virtually every professional military 

offi cer in the fi eld knew what the Ba’athists chose to ignore:

All of these Al-Quds were not prepared to fi ght because their 

commanders were civilians who had no military experience...

The military advisors to the Al-Quds had no role, because the 

Ba’ath commanders made the decisions and wouldn’t listen to 

the advisor. But Ba’ath commanders, especially Saddam Hussein, lived an illusion. Commanders told him that we have 

seen millions in the Quds Army and Saddam Hussein would 

depend on them.”41

The Fedayeen Saddam

The Fedayeen Saddam is an even more interesting example than the AlQuds of Saddam’s growing infatuation with popular forces. If the Al-Quds was 

viewed as a part-time territorial defense force to be used in times of crisis, the 

Fedayeen Saddam was a permanent force tasked with a number of state security 

missions. Before the war, Coalition planners believed the Fedayeen Saddam 

was a paramilitary group with wide ranging missions from counterinsurgency, 

domestic direct action, and surveillance operations. They also understood that 

the Fedayeen Saddam served as a backup to the regular army and Al-Quds in 

case of a local uprising.42 Such assessments were generally correct, but the real 

signifi cance of the Fedayeen Saddam and its sometimes bizarre evolution only 

became clear after the war. 

Saddam formed the Fedayeen Saddam in October 1994 in reaction to the 

Shiite and Kurdish uprisings of March 1991. As previously mentioned, these 
52

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

uprisings, which Saddam called “Page of Treason and Treachery,” seared the soul 

of the regime. Together the Shi’a in the south and the Kurds in the north revealed 

to Saddam the potentially fatal fl aws in his internal security concepts.43 

• First, the local Ba’ath organs were not capable of crushing an uprising 

by local populations without external support. 

• Second, the Iraqi army, and to a lesser extent the Republican Guard, 

was unable to act with suffi cient speed and ruthlessness to suppress 

any rebellion. 

• And fi nally, the tribes of Iraq still represented a signifi cant threat even 

after more than 25 years of Ba’athist pan-Arabic, socialist indoctrination.

The post-DESERT STORM 1991 uprisings as the seminal event in Saddam’s 

rule cannot be overstated. As with the creation of the Al-Quds, he moved rapidly 

to create other military capabilities to prevent a recurrence—even at the risk 

of further weakening Iraq’s military capabilities to defend against an external 

attack. The fanatically loyal Fedayeen Saddam was the perfect tool to ensure 

any future revolt would be rapidly crushed.

A growing challenge that drove Saddam to expand the powers of the Fedayeen Saddam was maintaining civil order as the effects of the United Nations 

sanctions began to unravel the social contract of the nation. While many in the 

West may fi nd it diffi cult to understand how criminal groups could function 

effectively in a police state, the tribal culture of Iraq made the formation of secret 

criminal gangs an easy and often lucrative enterprise. After 1991, criminal gangs 

became involved in a burgeoning black market, growing steadily in power, 

infl uence, and, above all, riches. It is ironic that while the Fedayeen Saddam 

was charged with controlling a growing lawlessness, its members were heavily 

involved in large-scale criminal activity.44

It would be easy to view the Fedayeen Saddam as particularly ruthless 

state police force, but that would be a mistake. According to Fedayeen Saddam 

planning documents captured by the Coalition, the mission of the Fedayeen 

Saddam was to protect Iraq “from any threats inside and outside.”45 To accomplish this mission, the Fedayeen Saddam was to defeat any enemy, defi ned 

as whoever sought to sabotage, destroy, or threaten the safety, security, and 

sovereignty of Iraq, whether from inside or outside, including those involved 

in the following activities:

• The destruction of Iraq’s economic environment.

• Smuggling and forging.

• Spying and being agents.

• Corruption in the armed forces.
53

Military Effectiveness

• Spreading negative rumors.46

Meticulous Fedayeen Saddam records listed numerous operations conducted in the decade after the creation of the Fedayeen Saddam:

• “Extermination operations” against saboteurs in Al-Muthana.

• An operation to “ambush and arrest” car thieves in Al-Anbar.

• The monitoring of Shi’ite civilians at the holy places of Karbala.

• A plan to bomb a humanitarian outpost in Irbil, which the Iraqi secret 

police suspected of being a western intelligence operation.47

 

The Fedayeen Saddam also took part in the regime’s terrorism operations, 

which they conducted inside Iraq, and at least planned for attacks in major 

Western cities. In a document dated May 1999, Uday Hussein ordered preparations for “special operations, assassinations, and bombings, for the centers and 

traitor symbols in London, Iran and the self-ruled areas (Kurdistan).”48 

Other captured documents indicated that preparations for a regime-directed 

wave of terror, codenamed “Blessed July,” against targets outside of Iraq were 

well underway. Evidence exists that the Fedayeen Saddam had already conducted a number of early operations, particularly against the Kurds and Shi’a. 

Evidence supporting this contention comes in a letter to Uday Hussein from a 

Fedayeen Saddam widow who requested help to secure her husband’s pension 

benefi ts. According to the letter, her husband, a longtime operative with the 

security services, had died in July 2000 carrying out a suicide operation for the 

Fedayeen Saddam against Kurdish opposition parties.49 

In the fi nal months before OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, the Fedayeen Saddam actively began planning operations against the Coalition, including suicide 

missions aimed at crossing into Kuwait to “explode volcanoes under the feet 

of the invaders,” if Coalition forces were to reach Baghdad.50 While it appears 

that they never crossed into Kuwait, a number of Fedayeen Saddam suicide 

attacks did take place during the war.

Equipping and training the Fedayeen Saddam was a priority mission for 

the regular Iraqi Army and for the fast-growing bureaucracy of the Fedayeen 

Saddam. The organization also became a hobby for Uday Hussein when he was 

not running Iraq’s Olympic Committee or the Iraqi Youth Union. Saddam’s 

support and Uday’s involvement ensured that the Fedayeen Saddam remained 

near the top of the priority list for men and materiel. Thus, it became just one 

more organization sapping the strength and morale of the regular Iraqi Army 

and focusing the security energy at the internal threat. 

Fedayeen Saddam’s training focused primarily on small arms, small-unit 

tactics, sabotage techniques, and military surveillance and reconnaissance tasks. 

The Fedayeen Saddam also became a primary consumer for many of the “niche” 
54

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

military capabilities that proliferated throughout the regime. One such project 

was the Iraqi Intelligence Service’s “Division 27” that supplied the Fedayeen 

Saddam with silencers, equipment for booby-trapping vehicles, special training on the use of certain explosive devices, special molds for explosives, and 

a variety of explosive timers.51 The only apparent use for all of this Division 

27 equipment was to conduct commando or terrorist operations. The Military 

Industrial Commission also got into the business of supplying—or at least 

promising to supply—the Fedayeen Saddam with a surprising array of special 

capabilities. According to a December 2000 memorandum, these capabilities 

included specially armed helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, and specially 

modified fishing boats capable of firing rockets with a range of 10 to 20 kilometers and torpedoes in international waters.52

Beginning in 1994, the Fedayeen Saddam opened its own paramilitary training camps for volunteers, graduating more than 7,200 “good men racing full 

with courage and enthusiasm” in the first year.53 Beginning in 1998, these camps 

began hosting “Arab volunteers from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, ‘the Gulf,’ and 

Syria.” It is not clear from available evidence where all of these non-Iraqi volunteers who were “sacrificing for the cause” went to ply their newfound skills. 

Before the summer of 2002, most volunteers went home upon the completion 

of training.54 But these training camps were humming with frenzied activity in 

the months immediately prior to the war. As late as January 2003, the volunteers 

participated in a special training event called the “Heroes Attack.” This training 

event was designed in part to prepare regional Fedayeen Saddam commands 

to “obstruct the enemy from achieving his goal and to support keeping peace 

and stability in the province.”55 

Less than 30 days prior to the start of the war, the Directorate of General 

Military Intelligence’s Special Mission Unit took charge of the training of a group 

of Fedayeen Saddam volunteers. They were to form “small kamikaze combat 

groups, equipped with weapons, and munitions suitable for use behind enemy 

lines and on the flanks, by causing additional damage in the enemy’s armor and 

helicopters.”56 The volunteers attended a condensed 30-day course, which included physical training, weapons training, planning, map reading, recognizing 

enemy weapons, using communications devices, military engineering, combat 

in rough conditions, and swimming, then topped off with a practical exercise.57 

Assuming this group started training in the first week of March 2003, some of 

them were undoubtedly available to test their new skills against the US 3rd 

Infantry Division during its “Thunder Runs” into the heart of Baghdad. 

Not atypically, corruption soon worked its way into the Fedayeen Saddam. 

Despite regular showers of cash, on-the-spot bonuses for successful missions, 

educational benefits, military privileges if injured, martyr privileges if killed, 

and free land just for volunteering, a number of Fedayeen Saddam still joined 

the growing underground economy.58 In 2001, reports surfaced that members 

of the organization were smuggling weapons to the Saudi border for cash and 

establishing road-blocks in order to shake down travelers unlucky enough to 
55

Military Effectiveness

be caught on the roads.59 

These failures of discipline elicited a strong response from the regime. After 

all, the Fedayeen Saddam was the regime’s private army—therefore Saddam 

expected it to possess the highest standards of personal honor and virtue. Beginning in 1996, harsh penalties in some cases resembling the harshest examples 

of Sharia (Islamic) law became the norm for the Fedayeen Saddam. These 

punishments included amputating hands for theft, being tossed off towers for 

sodomy, being whipped 100 times for sexual harassment, stoning for various 

infractions, and cutting out tongues for lying.60 Given the mixed missions, it 

was only a matter of time until military failure also became punishable as a 

criminal offense. In typical Iraqi bureaucratic fashion, a table of specifi c failures 

and the punishment to be meted out was created and approved. In 1998 the 

Secretariat of the Fedayeen Saddam issued the following “regulations for when 

an execution order against the commanders of the various Fedayeen”:

• Any section commander will be executed if his section is defeated.

• Any platoon commander will be executed, if two of his sections are 

defeated.

• Any company commander will be executed, if two of his platoons are 

defeated.

• Any regiment commander will be executed, if two of his companies 

are defeated.

• Any area commander will be executed if his Governate is defeated.

• Any Fedayeen Saddam fi ghter including commanders will be executed, 

if he hesitates in completing his duties, cooperates with the enemy, gives 

up his weapons, or hides any information concerning the security of 

the state.61

No wonder that the Fedayeen Saddam often proved the most fanatical 

fi ghters among the various Iraqi forces during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. 

On numerous occasions, Fedayeen forces hurled themselves against armored 

columns rushing past the southern cities of As Samawah, An Najaf, and 

Karbala; and fi nally even trying to bar entry into Baghdad itself, long after the 

Republican Guard had mostly quit the fi eld. In the years preceding the Coalition invasion, their leaders became enamored with the belief that the spirit of 

the Fedayeen “Arab warriors” could overcome rapid maneuver and precision 

fi res that were the major attributes of military doctrine.62 In any event, they 

proved totally unprepared for the kind of war they were asked to fi ght, dying 

by the thousands.
56

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Relatives and Sycophants

Saddam only truly trusted one person—himself. As a result, he concentrated 

more and more power directly in himself. The list of leadership positions he 

had assumed by the early 1990s illustrates this lack of trust: President, Prime 

Minister, Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, General Secretary 

of the Ba’ath party, and Commander of the Armed Forces.63 

However, no single man could do everything. Where he was forced to enlist 

the help of others to handle operational details, Saddam pursued a unique set 

of hiring criteria. As one senior Iraqi leader noted, Saddam focused on selecting 

the “uneducated, untalented, and those who posed no threat to his leadership 

for key roles.”64 The ability or talent to do the assigned job was never high on 

Saddam’s list of attributes for a new hire. As one of Saddam’s closest confi dants, 

Ali Hassan Al-Majid (“Chemical Ali”) noted, “Saddam was always wary of 

intelligent people. While Saddam liked having men around him with strong 

personalities, he did not like for those men to show off.”65 

Describing Saddam’s approach for choosing those charged with making 

decisions that directly affected the military, one Republican Guard Corps commander commented after the war: 

Saddam Hussein was personally a brave and bloody man. But, 

by his decisions he threw out the clever men, or the clever men 

learned not to involve themselves in any decision-making. They 

were then replaced by hypocrites who cared not for the people 

or army, but only cared about pleasing Saddam. This was clear 

in the last war when many relatives of Saddam said they would 

stay and fi ght for the honor of Saddam, but they did not. This 

is the nature of any dictatorship.66

Always wary of a potential coup, Saddam remained reluctant to entrust 

military authority in anyone too far removed from his family or tribe. To Western 

observers, the Republican Guard represented bulwark of the regime, but for Saddam, it was the military force best positioned to overthrow him. Consequently, 

in 2001 he placed his youngest son Qusay at its head. According to members of 

the inner circle, Qusay gradually became the major player in national security 

after 1995. His rise culminated in his being named “honorable supervisor” 

of the Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard. In addition, Qusay 

maintained varying degrees of control over the Special Security Organization 

and other internal security organizations.67 

Qusay now commanded the elite combat units of the Iraqi military, but his 

military experience was limited to a short stint at the Iranian front in 1984, where 

he had little, if any, real combat. According to the Minister of Defense: 

My working for Qusay Hussein was a mistake; Qusay knew 
57

Military Effectiveness

nothing—he understood only simple military things like a civilian. We prepared information and advice for him and he’d 

accept it or not. As the ultimate Commander of the Republican 

Guard, Qusay could take advice from professional military offi cers in the Ministry of Defense and the Republican Guard or 

ignore it to make decisions.68

Despite his lack of expertise, Qusay exuded confi dence and attempted 

to play a dominant role in the fi nal planning of Iraqi deployments against a 

Coalition invasion. During a December 18, 2002, Republican Guard planning 

meeting, Qusay presided over the presentation of a new defensive concept 

before the corps commanders and their staffs. When several offi cers gently 

probed the plan’s underlying assumptions, Qusay’s lack of military experience 

forced him to rely on the intellectually weak but very effective retort: “The plan 

is already approved by Saddam and it is you who will now make it work.” He 

soon followed up with the equally reassuring “there will be no changes to the 

plan because Saddam has signed it already.”69 

As the “honorable supervisor” and son of Saddam, Qusay had the fi nal say 

in signifi cant military decisions unless Saddam himself chose to intervene. His 

purview included such fundamental matters as what key terrain to defend and 

when and how to shift the remaining Iraqi forces during the war. Several senior 

offi cers privately questioned many of his decisions, but few were willing to do 

so in such an open forum. 

After the war, senior military offi cers constantly remarked on Qusay’s 

lack of military knowledge and his unwillingness to take their “good” advice. 

However, this is too simplistic a formulation to explain everything that went 

wrong. The evidence shows that many who were in a position to advise Qusay 

were, in fact, unqualifi ed to do so, while those who were qualifi ed were often 

silent even when given an opportunity to speak.

One of those at the heart of the regime who proved incapable of providing 

sound military advice to Qusay was a Major General Barzan ‘Abd al-Ghafur, 

the Commander of the Special Republican Guard. Before the war, Coalition 

planners generally assumed that the quality—and loyalty—of Iraqi military 

offi cers improved as one moved from the militias to the regular Army, to the 

Republican Guard, and then on to the Special Republican Guard.70 It stood to 

reason that the Commander of the Special Republican Guard would then be a 

highly competent, loyal, and important personality in Iraq’s military system. 

After all, the regime was entrusting that individual with the duty of conducting the fi nal defense of the homes and offi ces of the regime’s elite. Coalition 

planners considered the Special Republican Guard the elite of the elite; and by 

logical extension, their commander would surely be the best Saddam could 

fi nd. This piece of conventional wisdom was wrong.71

After the war, the peers and colleagues of the Special Republican Guard 

Commander were all openly derisive of Barzan’s performance as an offi cer and 
58

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

commander. Saddam had selected Barzan, as one general noted, because he had 

several qualities that Saddam held dear, “He was Saddam’s cousin, but he had 

two other important qualities which made him the best man for the job. First, 

he was not intelligent enough to represent a threat to the regime and second, 

he was not brave enough to participate in anyone else’s plots.”72 

As the Special Republican Guard commander, Barzan was well aware of 

the tenuous nature of his position. He recalled in a postwar interview:

I was called to Baghdad from holiday and told that I would be 

taking command of the Special Republican Guard. I was on a 

probationary status for the fi rst six months. I was ordered by 

Saddam to take the command; I had no choice. I was sick at the 

idea of being the Special Republican Guard commander. It was 

the most dangerous job in the regime.73

This general, the man who was to command the last ditch stand of Saddam’s 

Guards, spent most of the war hiding. The selection of such a man for an important military position appears counter-intuitive, but given the imperatives of 

Iraqi politics, it was the only possible rational decision Saddam could make. 

The case of the Minister of Defense, General Sultan Hashim Ahmad alTa’i, is strikingly different. Here, by all accounts, was a competent military 

commander who, upon reaching the pinnacle of power, apparently decided 

silence was the better part of valor. A number of senior Iraqi leaders identifi ed 

General Sultan as one of the best and brightest among Iraq’s military leaders. 

His peers described him as a “mountain of morals” and compared him to Jafar 

al Askari, Minister of Defense in the 1930s and considered the “father of the Iraqi 

Army.”74 Judging from just the scope of his military record, he appears to have 

been an impressive soldier. During his forty-year career, Sultan commanded 

two brigades, three divisions, and at least two corps of regular army troops. 

In so doing, he fought in every war after 1968 and developed a reputation as a 

creative, dynamic military leader. 

However, Sultan’s elevation to Minister of Defense changed him as well as 

his colleagues’ opinions of him. The specifi c reasons for the change are no doubt 

complex, but his actions during the meetings and planning conferences prior to 

the Coalition invasion suggest an explanation. In one telling event during the 

fi nal planning, he remained silent when more junior offi cers voiced concerns 

over Saddam’s new plan for the defense of Iraq. As one corps commander 

who was present later noted, “Some of the senior military leaders present only 

competed to please Saddam. The Minister of Defense was an honorable man 

but he gave up his strategic vision in order to keep Saddam’s favor. This, “in 

his opinion,” was very unfortunate for Iraq.”75 
59

Military Effectiveness

Security and Command Limitations 

While most senior military leaders found themselves caught up in the 

corrupting infl uences surrounding the regime’s inner circle, other factors 

combined to undermine the effectiveness of subordinate leaders and units. 

While actual warfi ghting units at corps and division level also possessed their 

share of “trusted” offi cers, many still exhibited a level of professional competence during post-war interviews that seemed inconsistent with their general 

reputation. They provided two reasons for this incongruity: the limits Saddam 

imposed on their exercise of authority and the effects of the pervasive internal 

security apparatus. 

The Commander of the Baghdad Republican Guard Infantry Division provided an example of the effects of stripping division commanders of authority 

necessary to make decisions. The division’s mission from 1998 until the Coalition 

invasion was to defend the area around the city of al-Kut, located southeast of 

Baghdad. This area has traditionally been the key terrain for defending Iraq 

against an Iranian invasion from the east; it remains one of the most critical 

areas in Iraqi defense planning: 

In the Republican Guard, division and corps commanders could 

not make decisions without the approval of the staff command. 

Division commanders could only move small elements within 

their command. Major movements such as brigade-sized elements and higher had to be requested through the corps commander to the staff command. This process did not change 

during the war and in fact became more centralized.76

Such a lack of trust had a direct effect not only on the commander’s ability 

to lead his unit but also the unit’s ability to take advantage of its knowledge 

of the ground to prepare an optimal defense. In many cases, staff offi cers in 

Baghdad who had never visited the area still managed to forward precise deployment locations for even the smallest units directly to division commanders. 

The Baghdad commander continued: 

Only the Republican Guard staff command directed maneuvers 

and it did not allow subordinate commanders to make suggestions. If a commander made a decision without the Republican 

Guard chief of staff’s approval, he would be punished. The only 

commanders who had any protection were those from Tikrit. 

They were allowed to make their own decisions because the 

government trusted them more.77

The Commander of the II Republican Guard Corps echoed the problems 

described by the Commander of the Baghdad Division. He reported a constant 

struggle with higher headquarters regarding disposition of “his” units. As the 
60

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Commander of the II Republican Guard Corps noted, “I had to ask for permission from the Republican Guard Staff in Baghdad to move brigade-size units 

and was still doing so up until 2 and 3 April.”78 By then Coalition forces were 

making their fi nal drive on Baghdad.

The gulf between Iraqi and Coalition approaches to battlefi eld command and 

control could not have been wider. Coalition doctrine emphasized distributed 

operations and battlefi eld autonomy (or decentralized command and control), 

while the focus of Iraq’s military was on template solutions and centralized 

control. The nature of Saddam’s regime made it impossible to tolerate any 

other approach. Saddam personally advising a group of senior commanders 

on how they should react to an enemy helicopter assault offered an example of 

where the regime’s emphasis on centralized control bounded all but the most 

aggressive commanders’ authority:

If we assume that X is a commander of an armored brigade 

according to ordinary standards and there was a landing by 

helicopters 20 km [kilometers] away from him, what are the 

checks he should make? What should he wish to know about 

the landing?...What are the sources of information he can depend on?...What are the issues? In all events you have one or 

two guns near the headquarters brigade. Therefore, the fi rst 

thing you should do is an immediate reaction by artillery. At 

the same time, you call by phone and say: Maximum attention. 

And then you prepare the entire brigade to be ready for a later 

order and then you report this to the higher headquarters and 

tell it: A landing at a depth of so-and-so took place in front of 

us...This will enable the headquarters to operate its artillery. 

At the same time, as a higher headquarters, it will help you by 

offering proper advice, orders, or instructions.79

Not every operational commander had to endure the restrictions that impeded the Baghdad Division commander and others. In sharp relief to these 

restrictions were those imposed on the Al-Nida Division. The Al-Nida was a 

Republican Guard armored division tasked to defend the Baghdad’s eastern 

approaches against possible Iranian attacks along the Dialya River from the 

northeastern shoulder of Baghdad up to Baquba. This sector was the critical 

terrain in the conventional defense of Baghdad against an enemy attacking from 

the east.80 The division’s position would make it the “last-line of defense” for any 

serious Iranian attack. Given the relatively short 120 kilometers to the Iranian 

frontier, the readiness of the Al-Nida Division was a national priority. 

Both Iraqi and Coalition intelligence organizations considered the Al-Nida 

Division to be the “best of the best” in the Republican Guard. As described by 

the Al-Nida’s chief of staff, the division’s materiel readiness was the best in 

the Iraqi military:
61

Military Effectiveness

The brigades were at 100 percent strength or better. The tanks 

were between 99 percent or 98 percent ready for war. The brigades had all the most modern equipment in the Iraqi armed 

forces, T-72 tanks, and BMP-2 armored personnel carriers, 

130mm artillery cannons...and 155mm cannons. Every battalion 

had 18 cannons.81

According to his Chief of Staff, the division commander planned and conducted training virtually independent of any higher authority. Such autonomy 

was unheard of in his sister unit, the Baghdad Division.82 For example, before 

the Coalition invasion the division moved one of its brigade garrisons and 

conducted a series of “urban warfare” training drills. The division’s Chief of 

Staff also described adjusting its defensive posture to create a series of “false” 

brigade fi ghting positions, while a robust series of new survivability positions 

were hastily dug along the Diyala River with little or no direction—or interference—from higher headquarters.83 The Al-Nida Division’s commander stated 

that during the war he often made direct contact with other division commanders to receive battlefi eld updates and build a picture of what was occurring. For 

most Iraqi commanders, contacting other commanders even during wartime 

remained a risky enterprise. 

When asked in a post-war interview to explain the disparity between the 

authority he exercised and that exercised by other divisional commanders, 

the commander answered in an incredulous tone, “I am a Tikriti and other 

commanders were not.”84 In Saddam’s military, tribal or familial relationships 

trumped the actual documented authority necessary for effective command at 

any particular echelon. 

Another critical inhibitor of Iraqi tactical performance lay in the effects of 

the regime’s pervasive internal security environment. The almost-Orwellian 

security environment of the Ba’athist regime stretched from the central offi ces 

of the regime’s inner circle down to tactical units. According to one senior 

minister: 

Each ministry or any other government establishment had a 

security chief who reported to the agency to which he belonged. 

His section kept an eye on all affairs and actions, encouraging 

disgruntled individuals to provide information on what was 

going on. The Ba’ath party members and “aspirants” also wrote 

reports to the leader of the sector or cell. Rivalries and backbiting were encouraged.85

Military offi cers executed their duties under the constant, intrusive, and, 

more often than not, uncoordinated supervision of multiple security services.86 

One knowledgeable source claimed, “One offi cer in fi ve reporting on his peers 

was the ‘desirable’ state of affairs, but the Special Security Offi ce often achieved 

higher ratios.”87 Every senior commander interviewed after hostilities emphasized the psychological costs of constantly looking over their shoulders as a 
62

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

signifi cant constraint on their military effectiveness.

At any one time, each of these commanders had to contend with at least fi ve 

major security organizations: the Special Security Offi ce, the Iraqi Intelligence 

Service, the Directorate of General Security, the General Directorate of Military Intelligence, and various “security service” offi ces within the Republican 

Guard’s bureaucracy.88 Moreover, the number of security personnel in each of 

these organizations increased dramatically after 1991. In many cases, new spies 

were sent to units to report on the spies already there, even those from their 

own organizations. One former senior commander described the Republican 

Guard’s Security Offi ce as growing from a small offi ce to a battalion-sized element in response to fi nger-pointing after the 1991 Gulf War and the regime’s 

increasing fears about internal security.89 In a rambling tirade, this offi cer outlined the nature of the surveillance from this one organization and corroding 

effect this spying had: 

The main function of the Republican Guard Security Offi ce was 

to monitor and ensure the loyalty of Republican Guard forces. 

All phones in Republican Guard offi ces were monitored and all 

meetings were recorded. High-ranking offi cers were subjected 

to constant technical monitoring and surveillance in and out of 

their homes. The Republican Guard Security Offi ce monitored 

all aspects of senior Republican Guard offi cers’ lives, including their fi nancial affairs and diet. Republican Guard Security 

Offi ce personnel even questioned the guards at senior offi cers’ 

houses to see what they could learn about the offi cers’ life styles. 

Republican Guard security offi cers were generally despised by 

the regular Republican Guard personnel. The Special Security 

Offi ce knew how many times I went to the bathroom. Requesting retirement was impossible because the regime would assume one opposed them politically, and one would be arrested 

and jailed. Republican Guard Security Offi ce monitoring was 

thorough; for example, one offi cer was given six months in jail 

for telling a joke about the Republican Guard Security Offi ce. 

This was supposed to ensure that Republican Guard personnel 

would never become involved in politics. This had a powerful 

negative affect on Republican Guard morale. Republican Guard 

commanders were not trusted to conduct any movement or even 

so much as start a tank without permission.90 

The Republican Guard II Corps Commander described the infl uence of the 

internal security environment on a typical corps-level staff meeting: 

First a meeting would be announced and all the corps-level staff, 

the subordinate division commanders and selected staff, as well 

as supporting or attached organizations and their staffs would 
63

Military Effectiveness

assemble at the corps headquarters. The corps commander 

had to ensure then that all the spies were in the room before 

the meeting began so that there would not be any suspicions in 

Baghdad as to my purpose. This kind of attention to my own 

internal security was required. I spent considerable time fi nding clever ways to invite even the spies I was not supposed to 

know about. Failure by the “target” of all of this internal spying 

to coordinate the surreptitious activities of the various persons 

spying on him could easily have left one out and resulted in 

unwarranted and possibly dangerous suspicion by the senior 

leadership in Baghdad based on his report of being excluded 

from a “secret” meeting.91

This corps commander describes what he believed the impact of all this 

spying had on military effectiveness:

You must understand that the Republican Guard internal security process was very compartmented, even in normal times. 

For example, in some cases a subordinate unit could be moved 

by the Republican Guard headquarters without my permission. 

In some cases, I would fi nd out just prior to the execution of the 

move. I could not question it. In fact, security measures like this 

killed the fl exibility in units and made commanders into very 

“small soldiers.” My long experience in the Republican Guard 

allowed me some fl exibility but I was having trouble because 

the regime security people were always trying to set me up and 

fi nd some mistake. This is why I always invited all the spies to 

my meetings. The security situation in the last few years reached 

the point of incredible. We could have no relationships with fellow commanders. This prevented even friendships. Thank God 

for my books or I would have felt otherwise a man alone in a 

cave. During this critical period I was completely uninformed 

about other unit plans around me. I had the Al Nida and the 

Baghdad Divisions but offi cially I could not ask them about any 

of their missions and plans that were sent to them directly from 

Republican Guard headquarters in Baghdad.92

There were two common reactions to the pervasive security apparatus. The 

fi rst, taken by the Commander of the II Republican Guard Corps, was to work 

through the fog of suspicion and maintain as open a process as possible, while 

still attempting to command a military unit on the brink of war. Operating in 

this manner often required extreme precautions. The II Corps commander, for 

instance, held most of his private meetings in the walled garden of a private 

home where he was relatively assured the regime’s spies could not eavesdrop 

on him.93 The second reaction, the one more commonly followed by senior 

leaders, was to avoid any actions, activities, or circumstances that might bring 
64

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

suspicion from the various “eyes” of the regime.

During interviews with the Commander of the Republican Guard I Corps, 

it was obvious he selected the second method as his preferred way of dealing 

with the security forces:

One of the biggest weaknesses of the Iraqi military was that, 

units were not allowed to independently coordinate with each 

other for defensive integration. All orders came from the Chief 

of Staff of the Republican Guard, which ultimately came from 

Qusay or Saddam Hussein...In order to know where units were 

located on our fl anks, we had to use our own reconnaissance 

elements because we were not allowed to communicate with 

our sister units.”94

The net effect of such reactions to the threat imposed by the security services 

was that corps-level operational command and control disappeared from the 

battle-fi eld. This atmosphere of fear and its resulting impact on the performance 

of Iraqi leadership explain much about the actions of Iraq’s military forces on the 

battlefi eld. The restrictions imposed on them in peacetime made it impossible 

to coordinate plans or action during war. The regime had consistently sacrifi ced 

military effectiveness for the more important needs of internal security. In effect, 

it had neutered its military force, which was now incapable of standing up to 

against a disciplined and competent military force. 

Refl ections

At the conclusion of Iraqi military operations, one of the most thoughtful 

senior offi cers in the Iraqi armed forces provided a list of what he regarded 

as the major contributing factors to the stunningly sudden collapse of Iraq’s 

military organizations:95 

• “The persistence of the Commander in Chief (Saddam Hussein) until a 

very late time in insisting that every branch of the armed forces, in their 

organizational differences, make independent plans for the defense of 

their areas of responsibility...

• “The tyranny of the security establishment and justifi cation of any of 

their whims on security grounds, even though those whims actually 

harmed the defensive planning operations...

• “The military bureaucracy grew enormous with the constant loss of 

authority that was a result of the administrative rule, ‘There is no 

responsibility without authority, and there is no authority without accountability...’”

• “The unchecked spread of administrative corruption and bribery, especially in the last few years...
65

Military Effectiveness

• “A drop in the level of training as a philosophy, and a concrete loss in 

the foundations for training (because of the sanctions), and a lack of 

ability to conduct operational planning...

• “Boredom and restiveness within the military career fi eld because of 

the measures taken by the political leadership by which they alienated 

the people (the regime was a constant threat to the people for over 

twenty years straight. There was a prevalence of the negative emotions 

from huge numbers of families of martyrs, those being punished, and 

prisoners). The army did not want to confront the people.

• “The weakness of political loyalty between the commands and the personal separation from the political leadership by a lot of those affi liated 

with the armed forces. 

• “Personal egos were behind the behavior of various levels of the high 

command: this ruled over their moral responsibilities towards the nation and the people and lasted until the fi nal days of the war.”96

In the end, Saddam determined that the most important factor for military success lay in the sprit of the warrior. Saddam considered the ideological 

commitment to the Ba’athist cause as the fundamental basis of this spirit and 

the foundation for preparing Iraq’s soldiers for war. Because he perceived the 

Ba’athist spirit of the “Iraqi warrior” was far superior to anything American 

soldiers were capable of bringing to the battlefi eld, he overlooked the many 

forces eroding the foundations of true military effectiveness. The conclusion of 

an Iraqi training manual sums up the regime’s attitude:

Military power is measured by the period in which diffi culties 

become severe, calamities increase, choices multiply, and the 

world gets dark and nothing remains except the bright light of 

belief and ideological determination...If [the soldier] ignores 

[his] values, principles, and ideals, all military foundations 

would collapse. He will be defeated, shamed, and [his] military 

honor will remain in the same place together with the booty 

taken by the enemy. The President, the Leader Saddam Hussein 

asks, “Would men allow for their military honor to be taken by 

the enemy as booty from the battle? 97

In March 2003, the regime ordered its military to stop the Coalition invasion. 

It was not the fi rst army to place “spirit” over the reality of fi repower and steel, 

and it is unlikely to be the last. 
66

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Notes

1

 Captured document (undated), “Lessons Learned Report.”

2

 “Perspectives of the II Republican Guard Corps.”

3

 Captured media fi le, (approximately 1993) “Saddam discussing issues related to the war in 

1991.” 

4

 This is not meant to be a clinical description but is intended to capture the dramatically different 

defi nitions of professional competence at work in Iraq. Some generals were purely Ba’athist and 

political while others displayed a clear understanding of what in the West would be considered 

military competence. But even this latter group was adept at acting with the former when circumstances demanded it. 

5

 Captured media fi le, (10 August 1995) “Saddam Hussein Meeting with Leaders of the Republican 

Guard Regarding Readiness of the Guard.”

6

 For example, “The RGFC [Republican Guard Forces Command] maintains a signifi cant capability by regional standards. The size and experience of the RGFC are key advantages over 

other regional armies in the absence of US support. However, thirteen years of sanctions have 

prevented Iraq from replacing the massive equipment losses suffered in OPERATION DESERT 

STORM, and Iraqi forces remain much weaker than they were in 1990.” US Central Command 

CONPLAN 1003-V. 

7

 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, June 2003.

8

 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, July 2004. According to Kenneth Pollack, some 115 frontline 

Iraqi aircraft sought security in Iran during OPERATION DESERT STORM. Arabs at War, Military 

Effectiveness, 1948–1991 (Lincoln, NE, and London (UK), University of Nebraska Press, 2002), 

p. 243.

9

 For a detailed description of the history and organization of the Military Industrial Committee, 

see the Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD, vol. I, (Central 

Intelligence Agency, 30 September, 2004), p. 17.

10 Captured document, (25 February 2003) Military Industrialization Commission Annual Report 

for 2002–2003 Investments, Projects, and Plans.

11 Unpublished draft memoirs of LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander II Republican Guard Corps.

12 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” General Taha was commenting about his 

experiences as the senior naval offi cer in Iraq before he retired in the fall of 2002. 

13 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003.

14 According to one senior Iraqi source, “The rumor circulating was that if one said no to Saddam, 

one would be summarily executed; this was particularly true in the year prior to the lead-up to 

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM in April 2003.” Classifi ed Intelligence Report, September 2003.

15 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, March 2004.

16 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, July 2004.

17 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, March 2004.

18 Captured document, (approximately 1993) “9th Session on the Role of the Republican 

Guard.”

19 Captured document, (approximately 1993) “9th Session on the Role of the Republican 

Guard.”
67

Military Effectiveness

20 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, March 2004.

21 Captured document, (8 November 2002) “Letter Addressed to Saddam and Signed by the 

Minister of Defense Referring to the Summer 2002 Military Exercise ‘Golden Falcon.’” 

22 Captured document, (9 March 2003) “Movement Order No. 3 for 2003, al-Hussein Brigade 

General Staff Headquarters.”

23 Evidence of Saddam “coup-proofi ng” his regime through the manipulation of military assignments, rewards, and implementing strict controls over military organizations is clear in a large 

cross-section of interviews, debriefs, and interrogations. For an accurate description of the underlying civil-military relationship, see Ahmed Hashim, “Saddam Husayn and Civil-Military 

Relations in Iraq: The Quest for Legitimacy and Power,” Middle East Journal, vol. 57, no. 1, 

Winter 2003.

24 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

25 Captured document, (25 August, 2002) “Soldiers of the Republican Guards Headquarters of 

Offensive Mission as Noted in Republican Guards Training Guidance.” 

26 Captured media fi le, (29 February 1992) “Saddam Meeting with Military Commanders Discussing 1991 Uprisings.” 

27 Captured media fi le, (dated approximately 1993) “Iraqi Command Meeting Regarding the 

Coalition Attack on Iraq and the 1991 Uprising.”

28 The project noted a distinction between most senior offi cers and a small but surprising group 

of two- and three-star commanders who possessed a lucid understanding of the capabilities of 

the Coalition and the qualitative gulf between forces on the eve of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. 

29 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps,” p. 37. 

30 Faceh Abd Al-Jabbar, “Why the Uprisings,” Middle East Report, May-June 1992, p. 8. 

31 Captured document, (29 August 2002) “Correspondence Issued from Al-Ta’mim Branch Command under the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party to Emergency Regiment Command Secretary.” 

Many similar examples are archived in the captured documents database from areas such as 

Fallujah, Basra, Al Nasiriyah, and Karbala. They all generally follow the tone and specifi city of 

the Al-Ta’mim Branch document. 

32 Captured document, (29 August 2002) “Correspondence issued from Al-Ta’mim Branch Command under the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party to Emergency Regiment Command Secretary.” 

33 Captured document, (9 March 2003) “Plan by al-Quds for Defending District Issued by Karbala 

Division Commander.”

34 Captured document, (9 March 2003) “Plan by al-Quds for Defending District Issued by Karbala 

Division Commander.” 

35 Captured document, (9 March 2003) “Plan by al-Quds for Defending District Issued by Karbala 

Division Commander.” 

36 Project interview of Sultan Hashim Ahmed Al Hamed Al-Tai, Minister of Defense, 13 November 

2003. 

37 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, December 2002.

38 Foreign Broadcast Information Service, (24 March 2003) “Iraqi Army General Command Issues 

Statement on Military Operations 23, 24 March” Baghdad Iraqi Satellite Channel Television.

39 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 

40 Project interview of LTG Kenan Mansour Khalil al-Obadi, Senior Military Advisor to RCC 
68

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Member Mizban Khudr Al-Hadi, 30 November, 2003.

41 Project interview of LTG Kenan Mansour Khalil al-Obadi, Senior Military Advisor to RCC 

Member Mizban Khudr Al-Hadi, 30 November, 2003.

42 See US Central Command CONPLAN 1003-V.

43 Starting in late March 1991 and continuing through at least November 1995, Saddam participated 

in numerous conferences, sponsored studies, and directed analyses of both the 1991 Gulf War 

and the rebellions that followed. See captured audio tape, (5 May 1991) “Saddam Hussein’s 

Meeting with High-Ranking Iraqi Offi cials, Evaluating the Iraqi Military Performance on the 

Battlefi eld during the First Gulf War 1991.”

44 A large volume of captured Fedayeen Saddam documents deal with internal criminal investigations for activities ranging from smuggling to armed robberies. 

45 Captured document, (2 November 1995) “Military Directorate Correspondence Reports About 

Fedayeen Saddam Troops and Their Organizational Structure.” 

46 Captured document, (2 November 1995) “Military Directorate Correspondence Reports About 

Fedayeen Saddam Troops and Their Organizational Structure.”

47 Captured documents: • (11 July, 1999) “Plans and Analysis Reports by the Fedayeen Saddam 

Secretariat”; • (14 March, 2000) “Memo from Offi ce of the Fedayeen Saddam Chief of Staff about 

Special Operations Against Car Thieves”; • (20 March 2002) “Security Plan for Karbala Force 

of Fedayeen Saddam from Fedayeen Secretariat”; • (16 November 2000) “Military Orders for 

Fedayeen to Blow up a Building.”

48 Captured document, (25 May 1999) “Fedayeen Saddam Instructions.” 

49 Captured document, (1 July 2001) “Correspondence Between Fedayeen Saddam and Iraq 

National Olympic Committee Regarding a Letter from a Widow.” The widow’s letter goes on 

to note her husband’s many successful missions, including the July 6, 1992, car bomb attack 

against a convoy near Halabjah carrying the wife of a former French president. 

50 Captured documents: • (25 March 2003) “Correspondence from Fedayeen Saddam to Uday 

Regarding Fedayeen Saddam Suicide Mission Team”; • (15 March 2003) “Letter from Qusay to 

Saddam Regarding the Preparation of Fedayeen Forces to Strike Deep Within Kuwait if American 

Forces Converge on Baghdad.” 

51 Captured document, (approximately 1999) “1999 IIS Plan for Training Fedayeen Saddam Using 

IEDs.”

52 Captured document, (23 December 2000) “Fedayeen Saddam UAV and Special Boat Plans.”

53 Captured document, (2 November 1995) “Military Directorate Correspondence Reports about 

Fedayeen Saddam Troops and Their Organizational Structure.” 

54 Captured document, (7 October 2000) “Correspondence from Presidential Offi ce to Secretary 

General of the Fedayeen Saddam Regarding Foreign Arab Volunteers.” 

55 Captured document, (16 January 2003) “Training Exercise ‘Heroes Attack’ Plan for Kadhima 

Command, Al-Muthana Force of the Fedayeen Saddam.” 

56 Captured document, (23 February 2003) “Special Unit in Fedayeen Organization Formation 

Orders from Military Intelligence Director.” 

57 Captured document, (23 February 2003) “Special Unit in Fedayeen Organization Formation 

Orders from Military Intelligence Director.” 

58 Captured document, (14 June 1995) “RCC Decision About Fedayeen Saddam Rights and Privileges Forwarded to MIC.” 
69

Military Effectiveness

59 Captured document, (9 May 2002) “Correspondence Issued by Secretariat of Fedayeen Saddam 

Regarding Cutting Off Hands of the Fedayeen Saddam Members Who Were Smuggling Weapons 

to the Saudi Side During 2001.”

60 Captured documents: • (21 August 1996) “Reference File of the Laws of the Fedayeen Saddam”; 

• (11 October 2002) “Memos within Fedayeen Saddam General Secretariat regarding disciplinary 

actions and punishment orders.” 

61 Captured document, (15 January 1998) “Memos Issued by the Head of the Fedayeen Saddam 

Passing Down Regulations for Executions.” 

62 In a 1995 discussion with senior military commanders, Saddam requested a study of such 

non-Arab struggles, “especially their military sides...[w]e can gain a lot from...Rommel and 

De Gaulle.” However, Saddam cautioned them to “avoid propaganda books” and above all do 

“not concentrate on the leaders.” In this context, perhaps examining operational and tactical 

decision-making cut too close to Saddam’s exclusive domain. After all, military history is as 

much a review of mistakes made as it is successes achieved. Captured document, (8 October 

1995) “Saddam Meeting with Senior Military Leaders.” 

63 Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD, vol. I, (Central Intelligence Agency, 30 September 2004), p. 5. 

64 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004. 

65 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, August 2003. 

66 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps,” p. 37. 

67 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004. Also Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to 

the DCI on Iraq’s WMD, vol. I, (Central Intelligence Agency, 30 September 2004), pp. 87–88. 

68 Project interview of Sultan Hashim Ahmed Al Hamed Al-Tai, Minister of Defense, 13 November 

2003.

69 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps,” p. 7. 

70 The Special Republican Guard (SRG): The SRG was a division-sized internal security force of 

approximately 15,000 men. Its primary mission was to protect Saddam and control the civilian 

population of Baghdad. The SRG troops were organized into approximately 12 battalions, but 

were normally deployed in platoon- and company-sized elements. 

71 There was an exception to the conventional wisdom. A Central Intelligence Agency study, The 

Iraqi Senior Offi cer Corps: Shaped by Pride, Prejudice, Patrimony, and Fear, was released on 18 

March 2003 (one day prior to the beginning of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM). It noted the following 

about the SRG Commander: “He reportedly drinks heavily and has sexual relation-ships with 

numerous women.” (p. 27)

72 Project interview of Sultan Hashim Ahmed Al Hamed Al-Tai, Minister of Defense. 13 November 

2003. 

73 Project interview of Barzan Abd Al-Ghafur Sulayman Al-Tikriti, Commander, Special Republican 

Guard, 16 November 2003. 

74 Iraqi Survey Group Notes, (September–October 2003). 

75 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps,” p. 8. 

76 Project interview of Salih Ibrahim Hammadi Al Salamani, Commander, Baghdad Republican 

Guard Division, 10 November 2003.

77 Project interview of Salih Ibrahim Hammadi Al Salamani, Commander, Baghdad Republican 

Guard Division, 10 November 2003. The correlation between political power and the town of 
70

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Tikrit goes back to the 1968 Ba’ath revolution. Men from Tikrit, two of them relatives, dominated 

the new Revolutionary Command Council. The deputy to the new President was Saddam Hussein who spent the next decade ensuring men from Tikrit (al-Tikriti) held the critical positions 

of trust. 

78 Project interview of LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander of the II Republican Guard Corps, 17 

November 2003. The contrast in command and control authority between the commanders of 

the US V Corps and I MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force), and their opponent, the II Republican 

Guard commander, cannot be overstated. 

79 Foreign Broadcast Information Service, “Saddam Discusses Possible ‘Enemy’ Landing Operations with Military Commanders,” Republic of Iraq Television, 1 February 2003.

80 Historically this enemy was always the Persians (modern day Iran). In the past decade, it 

included the signifi cant threat posed by the Badar Corps (Iraqi Shi’a expatriates supported by 

Iran) based in southwestern Iran.

81 Project interview of Staff Brigadier General Muhammad Sattam Abdullah Al Hamdani, former 

Chief of Staff, Al Nida Division, 19 November 2003. This offi cer insisted that these were not 

infl ated readiness numbers but refl ected the priority enjoyed by his division. 

82 According to Intelligence information, no signifi cant training occurred in the Baghdad Division 

during the fall of 2002. By contrast, one armored brigade of the Al Nida Division trained for a 

period that was several weeks longer than previous training cycles, and another brigade of the 

Al Nida Division conducted urban warfare training. 

83 It should be noted that based on their actions the priority for this division, despite its orders, 

reputation, and location, was on survivability and not defense. In some cases, up to four survivability positions were prepared for every one fi ghting position.

84 Project interview of Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 November 2003. According to open source and intelligence reporting, Al-Karim’s father 

is Saddam’s cousin.

85 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004.

86 One captured document describes a directive from Saddam in 1996 forbidding employees 

of the various security organizations from communicating with each other without a “direct 

order” from Saddam Hussein or his secretary. Captured document, (13 July 1997) “Letter from 

Secretary of the Presidential Offi ce to SSO Director and Others Ordering Security Employees 

not to Address Secretary.” 

87 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2004. The source was a high-level offi cial of the Iraqi regime 

with direct access to the reported information. 

88 The Special Security Organization (SSO) within the Republican Guard was extensive and included 1 SSO offi cer and 15 to 20 support staff at divisional headquarters; and 1 offi cer at each 

brigade and at the regimental level. Republican Guard military intelligence offi cers reported 

directly to SSO and not their operational commanders. While SSO did not “infi ltrate undercover 

offi cers into the RG [Republican Guard],” it did rely on “informal” sources within the commands. 

Classifi ed Intelligence Report, April 2004.

89 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, June 2004.

90 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, June 2004.

91 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

92 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

93 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, September 2003. The source was a senior Iraqi offi cer who had 

direct knowledge of Iraqi war planning, operations, and information reported. 
71

Military Effectiveness

94 Project interview of Majid Hussein Ali Ibrahim Al Dulaymi, Commander, I Republican Guard 

Corps.

95 Unpublished draft memoirs of LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander, II Republican Guard Corps.

96 Unpublished draft memoirs of LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander, II Republican Guard Corps. 

Additionally, thousands of captured documents and personnel fi les attest to the treatment 

repatriated Iraqi prisoners of war received from numerous security services. Actions included 

things such as arrest, constant surveillance, denial of employment, and even denial of marriage 

permits

97 Captured document, (date unclear; from late 1980s) “Handbook on Ideology and Requirements 

on Being an Iraqi Soldier.”

IV. CRIPPLED OPERATIONAL PLANNING
Al-Quds Army (Al-Husayn Brigade) Military plans during 2002 and 20032

And the stand of the troop and 

the people under the leadership 

of the party in the cities, and 

denying the enemy from occupying and city, is the principal base 

for the failure of the aggression, 

and that was accomplished to 

thank God, but that alone is not 

enough to evicting the enemy

from Iraq...1

—Saddam Hussein

29 March 2003
75

IV. CRIPPLED OPERATIONAL PLANNING

With this incredible simplicity and stupidity...Qusay said that the plan 

was already approved by Saddam and “it was you who would now 

make it work.”3

— LTG Raad Hamdani, Republican Guard

Conventional wisdom has depicted the Iraqi professional soldiers as being 

incapable of adequately training or preparing an army for war, a conclusion 

drawn from their poor showing against Coalition forces in two wars. Iraqi 

performance in combat spoke for itself. As previously discussed, this view is 

supported when looking at the highest levels of the regime where sycophancy 

was the rule rather than the exception. Furthermore, as realistic training for 

combat became a distant memory, the quality of lower-ranking offi cers and 

non-commissioned offi cers also degenerated. 

Yet between the senior levels of the regime and the tactical leaders, signifi -

cant pockets of competence still existed at the operational level of command, 

the corps and division commanders. Examples abound of Iraq’s operationallevel military leaders tasking their senior staffs and consultative bodies (e.g., 

universities, ad-hoc groups) to conduct studies and analyses of current and past 

operations in attempts to understand what went wrong in 1991, OPERATION 

DESERT STORM, and how to fi x it.4 After the obligatory paeans to Saddam in the 

beginning, most of these documents demonstrated some facility to identify 

shortcomings and outline steps to overcome them. In post-war interviews after 

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, a number of operational commanders expressed 

considerable frustration over the gulf between knowing what was required and 

what Saddam would accept or allow. 

Still, many offi cers and their staffs were determined to make the best of 

a bad political situation. They worked hard towards identifying their own 

shortcomings, and attempted to predict the course of a future war. These efforts 

eventually led to a single operational plan to defend Iraq that remained constant 

until late 2002, when it was discarded for an entirely new concept promulgated 

by Saddam. This chapter will examine two facets of the Iraqi military’s planning for war. First, it looks at how Iraqi’s operational planners understood their 

situation and the plans they made to defend Iraq based on that understanding. 

Second, it examines the effects of Saddam’s sudden decision in December 2002 

to ignore nearly all of the previous effort and change the entire war plan only 

three months before the Coalition invasion. 

The Operational Concept Before 18 December 2002

Immediately following the 1991 Iraqi “victory” in the “Mother of All Battles” 

and continuing through late 1995, the senior military and political leadership 
76

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

directed and participated in a series of after-action reviews, military seminars, 

and studies on the confl ict and the ensuing Kurd and Shiite rebellions in the 

north and south, respectively. These reviews aimed to identify and fi x the perceived tactical weaknesses of the Ba’ath Party and the Iraqi military. From the 

start, the senior generals assumed that given the strategic decision to invade 

Kuwait, any confrontation with the Americans—while not desirable—was survivable.5

 In the end, this self-imposed challenge to intellectual honesty coupled 

with the growing impact of the sanctions ensured that most of these reviews 

had little practical results. In fact, many of the earlier preparations to crush real 

and possible rebellions actually played into the strengths of a potential invader, 

all of which were identifi ed in these Iraqi military studies. 

As was so often the case in the 30 years of Ba’ath power, Saddam constantly infl uenced the planning process by providing guidance that bore little 

resemblance to the actual operational and combat conditions his troops would 

confront. A typical example of his military genius, which he was never reluctant 

to impart, came from a 1995 meeting between Saddam, his youngest son Qusay, 

and a group of senior offi cers: 

The principle of agglomeration is the ability to regroup within 

10 to 20 days or a month even if we distribute the Republican 

Guard throughout Iraq. The principle of agglomeration is a very 

old one. It means dispersing our brigades and maintaining their 

ability to regroup into a whole. The Republican Guard is the 

reserve of the great commander [Saddam]. So we must not build 

it on one concept. If we build on one concept by distributing our 

troops as a way of managing some battles of a certain size and 

using certain methods of regrouping, and then face something 

else, we will be in a bad situation. For example what will happen 

if we build the Republican Guard’s concept around the idea of 

national security [in other words against internal enemies] and 

then face air and land attacks from outside? We should build 

it around the concept of national security and include the possibility of outside and air attacks.6

While most of this guidance seemed contradictory to an outsider, the meaning was clear to Saddam’s politically attuned generals: priority one was crushing 

internal revolts. After making sure that the planning process had distributed 

forces to put down any rebellion, then and only then were army commanders 

to consider what to do against external invaders. With this mantra constantly 

reinforced by thousands of smaller decisions, military planners undertook steps 

to stop a future American invasion. 

According to the senior generals and operational plans captured by Coalition 

forces, Iraq’s defense gradually evolved from a conventional defense-in-depth in 

1995 and toward a slightly more urban-centric defense concept until December 

2002. The earlier defense plans relied primarily on conventional ground forces 
77

Crippled Operational Planning

augmented by trained and untrained militias. They expected mobile air-defense 

systems, surface-to-surface missiles, and a reliable national command and 

control system to be available to support the ground forces.

The defense in-depth would begin with the border guards on the frontiers 

backed up by regular Iraqi Army units. Behind the regular Iraqi Army units 

would be the two corps of Republican Guards centered on Baghdad. Finally, 

any invader would have to confront that Special Republican Guard if he were 

foolish enough to try and enter the capital. 

In the wake of the December 1998 Coalition bombing offensive, the Iraqis 

slightly adjusted their base plan and developed several contingencies. One was 

the development of a corps-level plan that aimed at mitigating the impact of air 

attacks. One such plan was completed in 2001, OPERATION HOLY CONQUEST: The 

Plan for Evacuation and Dispersal.7 As the name implied, the plan called for the As the name implied, the plan called forthe 7

“near” and “distant” dispersal of forces and equipment. The formulation was 

based on the acceptance of Saddam’s absolute belief that Iraq would only have 

to endure a Coalition air campaign while his international allies by diplomatic 

means forestalled a Coalition ground assault. After accepting Saddam’s wisdom 

on this issue, military planners put the “lessons learned” of Kosovo and their 

own experiences to use. 

The best way to survive an aerial assault is to disperse and hide. Unfortunately, it is the worst possible solution if one is also confronted with a massive 

ground assault. Thus, Iraqi forces were on the horns of a dilemma. If they 

remained in position, they would be attacked either from the air or else by the 

advancing Coalition ground forces. If they tried to move, they made themselves extremely vulnerable to patrolling Coalition aircraft, including attack 

helicopters.8

Saddam’s security priorities were centered around internal threats (rebellions and coups), followed by regional threats (e.g., Iran), and fi nally external 

threats (the United States, Coalition forces). Despite Saddam declaring that a 

Coalition invasion was the least of the threats confronting the nation, his military planners continued refi ning plans for that possibility. A major change to 

the base plan after OPERATION DESERT FOX dealt with the problem of responding to a ground invasion supported by air power. The Commander of the II 

Republican Guard Corps described the major elements of this plan in the following terms:

If the Americans came from the north, they would face I and V 

Regular Army Corps. Each of these corps was supported by a 

Republican Guard division formed behind it (The Adnan Division stood behind V Corps and the Nebuchadnezzar Division 

stood behind the I Corps). 

Upon an attack, the Adnan Division and remnants of the V 

Corps would conduct a fi ghting withdrawal back to and across 
78

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

the Euphrates River, while the Nebuchadnezzar Division and 

remnants of the I Regular Army Corps would fall back behind 

the Tigris River. They would defend along strong defensive 

lines between Bayji to Al-Hadithah with a fallback line from 

Samarra to Al-Fallujah. 

If the Americans attacked from the west (Jordan), I and II Regular Army Corps would defend along the Euphrates River, while 

the III Regular Army Corps was to form a strong defense around 

point K160.9 I Regular Army Corps would establish a strong 

defensive line from Al-Hadithah to Ar-Ramadi. II Regular Army 

Corps would deploy from Ar-Ramadi to Karbala. II Regular 

Army Corps would be in front of my command, II Republican 

Guard Corps, which would stand behind them for support

If the Americans attacked from the south, III Regular Army 

Corps could defend from Basara to Nasiriyah, IV Regular Army 

Corps from As-Samawah to Al-Amarah. II Republican Guard 

Corps would defend from Karbala to An-Najaf to As-Samawah 

and I Republican Guard Corps from Ar-Ramadi to Karbala.10

To command and control these forces during a confl ict, Saddam carried 

out a reorganization of military boundaries, focusing on maintaining political 

control rather than military effi ciency. He divided Iraq into four regional commands, each representing a new ad-hoc organization, to ensure the regime’s 

internal control over critical sections of Iraq in the event that Coalition air attacks 

disrupted communications with Baghdad.11 Because this change was foremost 

an arrangement for continued political control, Saddam appointed a close and 

trusted confi dant to command each region: 

• Southern region: Ali Hasan Al-Majid (Chemical Ali), Saddam’s cousin 

and member of the Revolutionary Command Council. 

• Northern region: Izzat Ibrahim Al-Duri, Saddam’s deputy prime minister. 

• Middle Euphrates region: Mizban Khatar Hadi, a member of the Revolutionary Command Council.

• Baghdad (central) region: Saddam’s son Qusay.12 

None of these men had any signifi cant experience maneuvering ground forces 

in combat, a weakness that would have huge consequences for the Iraqi armed 

forces.

Only four days before the Coalition’s invasion, Saddam fi nalized details 

for this new regional command structure after making minor adjustments in 

boundaries and personnel during a meeting of national leadership.13 Accord-
79

Crippled Operational Planning

ing to the Revolutionary Command Council decree of 15 March 2003, Saddam 

ordered the regional commands to carry out the following orders: 

Engage in defense within the confi nes of the concerned territory and lead and utilize all of the state’s material and human 

resources, including party organizations, the people, and military troops to confront any external aggression targeted against 

Iraq’s sovereignty, independence, and security, and protect 

internal security.14 

Perhaps aware of their lack of military experience, the regional commanders did not make many changes to the basic defense plans already established 

for their regions. Some, however, took their new responsibilities seriously. For 

example, at a meeting in October 2002 in Kirkuk attended by Izzat Ibrahim AlDuri, the Northern Region’s Ba’ath leader designee, the Minister of Defense, the 

Army Chief of Staff, and the commanders of the I and V Regular Army corps 

met to review the basic plans. The group conducted sand-table exercises to test 

the existing plans against various Coalition scenarios.

The assembled commanders had sensed a chance to use these “trusted” men 

as a conduit to funnel some of their professional military advice to Saddam and 

accordingly recommended some changes to the plans approved by Saddam.15

It is uncertain if their advice actually went up the chain of command or what 

effect it had. Time was running out, and they were soon to discover that Saddam was already enthralled with an entirely new plan.

For the Iraqi military, the dangers of trying to repel an invasion using the 

command and control arrangements originally intended to maintain internal 

control became obvious early in the campaign. According to the Minister of 

Defense, the new arrangement dramatically reduced the quality of battlefi eld 

reporting and leadership situational awareness. With the regional commands 

now directly under Ba’athist control, Baghdad received its reports on the course 

of military operations along the Euphrates River from politicians and not 

professional military offi cers. In addition, the arrangement effectively cut key 

military leaders and their staffs out of the chain of command. As the Minister 

of Defense noted after the war: 

During the war, the role of the Minister of Defense was complicated in that there were four subordinate regional heads who 

had independent authority and control over military forces in 

their areas. My deputy collected information and reports from 

these regional commands to form a picture of the unfolding 

operational situation. I effectively became an assistant to Qusay—only collecting and passing information.16

One could best summarize planning and preparations prior to December 

18, 2002, as pessimistic pragmatism. Commanders focused their limited resources on local training, preparing survivable combat positions, and making 
80

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

every effort to survive the impending confl ict. They knew their forces did not 

have any optimum solutions for stopping a Coalition invasion, but they were 

certain they had developed the best one possible, given the conditions they 

were forced to work with. 

But on December 18, Saddam once again asserted his priorities for selfpreservation, putting into place his own operational concept that would have 

hastened the destruction of the Iraqi armed forces. How the generals reacted 

is discussed in the following section.

The Operational Concept After 18 December 2002

On December 18, 2002, the Chief of Staff of the Republican Guard gathered 

his commanders together and announced a new concept for the nation’s defense. 

It was both original and bold in conception—and totally impractical. The new 

plan centered on the defense of Baghdad, which was the focus of all military 

efforts, and hardly a surprising development in a country where the leader 

considered his survival as the paramount interest of the state. 

In a post-war interview, the Commander, II Republican Guard Corps, reported how the news of the new plan was reported and received:

On 18 December 2002, the Republican Guard Chief of Staff 

called all the commanders (Republican Guard Corps, division, and air defense commanders) to meet at the Republican 

Guard Command Center.17 When I asked why, I was told that 

they had a new plan for the defense of Baghdad. I thought to 

myself that we were supposed to be defending all of Iraq, not 

just Baghdad. When we got there, we found that Qusay Hussein was also present. 

The Republican Guard Chief of Staff briefed in front of a large 

wall map that covered just the central portion of Iraq. The map 

showed Baghdad in the center with four rings. Every ring had 

a color. The center ring was red. Approximately ten kilometers 

out from the red ring was a blue ring. Then approximately 

seven kilometers out from that one was a black ring. Finally, 

the last circle was marked in yellow which was designated for 

reconnaissance forces only. The Republican Guard Chief of Staff 

explained the plan in a very crude and ugly way. 

Things like “the Republican Guard Hammurabi Division defends in the north of the city, the Republican Guard Medina 

Division in the south, the Republican Guard Al Nida Division 

in the east, and special forces and the Special Republican Guard 
81

Crippled Operational Planning

in the west.”18 When the Americans arrived at the fi rst ring and, 

on order from Saddam, the forces would conduct a simultaneous withdrawal. The units would then repeat this “procedure” 

until reaching the red circle. Once in the red circle, the remaining 

units would fi ght to the death. 

With this incredible simplicity and stupidity, the assembled 

Republican Guard offi cers were told that this was the plan for 

the defense of our country. 

Qusay said that the plan was already approved by Saddam and 

“it was you who would now make it work.” I disagreed and 

told Qusay that a proud Army with an 82-year history cannot 

fi ght like this. We were not using our experience. I was told by 

Qusay that there would be no changes because Saddam had 

signed the plan already.19

Suddenly imposing an entirely new concept without debate where it could 

receive serious consideration from professional offi cers was typical modus 

operandi of Saddam. It was hardly surprising that the new plan suffered from 

a number of weaknesses, not the least being devoid of a realistic understanding of the coming war with the Coalition, as it seemed to many in the room. 

Compared to previous concepts and plans that had been drawn up by a professional military staff, this new plan represented an amateurish attempt to cobble 

together a defense. It also failed to pay the slightest attention to basic military 

major factors such as geography: in Saddam’s eyes, the rivers, swamps, and 

canals simply did not exist. Worse, the new plan did not take into account how 

units could all simultaneously retreat from one ring to the next while being 

engaged on the ground and simultaneously assaulted from the air. 

Several offi cers gently voiced their concerns during the meeting. Taking 

the lead, the Commander of the II Republican Guard Corps pointed out that 

the Iraqis did not yet know the nature of the coming Coalition attack, and that 

concentrating forces around the cities and in the face of Coalition air power 

would not help matters.20 Other senior military offi cers offered their own criticisms of the plan, among them:

• The failure to account for the terrain around Baghdad (specifi cally, 

rivers and bridges).

• The optimistic assessment of the combat power and training of the Iraqi 

forces.

• The conviction that such a “simple” plan would pose few diffi culties 

in terms of command and control.

• Finally, the expectation that the Coalition would wear itself out prior 

to arriving at Baghdad. 
82

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

These plans would call for a high degree of coordination and synchronization between units that security restrictions (both real and perceived) made 

impossible. Add this reluctance to coordinate activities among themselves, 

under the inevitable stress of combat against a massive Coalition attack, it is 

diffi cult to imagine Iraqi commanders being able to orchestrate anything this 

complicated. None of these concerns convinced Qusay or the Republican Guard 

Chief of Staff, General Sayf al-Din al-Rawi, so no one ever addressed them in 

a serious fashion after the meeting broke up.

The lack of coordination or deliberate planning prior to the new plan’s announcement suggests in many ways how disconnected the regime leadership 

had become from the real world. It is still hard to discover exactly the origin 

of such a radical departure from established operational plan or how the new 

approach became offi cial policy. Detailed discussions and long-winded debates 

over the optimal use of Iraq’s conventional military had become commonplace 

after 1991. The idea of an “urban-centric” offense had appeared at several highlevel meetings such as described in this 1995 description by Izzat Ibrahim Al 

Duri (a long-time member of the Revolutionary Command Council, and future 

Commander of the Northern Regional during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM): 

The fi rst rule is adherence to the cities, which would require that 

our units be somehow close to the cities in order not to allow the 

enemy to attack or affect them. We deduce from this two things: 

First, to protect our units and...to control the cities and impose 

in them security and order. Second, it means the Republican 

Guard...should not get out and carry out maneuvers on a large 

scale so that they would be the target of an attack.21

Of course, the movement of army units close to or within key cities would 

also better position them to take part in a coup. Al-Duri understood this risk 

and advised against early implementation of any city defense plans. He also 

emphasized the need to keep those units that did move closer to cities isolated 

from any possible coup infl uences.

Forces located so near population centers are always possible 

to be subjected to security penetration. For this reason of security, it is important that the leadership make sure the Guard 

is inaccessible and under control. They must not mix with the 

locals or even be allowed to receive any visits from [either] an 

administrative offi cial nor a Party offi cial.22

It is possible that the idea for the “ring defense” of Baghdad had always been 

part of Saddam’s operational concept for the nation’s defense, but for security 

reasons he did not want to implement it until absolutely necessary.

According to another Iraqi general, the basic tactical concept of a “ring 

defense” was a standard element in Iraqi doctrine. The general noted, 
83

Crippled Operational Planning

The 5th Div planned to face Kurdish forces as their primary 

adversary. The defense plan that called for the exact location 

of these defensive circles was dependent on the enemy axis of 

advance. When the war started, we abandoned all defensive 

lines except the innermost red line, which collapsed after two 

days of bombing. The doctrine of four concentric circle defensive 

lines is standard doctrine taught at the Iraqi Army Staff School. 

The original doctrine comes from Sandhurst military academy, 

in the United Kingdom.”23

Whatever its origins, it still was mainly just an idea and far from being a 

true military plan that would have required much more detailed study and 

preparation. According to the Minister of Defense, the plan was delivered to 

the military without any guidance on how to implement it: 

The month before the plan was agreed to and delivered, there 

was a meeting to discuss a general plan for the defense of Iraq 

with the Chief of Staff, the operations offi cer, and the planning 

directorate offi ce. The plan we had relied on for years was not 

accepted. But the only agreement between the offi ce of the president and the military staffs that came out of this meeting was a 

general idea that the cities had to be defended. The cities then 

became the critical things to defend and the military was withdrawn into the cities to protect them. This was on the instruction 

from the president. There was an attempt to complete a plan 

to defend these cities because the military understood things 

like how to create defensive obstacles. There were a number of 

tasks to complete to ensure the city defenses, but there was no 

agreement as to what they were or how to get them done.24

Even after Qusay and the Republican Guard Chief of Staff had briefed 

the fi nal operational concept in December 2002, the senior military leadership 

failed to achieve any agreement on how to implement the plan. According to 

Ali Hassan Al-Majid (“Chemical Ali”), who was present at the some of these 

discussions: 

Military planners met fi ve more times before the war but only 

tried to coordinate strategic defensive plans in one of the meetings following the December 2002 meeting. They met again 

in February 2003 and discussed defensive measures to use 

against the US and Coalition forces, but nothing was resolved 

or agreed to.25 

There is little reason to doubt that to Saddam the mere issuing of a decree 

was suffi cient to make the plan work. For him the Iraqi army required neither 

coordination nor further planning to make his conception effective. 
84

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Notes 

1

 Captured document, “Saddam’s Letter/Speech Written on 29th March 2003 to his Generals and 

People.

2

 Captured document (2002) “Al-Husayn Brigade Military Plans.

3

 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

4

 For example, a captured document disclosed a group of senior Republican Guard offi cers (including the future Republican Guard Chief of Staff during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM) participated 

in an series of extensive staff studies between April 1991 and August 1995 on the conduct of 

DESERT STORM (8 January 1995, “Iraqi Study on the 1991 Gulf War in Kuwait”). Public sources 

reported that after 1991, the Iraqi War College focused on lessons on how to create an indigenous 

psychological operations capability (to counter the United States) and how to defend against 

precision weapons by using the urban environment.

5

 The number and variety of documents and tapes relating to the various Iraqi after action 

reviews of the events of 1991 are extensive. A representative sample includes the following: • 

captured audio tape, (1 May 1991) “Saddam Meeting with High-Ranking Offi cials Evaluating 

Iraqi Military Performance in the 1991 War”; • captured media fi le, (15 March 1992) “Meeting of 

High-Ranking Military Offi cials Supervised by Minster of Defense Regarding Lessons of the 1991 

War”; • captured media fi le, (15 May 1992) “Seminar Held by Al-Bakir University for Military 

Studies on the Strategic Role of the Um Al-Ma’arik Battle”; • captured document, (30 August 

1993) “Chief of the Seventh Section and Chief of the First Section Correspondence Regarding 

Desire for a Study About the Role of Air Forces in the Gulf War 1991”; • captured video tape, (20 

November 1995) “Military Scientifi c Conference by Air Force and Armored Forces Command 

on Um Al-Ma’arik Battle.” Finally, some of the “lessons” were turned into training vignettes, for 

example, captured document, (5 September 2002) “Military Training Manual Based on Lessons 

from the Al-Khafji Battle.”

6

 Captured media fi le, (8 October 1995) “Saddam Hussein Meeting with Qusay and Leaders of 

the H-J Operation Regarding Republican Guard Movements.” 

7

 Captured document, (9 September 2001) “Republican Guard Plan Report Entitled ‘Operation 

Holy Conquest: Evacuation and Dispersal.’” 

8

 This is the same dilemma Iraq faced in the 1991 war. US Department of Defense, Conduct of 

the Persian Gulf War: Final Report to Congress, April 1992, p. 197.

9

 On a 1:500,000 scale map, the general pointed to a location approximately halfway between the 

Jordanian border and the city of Ar Ramadi. 

10 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps,” pp. 7–8. 

11 Project interview of Ali Hasan Al-Majid (“Chemical Ali”), 10 November 2003. According to 

“Chemical Ali,” “the basic plan for defense was established in 1998. Around the time of “DESERT

FOX,” the four regions and the plans were understood. [I]t did not change much since then.” 

12 Captured document, “Iraqi Strategic Defense Plan of the Four Regional Commands.” In addition, 

according to various open source media reports, the commands were active from 16 December 

1998 and suspended on 25 June 2000. 

13 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, December 2003.

14 Foreign Broadcast Information Service, (15 March 2003) “Iraq RCC Decree Forms Four ‘Commands of Regions’ in Case of War,” Baghdad Iraqi Satellite Channel Television, translated from 

Arabic, 2000 GMT.
85

Crippled Operational Planning

15 Project interview of Kamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan Al-Tikriti, Secretary of the Republican 

Guard and Special Republican Guard, 14 November 2003. 

16 Project interview of Sultan Hashim Ahmad Al-Jabburi Al-Tai, Minister of Defense, 13 November 

2003.

17 The Republican Guard Chief of Staff during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM was Lieutenant General 

Sayf Al-Din Al-Rawi.

18 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” Lieutenant General Raad Majid Rashid Al-Hamdani 

provided a sketch of the defensive plan from this briefi ng to the authors of this study, which 

was very similar to one obtained by Coalition forces in February 2003.

19 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

20 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps,” pp.7–8. 

21 Captured media fi le, (5 November 1995) “Saddam and Senior Leaders Discuss the Republican 

Guard.”

22 Captured media fi le, (5 November 1995) “Saddam and Senior Leaders Discuss the Republican 

Guard.” 

23 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, March 2004.

24 Project interview of Sultan Hashim Ahmad Al-Jabburi Al-Tai, Minister of Defense, 13 November 

2003.

25 Project interview of Ali Hasan Al-Majid (“Chemical Ali”), 10 November 2003. 

V. The Regime Prepares for War
88

Cover of Iraq’s July 2002 Military Magazine1

Early Muslims were trained for warfare, the Believers fought with their faith, therefore, 

faith was the basics; skill established on faith is ideal. — Saddam Hussein2
89

V. The Regime Prepares for War

America might be the most powerful but it is not the strongest country 

because strength is given by God. When the enemy is more advanced 

in communication technology, it is better to use a simple, basic, and 

natural communication technology like camels. It is necessary to learn 

horseback riding. Get 10 horses and train 50 people or more per day. 

The important thing is to prevent the enemy from getting to its goals. 

No peace without strength. 

— Saddam Hussein, 9 March 20033

Iraq found itself once again in the crosshairs of America’s military and 

diplomatic power following the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan 

in late 2001. As the United States and Britain steadily turned up the diplomatic 

pressure, Saddam also confronted stepped-up Coalition air strikes, which could 

easily have sparked another Shi’a uprising, as well as new resolutions from the 

United Nations. Additionally, Iraq’s Intelligence Service, reporting from Iraqi 

embassies in Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, Yugoslavia, Russia, and other countries, 

warned Saddam of the Coalition’s increasing deployment of military forces to 

the region.4 In response, Saddam marshaled his diplomatic, economic, military, 

and propaganda organizations to deter, or failing that, to minimize the consequences of an attack from a US led coalition. 

The Diplomatic Campaign

An unstated premise of most diplomatic communications is that one party 

is capable of delivering a message that the other party clearly understands. 

In this regard, Iraqi diplomacy vis-à-vis the United States failed right from the 

start. However, developing an understanding of Iraq’s diplomatic maneuvering prior to the war requires the observer to recognize the constraints Iraqi 

diplomats faced when trying to deal with the United States. In describing Iraq’s 

failed attempts at direct communication with the three successive American 

administrations, Tariq Aziz explained, 

We didn’t have any opportunity to talk to a US offi cial during Bush, Clinton, or the new Bush administration, so there 

was no opportunity to talk face-to-face and address matters of 

concern. They always rejected us...We knew that the Poles had 

a representative in Baghdad who looked after the interests of 

America; secretly, not in the open. But no, we didn’t go through 

them. Sometimes we talked to the Algerians about it, but not 

much. The Iraqi Intelligence Service tried in its own way to work 

the issue...they tried to pretend they were doing something to 

move relations along, but no one took them seriously; they were 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

incapable of the simplest of tasks.5 

Unable to engage the United States, Iraq turned to the one consistently effective diplomatic lever that it possessed—oil. As United Nations sanctions wore on 

him, Saddam displayed less restraint in using oil as both a weapon and a tool. 

With prudent application, oil allowed the regime to buy considerable infl uence 

with nations that would be key players in any Western military coalition.6 By 

leveraging their long-standing ties with Russia, and by using oil to infl uence 

France’s support, and to a lesser extent China’s, the Iraqis hoped to infl uence 

the UN Security Council and stymie American and British resolutions.7 

In the run-up to war, Iraq’s strategy was to use its oil reserves to gradually 

alleviate UN-imposed sanctions and eventually have them lifted.8 This policy 

of gradualism had made some progress over the decade before the war; and 

by mid-2002, some in the regime were placing great stock in the infl uence of its 

“bought friends.” Most external observers would agree that elements of Iraq’s 

infl uence campaign did succeed in reducing the impact of sanctions, shifting 

much of the international debate away from Iraq’s failure to comply with UN 

Security Council resolutions and to the humanitarian effects of non-compliance. 

In many ways, the Iraqis had succeeded in isolating the United States and the 

United Kingdom from the regional allies it had enjoyed in the Middle East 

during the 1991 Gulf War. 

In the end, these efforts were not enough. The Iraqi regime’s constant overplaying of its hand meant it could never muster enough international support 

to break completely free of the sanctions regimen. Actions such as publicly 

supporting suicide bombers in the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict and harassing 

UN weapons inspectors were enough to keep the Americans and some of its 

allies highly suspicious of Saddam’s motives and intent. Iraq also had to face 

the fact that its erstwhile friends would defend it only so far. Ultimately, they 

calculated only their self-interest. As Tariq Aziz explained to an interviewer 

after the war:

France and Russia did not help Iraq, they helped themselves 

...We had attempted to win favor with the French and the Russians through the oil and other contracts, but our relationship 

with the French began to suffer after 1998, when the Iraqi government began charging a 10 percent cash surcharge on each 

oil-for-food contract. The French refused to do it; they ended 

up doing it through intermediaries. Their contracts would be 

made through Jordanian fi rms but fi lled by the French, and this 

was not as profi table as before. [Prime Minister Lionel] Jospin9 

told me in 1998 the profi t [had] reached 400 million by then. 

After the surcharge went into effect, the French started making 

negative statements about Iraq. Jospin and [President Jacques] 

Chirac10 made anti-Iraqi statements, and we began to reconsider 

our relationship. The French are dubious; they are Westerners...
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The Regime Prepares for War

Their opposition to lifting sanctions was in their national interest, just as their support for it was in their national interest prior 

to the war—they know that the post-sanctions contracts will go 

to US companies, and they will lose millions. Their opposition 

proves that their interest in lifting sanctions was not genuine. 

The French were defending their position, not defending Iraq...

We both realized that France could not sacrifi ce its relationship 

with the United States to the extent that Russia did, although 

even Russia did not go too far. The Russian foreign minister was 

also careful not to displease the Americans. Russia continued 

to support us in the Security Council, but for the same reasons 

as the French. Iraq gave Russian companies huge contracts in 

irrigation, agriculture, electricity, machinery, cars and trucks. 

Before oil-for-food, some of it was paid in crude oil guarantees, 

which would be paid after sanctions were lifted. After oil-forfood, we paid them cash.11 

Though diplomacy, often lubricated by substantial bribes, had been successful in the past, Saddam credited most of Iraq’s past diplomatic success to 

its willingness to back up diplomacy with armed might.12 Sensing that oil was 

not suffi cient means to solve his problems, Saddam had to convince numerous 

competitors that Iraq was a powerful country and a potentially dangerous entity 

with which to tangle. Intentionally or not, Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction 

(WMD) program became a crucial component of both Saddam’s maneuvering 

to prevent war and its proximate cause. 

The technical extent of Saddam’s WMD capabilities is beyond the scope of 

this book and is covered in the report of the Iraqi Survey Group from September 2004.13 But the tension created by the regime’s steadfast refusal to “come 

clean” with regard to WMD shaped the actions and interactions of both sides 

leading up to war. Saddam walked a tight rope with WMD because as he often 

reminded his close advisors, they lived in a very dangerous global neighborhood where even the perception of weakness drew wolves. For him, there were 

real dividends to be gained by letting his enemies believe he possessed WMD, 

whether it was true or not. On the other hand, it was critical to his survival 

and his plans to end sanctions that the West, particularly the United States, be 

convinced that Iraq no longer possessed such weapons. He had placed himself 

into a diplomatic and propaganda Catch-22.

Saddam privately had commented that “the better part of war is deceiving.”14 When it came to WMD, Saddam was simultaneously attempting to 

deceive one audience that they were gone and another that Iraq still had them. 

Coming clean about WMD and using full compliance to escape from sanctions 

would have been his best course of action for the long run. Given the international situation, the growing concern over the humanitarian effects of sanctions, 

and the world’s thirst for oil, it probably would have been diffi cult to impose 

new sanctions even if Saddam subsequently resurrected Iraq’s WMD program. 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

However, Saddam found it impossible to abandon the illusion that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction—especially since the illusion played so 

well in the Arab world. As Saddam boasted in an April 1990 conference with 

Yasser Arafat:

Iraq has chemical weapons and successfully used them on the 

Iranians and Iraq won’t think twice about striking Israel with 

chemical weapons; when you ask Israel, why would the Iraqis 

use chemical weapons against you? The answer is to restore 

Palestine for the Arabs and that is it!...Israel owns the atomic 

bomb, this is not a big deal.15

“Chemical Ali,” who received his sobriquet for using chemical weapons on 

Kurdish civilians in 1987, was convinced Iraq no longer possessed WMD, but 

claims many within the ruling circle always believed they did. Even at the highest echelons of the regime, when it came to WMD there was always some element 

of doubt about the truth. According to Chemical Ali, Saddam was asked about 

having WMD during a meeting with members of the Revolutionary Command 

Council. He replied that Iraq did not have WMD, but fl atly rejected a suggestion 

that the regime remove all doubts to the contrary. Saddam went on to explain 

that if Iraq made such a declaration, it would not only show Israel that Iraq did 

not have WMD but might actually encourage the Israelis to attack.16 

For many months after the 2003 war, a number of senior Iraqi offi cials continued to believe it possible (though they adamantly insisted they possessed 

no direct knowledge) that Iraq still possessed a WMD capability hidden away 

somewhere. In addition to Saddam’s purposeful ambiguity on the issue, coalition interviewers discovered three other mutually reinforcing ideas as to why 

this possibility might be true:

• Iraq possessed and used WMD in the past. Given the growing danger 

from Iran’s emerging WMD program, Iraq would likely need them 

again.

• While none of the Iraqi offi cials admitted to personally knowing of 

WMD stockpiles, the idea that in a compartmentalized and secretive 

regime other military units or organizations might have WMD was 

plausible to them.

• Finally, and ironically, the public confi dence of so many Western governments, especially based on CIA information, made at least one senior 

offi cial believe the contention that Iraq possessed such weapons might 

be true.17

By late 2002, Saddam fi nally tilted towards pursuing policies designed to 

persuade the international community that Iraq was cooperating with the United 

Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and that it was free of WMD programs. 
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The Regime Prepares for War

This small but signifi cant move away from ambiguity also aimed at solidifying 

the promise of more substantial French and Russian efforts on Iraq’s behalf. As 

2002 drew to a close, the regime took active measures to counter anything that 

might be seen as supporting the Coalition’s assertion that WMD still remained 

in Iraq. Saddam was insistent that “in order not to give President Bush any 

excuses to start a war,” Iraq would give full access to UN Inspectors.18 But by 

this point, after years of purposeful obfuscation, it was diffi cult to persuade 

anyone that Iraq was not once again being economical with the truth.

Ironically, it now appears that some actions resulting from this new policy 

of cooperation solidifi ed the Coalition’s strategic and operational case for war 

in the eyes of the many. In the decade prior to the 2003 war, the Western intelligence services had obtained many internal Iraqi communications, among them 

a 1996 memorandum from the Director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service directing all subordinates to “insure that there is no equipment, materials, research, 

studies, or books related to manufacturing of the prohibited weapons (chemical, biological, nuclear, and missiles) in your site.”19 When UN inspectors went 

to these research and storage locations, they inevitably discovered lingering 

evidence of programs relating to WMD. 

So in 2002, when the United States intercepted a message between two Iraqi 

Republican Guard Corps commanders discussing removal of the words “nerve 

agents” wherever mentioned “in the wireless instructions,” or when it learned 

of instructions to “search the area surrounding the headquarters camp and AlMadinah battalion for any chemical agents, make sure the area is free of chemical containers, and write a report on it,” US analysts viewed this information 

through the prism of a decade of prior deceit.20 Western intelligence analysts 

would have no way of knowing their information this time indicated an attempt 

by the regime to ensure it was in compliance with UN resolutions. 

This fl urry of last-minute activity “to remove all traces of previous WMD 

programs” did not go unnoticed in the West. However, what was meant 

to prevent suspicion actually served only to heighten it. Military actions to 

remove lingering traces of weapons fi elded in the past appeared to Western 

intelligence agencies as attempts to conceal current WMD assets or operations. 

For instance, the already mentioned Republican Guard order, or one like it, to 

remove the term “nerve gas” from radio instructions likely precipitated the 

signal intelligence intercept referenced in Secretary of State Colin Powell’s 5 

February statement: 

Just a few weeks ago we intercepted communications between 

two commanders in Iraq’s [II] Republican Guard corps. One 

commander is going to be giving an instruction to the other. You 

will hear as this unfolds that what he wants to communicate 

to the other guy, he wants to make sure the other guy hears 

clearly to the point of repeating it so that it gets written down 

and completely understood. Listen. Let’s review a few selected 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

items of this conversation. Two offi cers talking to each other on 

the radio want to make sure that nothing is misunderstood. ‘Remove, remove. The expression, the expression, I got it.’ ‘Nerve 

agents, nerve agents.’ ‘Wherever it comes up.’ ‘Got it.’ ‘Wherever 

it comes up.’ ‘In the wireless instructions.’ ‘In the instructions.’ 

‘Correction. No, in the wireless instructions’ ‘Wireless, I got it.’ 

Why does he repeat it that way? Why is he so forceful in making sure this is understood? And why did he focus on wireless 

instructions? Because the senior offi cer is concerned that somebody might be listening. Well, somebody was. ‘Nerve agents.’ 

‘Stop talking about it.’ ‘They are listening to us. Don’t give any 

evidence that we have these horrible agents.’ But we know that 

they do and this kind of conversation confi rms it.21

The constant focus by America and Britain on possible WMD in Iraq 

greatly heightened Saddam’s concerns, which now verged on paranoia, over 

UN inspectors fi nding traces of WMD programs. He became convinced that 

because there were no WMDs were to be found in Iraq, the Americans or the 

Israelis were not beyond planting fake evidence. In several directives, he issued 

what amounted to all points bulletins for signs of United States or “Zionist” 

infi ltration and planting of WMD “evidence.” A warning memorandum from 

the Ba’ath Party Secretariat in January 2003 is typical:

The evil American authority stepped up their [sic] accusation 

of Iraq hiding chemical agents or biological labs on moveable 

trucks and trailers or inside containers. The American authorities are planning on bringing such trucks and containers into 

Iraq across the Iraqi borders or the border of the self-ruled areas 

or smuggling areas to provide it to the weapon inspectors to 

be used against Iraq in order to launch their wicked invading 

against our precious country.22

The following procedures will be followed to prevent the evil American 

authority from achieving their purpose:

1. Perform detailed inspection on all trucks and containers 

 entering the country through the borders using the super 

 vision of the intelligence agencies not [already] working at 

 the borders. Place more inspection points and provide 

 them with all needed supplies.

2. Monitor all smuggling routes and increase patrolling 

 areas and inform all organizational party and country 

 agencies at areas [bordered by] self-ruled areas, Kuwaiti, 

 and Jordanian borders, and cease the entrance of all trucks 

 through main and side roads leading to the self-ruling 

 areas during the next few months.
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The Regime Prepares for War

3. National agencies that have open warehouses or 

 containers, must inspect...contents to prevent any hostile 

 act or accusation Iraq [is] storing forbidden agents at 

 these locations.

Please, review and pass the information to all comrades responsible for security agencies in all provinces to take proper precautions.23

Similar directives provide a qualifi ed explanation for the many examples 

of suspicious imagery, incriminating intercepts, and other reporting, but they 

fail to fully explain away every event. A December 15, 2002, memo from an 

undercover Iraqi Intelligence escort for the UN inspection team notes, “Inside 

Bader WMD inspection site, there are Russian and Turkish scientists. When we 

visited the site, they were forced to hide from inspectors’ eyes. We request your 

guidance if International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [should] confront our 

foreign scientists.”24 Even when viewed through the post-war lens, documentary 

evidence of messages are consistent with the Iraqi Survey Group’s conclusion 

that Saddam was at least keeping a WMD program primed for a quick re-start 

the moment the UN Security Council lifted sanctions.

Countering Psychological Operations 

Even as Iraq burnished its international image, it confronted a new set of 

internal problems. In the days before the 2003 invasion, the Coalition intensifi ed its psychological operations (psyops) aimed at the regime, its military, 

and the general population. Saddam responded by having the party direct a 

new wave of pro-regime, pro-Ba’athist, pro-Arab, and increasingly pro-Islamic 

propaganda.25 Such propaganda was already routine within Iraq. What was 

different this time was that the regime’s message now had to contend with an 

increasing volume of messages delivered by the Coalition. The regime noticed 

with alarm that the focus of Coalition psyops campaign included not only traditional leafl ets and broadcasts, but also new individually targeted messages 

directed at key military personnel. 

Prior to the war, Coalition planners had considerable diffi culty measuring 

the would-be effectiveness of the leafl et campaign. However, Iraqi sources have 

confi rmed that at the national level this campaign caused tremendous concern.26

The regime’s security services went as far as establishing a special psychological 

operations committee for “collecting US air-dropped propaganda leafl ets, to 

study the psychological results, to make recommendations, and destroy them 

when complete.”27 It was a priority task for local Ba’ath party leaders to keep 

the leafl ets out of circulation.28 One Iraqi noted soon after the start of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM:
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Citizens of Iraq were forbidden to possess or pass along leafl ets 

dropped around Iraq. Military and political representatives 

threaten to either imprison or kill anyone possessing any leafl ets. 

Military and political representatives had orders to collect and 

burn all leafl ets dropped. The government did not want the 

people to see the promises the US armed forces were offering 

the Iraqi soldiers and civilians.29 

One of the almost Orwellian aspects of Iraq’s attempts to get ahead of and 

counter Coalition psyops was government monitoring and initiation of rumors. 

In a society that tightly controlled information, rumors and conspiracy theories 

often fi ll the void. Many rumors had operational signifi cance and the regime 

did its best to monitor and control them. Found among the fi les of the intelligence services were offi cial “Rumor Forms” used to track the source, analysis, 

and effect of new rumors.30 Some of the more colorful rumors tracked by the 

regime in late 2002 included an Iraqi scheme to mix anthrax-laced leafl ets with 

the ones the Americans were distributing; Iraqis dressed as Americans killing 

Iraqi civilians for propaganda effect; Russia evacuating its citizens on the eve 

of war; and the families of high-ranking Ba’athists leaving the country.

31 

Logistical Preparations for War

Publicly and privately Saddam appeared confi dent that his diplomatic and 

propaganda campaign would limit the use of force by the United States to air 

strikes. Nevertheless, he still took steps to meet a Coalition ground assault. 

But war with a new Western Coalition loomed, his primary concern remained 

how any attack would once again exacerbate the threat of internal revolt, which 

would in turn make dealing with the Coalition all the more diffi cult. In a meeting held on the eve of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM Saddam told attendees to:

...ensure the people of Iraq were ready for the attack. Saddam 

also instructed the members of the Special Security Organization 

and Mukhabarat to “keep the internal situation under control,” 

and that it was very important to “keep the people satisfi ed...” 

Saddam was concerned about internal unrest amongst the 

tribes before, during, or after an attack by the United States on 

Baghdad.32 

As a further hedge against the possibility of a ground assault, the regime 

undertook massive logistical operations in preparation either for a ground war 

or to withstand a prolonged aerial assault. The following pre-war logistical 

guidance to the militia demonstrates that the regime expected any confl ict with 

America to be prolonged:

For the purpose of implementing an emergency plan and for 

precaution from the possible invasion and for the fact that our 
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The Regime Prepares for War

war is expected to be a long one with our American enemy 

and for the purpose of providing the movement with supplies, 

we emphasize...fi nishing storing fuel for a six-month supply, 

depending on available sources.33 

A post-war interview with an Iraqi Regular Army colonel bore further evidence of the kind of war the regime expected. However, it also provided a clear 

indication of the kind of war even relatively senior army offi cers were hoping 

for, which was distinctly at odds with the regime’s expectations.

They told us to bring provisions in for a long war. Our commanders told us to expect an air attack, followed by a ground 

war. We reserved water. We planned to be immobilized by air 

attacks, so there would not be a lot of movement on the ground 

(avoiding the exposure of movement). We wanted the Americans to come quickly and fi nish the war rapidly...There was no 

plan other than setting aside provisions.34 

In the months leading up to the war, and even during major combat operations, Saddam continued to stress the need to store provisions for a prolonged 

struggle. Ba’ath Party offi cials and military leaders were tasked to ensure the 

establishment of food, fuel, and ammunition caches in a variety of “safe places” 

(e.g. buried or in mosques, schools, churches). An Iraqi Army plan signed on 

March 14, 2003, provided an example of the deliberate nature and scope of the 

ammunition distribution plan. It presented a detailed ammunition priority list 

(beginning with 122mm munitions and ending with 14.5mm munitions) to be 

moved from the Al Najaf arsenal to more than 59 military schools and training areas around Iraq. Under this plan, the ammunition was to be pre-loaded 

on trucks no later than March 16 and the distribution completed by April 14, 

2003.35 

As with most Iraqi plans prior to OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, the actual 

execution under pressure was not without its problems. The commander of 

one of the schools on the aforementioned ammunition distribution list wrote 

on March 20:

Referencing your letter number 64, dated March 20, 2003, concerning sending munitions to our school, we would like to explain the following:

1. The place that was assigned for your military munitions has been recently occupied by another military unit.

2. The ammunitions which you have sent to us so far, was put in bedrooms, 

halls, and in the training warehouse.

3. The school cannot receive any more munitions since the place is constricted and old. Please do not send any munitions to our school in the 

future.36
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

After the war the Coalition collected and destroyed thousands of tons of 

these munitions, but enough escaped monitoring and detection to help fuel the 

insurgencies. Much of the post-war debate on the origin of the insurgencies 

has centered on whether the regime placed munitions around the country to 

support a future guerilla war against an external foe. At this point, there is no 

signifi cant documentary evidence to support this contention. Rather, it is clear 

that the regime ordered the distribution of ammunition in order to preserve it 

and possibly fi ght a prolonged conventional war with Coalition forces. A prolonged conventional war forced the wide dispersal of ammunition away from 

logistical bases, primary targets for Coalition airpower. That these munitions 

were available to insurgents was fortuitous for them, but available documentation provides no evidence that dispersal was part of any pre-war master plan 

to support such actions.

War and the Oil Wells

Pre-war American intelligence and even media reporting contained many 

warnings that in the event of a Coalition attack, Saddam would immediately 

torch the country’s oil infrastructure.37 This concern rested on several assumptions, among them:

• Experience during the fi rst Gulf War when the Iraqi army had torched 

hundreds of oil wells in Kuwait as it retreated.

• The practical advantage the military would gain by creating a physical barrier of burning wells to block Coalition movement and obscure 

targeting efforts.

• The widespread idea that Saddam was not beyond ordering a Gotterdammerung (“Twilight of the Gods”) as he went down to his fi nal defeat. 

Captured Iraqi documents indicated that at a regional or even local level 

plans had been made to destroy the northern and southern oil fi elds, and that 

some preparations were underway at the end of 2002. Accounts of movements 

of critical equipment, the preparation of demolition charges, and military 

units moving into position before major combat operations commenced were 

numerous not only among Coalition commentators but among the Iraqis as 

well. However, Saddam, for a variety of reasons, was loath to embark on such 

a path.

Al-Duri [RCC member and Northern Area commander] ordered 

planning for setting explosives on the oil infrastructure. Within 

48 hours after the meeting ended, an order came to Al-Duri 

from Saddam directing him not to do anything to damage or 

destroy the oilfi elds...Saddam felt that destroying the oil fi elds 
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The Regime Prepares for War

would affect the morale of the soldiers and the people. Saddam worried about history indicating that he had destroyed 

the wealth of Iraq.38

Other senior leaders confi rmed that Saddam viewed oil as the primary 

source of wealth for the Iraqi people and that he specifi cally directed them not 

to destroy the oil fi elds.39 In this case, Saddam was in agreement with President 

Bush who admonished the Iraqi leadership “not [to] destroy oil wells, a source 

of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people.”40 As a practical matter, of course, 

Saddam saw no distinction between his own person and the Iraqi people. 

The Ba’ath Party and Its Militia

Ba’ath party preparations focused on refi ning the various emergency 

plans developed during the 1990s.41 These included organizing units to patrol 

for infi ltrators, fi nd deserters, locate insurgents, monitor inter-city travel, and 

counter any airborne assault by the Coalition.42 The following captured document highlights examples of local Ba’ath party preparations:

Al-Zubair Bin Al-Awwam Branch Headquarters [Vicinity of Basra] – Implementation of Defense Methods over Villages

...[T]he branch headquarters, the nation’s party headquarters and other 

groups have executed the procedures and actions as follows:

1. Discussions were completed with regard to the implementation of the 

defense methods over the villages in three consecutive meetings at 

branch headquarters.

2. [A] meeting was conducted on 26 December 2002 for tribal chiefs, family, and religious leaders to clarify resistance to American hostility and 

devilish intentions, and the role of every citizen to cause the retreat of 

the enemy and his shared involvement in the defense of the villages.

3. The nation’s party and other group members held many public speeches 

throughout the area, to explain and clarify the objective of the defense 

methods for the villages and responsibility of each citizen.

4. Table layout was prepared for exercise purposes based on party groups; 

and committees were appointed for inspection. This was implemented 

among [the] main groups and the inspection procedures are still ongoing.

5. The party group headquarters completed tunnel construction in each 

quarter and village borders and main roads.

6. Protective shelters have been constructed on the main roads within the 

people’s and Party group’s positions.
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

7. Tribes were united to perform the plan; the district and area leaders 

were distributed as follows: 

 a. Force commander is the corps commander member, or the senior 

 member working in respective cell.

 b. Assistant force commander will be the tribe chief or the religious 

 leader or the respective public fi gure.

 c. One of the members will be part of the force command and at the 

 same time a deputy commander.

 d. Member of the party group along with one citizen will be part of 

 the force command.

8. Detachments were assembled in each district as follows:

 a. First aid detachment supported with women.

 b. Intelligence detachment supported with women.

 c. Drinking water supply detachment.

 d. Supply rations detachment transport food supplies to citizens.

 e. Cooking detachment for the fi ghters selected from the women.43

Other party leaders, however, were not always as focused on the possibility of a Coalition invasion. Ba’ath Party correspondence from the Diyala 

Governorate dated 19 March 2003 complains that the emergency plan budget 

does not contain enough funds for a new offi ce building or the furniture to go 

in it. At the time this letter was written, Coalition forces were already crossing 

Iraq’s borders.

Immediately prior to the start of hostilities, the Commander of the Middle 

Euphrates region sent his deputy to “inspect training on the emergency plan” 

in the southern zone of the region. The resulting report underlines the kind of 

bluff that eventually came to dominate actual combat reporting: 

• The emergency plan training, which took place on 10 March, began 

with a meeting of all the commanders in the operations center where 

we revised all the plans and checked...the maps, it was good.

• A detailed fi eld inspection of the local sand tables, the cooking facilities, 

the fi ghting trenches, the group prepared for fi ghting air drops. They 

were all good and ready.

• The raised spirits of the tribes is shown by all and the men all pronounce 

that they were good and ready to deal with any emergency.44

 

The inspecting offi cer noted that local authorities should give more attention 

to such things as night training, preparing for enemy airdrops, collecting and 
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The Regime Prepares for War

sending information “as fast as possible,” and ensuring the command was ready 

to deal with “areas which are expected to have riots and troubles.”45 Finally, 

the report offered that the area should be presented as the regional example to 

be shared with other zones since “the people are dealing as if they belong to 

one big united family...the role of the local party supervisor and the esteemed 

governor is very obvious.”46 

Similar to much of the reporting up the chain of command, this account 

failed to refl ect the true condition of local militia readiness or actual preparations. An extensive post-war interview with the retired head of Iraq’s navy (and 

a military advisor to the Ba’ath regional leader in the Central Euphrates region 

of southern Iraq) better illuminated the reality of Ba’ath Party “preparations” 

in the months immediately preceding the Coalition assault:

Around the fi rst week of March 2003, the high command sent 

for me. I was told that the Minister of Defense appointed me to 

the [Central] Euphrates Region as the military advisor to Mizban Khudr Al-Hadi, the Commander of the [Central] Euphrates 

Region. This was one of the mistakes of the political leadership: 

taking a man with almost forty years of experience in the navy 

and assigning him to a non-military man to advise him on a 

ground campaign. I was assisted in this task by a Major General 

Kan’an from the military college.47 

Before the war began I arrived in the [Central] Euphrates Region 

and found that there were no signifi cant preparations being 

made. The [Central] Euphrates Region is an area that’s responsible for Karbala, Najaf, As-Samawa, and Ad-Diwaniyah.48 

In each area there is a party member who commanded the 

governorate of the individual city. These local party heads and 

the Al-Quds force answered to the regional governor, Mizban. 

Governor Mizban was the highest commander in the region, 

something like a corps commander. He told all his city governorates, ‘you’re like my division commanders.’ All forces in the 

region were under his command—even the regular army forces 

answered to him. Each Ba’ath commander had full authority 

inside each city.49 They controlled the police, party functions, the 

Al-Quds force, etc. They did not, however, control the Fedayeen 

Saddam, which was controlled by Uday Hussein, or the Republican Guard, which answered to Qusay Hussein. There was no 

interaction of any type among the different forces.

In As-Samawa on 24 or 25 March, I met with the As-Samawa 

Governorate Ba’ath leader Saif Al-Din Al-Mishadad, and his 

political assistant, Zaiki Faidhi, and asked them about the prepa-
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

rations for the defense of As-Samawa. They explained to me that 

they had divided the Ba’ath members into two branches: the 

As-Samawa Branch in the east part of the city and the Muthena 

Branch in the west. The As-Samawa Branch had an Al-Quds 

force division whose members were all from As-Samawa. I 

asked the assembled leadership for total numbers of fi ghters 

and what they gave me added up to 120,000 soldiers from the 

various tribes, police forces, military units, etc. This was the 

number before the start of the American bombing. I asked for a 

conference with the Ba’ath local leadership and each reviewed 

his situation. I asked for the numbers of deployed soldiers again. 

This time they said most of them were gone, but there were 

30,000 loyal members who would fi ght. I took a map showing 

the Ba’ath and the three brigades of Al-Quds positions and set 

out on a personal inspection. 

According to the leadership, the Ba’ath members were to fi ght 

inside the city and had built some sandbagged positions, while 

the Al-Quds Force was to remain outside. During my inspection I could not fi nd even 10 percent of the 30,000 troops [that 

is 3,000] they told me were ready. When I asked where they 

were, I was told they were all locals and at that moment they 

were either at home or changing shifts—but I was assured that 

they would be right back. In the Al-Quds company-level fi ghting positions, where I should have found approximately 200 

soldiers, there were not even 50 present. I did not complete my 

inspection because it was growing dark and due to security 

concerns from American bombers, etc., I couldn’t use my lights 

to continue.50 

Back at the Ba’ath headquarters in As-Samawa, I told the Ba’ath 

leadership about the scarcity of numbers I had seen, and they 

promised to fi x the problem by morning. I was hopeful and 

thought that since most were civilians that they had matters 

to attend to during the evening and would be ready in the 

morning.51 

On the morning of the 25th, I continued my inspection and the 

situation was even worse. The Ba’ath leadership was giving 

speeches like ‘we’ll punish them; we’ll fi x it all...’ They called 

the tribal chiefs in As-Samawa to try and get more men, but 

the tribes said, ‘We have no weapons, so how can we fi ght?’52 I 

sensed we were losing control of the situation—and the American forces had not yet arrived; there were only air attacks. I told 

the regular Army Chief of Staff that if the Coalition comes, they’ll 

invade the city without any resistance.53 
103

The Regime Prepares for War

Regular Army Preparations

Except for several regular army units attached to Qusay’s Republican 

Guard Command after the 2003 war started, the Iraqis deployed the regular 

army mainly to repel an Iranian attack from the east and south and to contain 

the Kurds in the north. The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces noted that there 

was a growing consensus in the general staff on the escalating Iranian threat.54

When the army command turned to address the growing Coalition threat, local commanders complained that the divided focus on Iran and the possibility 

of a new Coalition assault was more than they could prepare for.55 The army’s 

command handled this by taking worries about the Coalition off their list of 

concerns; after all, Saddam was certain such an attack would not happen.

Units, such as the 11th Infantry Division, which was directly in the path 

of a Coalition invasion, never seriously progressed preparations beyond the 

point where they presented more than a minor challenge to the US Army’s 3rd 

Infantry Division. According to the Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Armed Forces, the 

regime had hastily positioned many regular army units on the eve of war and 

never tied them into any coherent concept of maneuver or defense. 

Prior to February 2003, Iraq had no military forces in Umm 

Qasr and southern Rumaylah. Saddam ordered military units 

placed in southern Rumaylah and Umm Qasr in February to 

prepare a defense against US and Coalition forces attacking 

Iraq. The forces were placed there to guard the Iraqi port and 

petroleum resources. The 45th Infantry Brigade guarded Umm 

Qasr. The 704th Infantry Brigade guarded southern Rumaylah...

There were no Republican Guard units in the southern sector...

The 51st Mechanized Division was to protect the entrances to 

Basra by ways of Umm Qasr, Safwan, and southern Rumaylah, 

and to establish defensive lines around Basra. The 6th Armored 

Division was to protect the entrances of Al-Qurnah [and the] 

bridge in north Rumaylah near Al-Qurnah toward Basra and al 

Dayr, by establishing defensive lines. The 18th Infantry Division 

was tasked to defend the strategic city of Al-Qurnah. It was to 

prevent the enemy from occupying Basra, continue to communicate with the IV corps to the north, and prevent any enemies 

along the supply and communication routes.56

None of this hurried movement and preparation escaped Coalition attention, which made such hastily prepared defensive positions easy targets for 

Coalition fi repower. 

While a listing of Iraqi regular army units gives the impression of considerable military strength, in reality most of these units were in a state of poor 

readiness. Besides crippling morale and manning problems, the state of frontline 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

equipment had deteriorated greatly in the decade since the 1991 Gulf War. The 

chronic effects of sanctions drastically affected the availability of spare parts. 

By the time the war started, only a fraction of Iraqi armor and artillery was still 

functioning.57 Heroic attempts at smuggling spare parts into Iraq continued right Heroic attempts at smuggling spare parts into Iraq continued right 57

through the onset of the war, but such efforts never came close to meeting the 

army’s dire needs.58 As the regular Army’s II Corps Commander noted:

Of the 250 tanks at the start of the war, about 220 were usable. 

About 130 to 145 tanks were in good shape, characterized as 

75 to 80 percent operable. No tanks were in very good or excellent operating condition, characterized as 85 to 90 percent and 

90 percent operable, respectively; the balance of tanks were 

between 50 and 75 percent operable. No night vision capability 

or any other modifi cations had been made to any II Corps tanks. 

No new tanks could be purchased after 1991. Spare parts were 

hard to get, so repairs were made with whatever parts could be 

found. Furthermore, tanks were not sheltered from the elements, 

contributing to their degradation. The tank force was never as 

good after 1991 as it was before.59

Overtasked, poorly equipped, badly supplied, and undermanned, regular 

army troops had little optimism in facing the threat of combat with the Coalition. 

Still, some elements of Iraq’s military attempted to conduct serious planning 

activities even if they simply went through the motions in the end. These nascent plans provide critical insights into how Iraqi military leaders interpreted 

their strategic guidance and subsequently developed their underlying planning 

assumptions. 

Providing a window into Iraqi regular army preparations were a series 

of staff planning documents exchanged between the Minister of Defense, the 

Offi ce of the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Headquarters for the Regular 

Army. One document from late January 2003 details the planning concept for 

the defense of Basra.60 The concept, as articulated, was a logical extension of the 

urban-centric defense plan briefed by the Republican Guard Chief of Staff in 

Baghdad. The overriding assumption was that if the Coalition attacked along 

either the Tigris or Euphrates from Kuwait, its ground forces would expose their 

fl anks to Iraqi forces attacking from cities all the way to Baghdad. 

Apparently, Iraqi army planners never seriously considered the possibility 

of an American attack that would isolate and bypass the southern cities.

• They thought the Coalition military forces would be loathe to leave 

strong pockets of armed resistance along their 400-mile supply line. 

• They had no true appreciation of American logistical capabilities and 

did not believe it was possible to sustain an attack to Baghdad without 

opening up the all the major roads that ran through major southern 

cities.
105

The Regime Prepares for War

• Most had bought into a general belief that even if the Coalition did 

launch a ground assault, its forces would stop after liberating southern 

Iraq and not push on to Baghdad.

Additionally, there was a good portion of wishful thinking throughout the 

offi cer corps. Senior Army leaders remained convinced that Iraqis were superior warriors when compared to the Americans. All their soldiers needed was a 

chance to prove their mettle in combat where the conditions would nullify the 

Coalition’s technological superiority. Some believed that urban battles might 

enable a confrontation to be fought on their own terms. The perception that 

Americans were averse to close combat made some confi dent that if they could 

not defeat them, they could at least bloody any American units that dared to enter the cities. During the course of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, Ba’athist reporting 

from the south supported the planner’s hopes for a series of slow urban fi ghts. 

This “confi rmation” of a key planning assumption made it almost impossible 

to entertain notions that Coalition forces would be doing the opposite.

Specifi c plans to defend the cities followed the regime’s dictates that operations should infl ict the “greatest possible losses on the enemy from the fi rst 

moment of exposure” and “assure the city is held for the longest period of time 

possible.”61 Both of these fi t neatly within Saddam’s tenets that the Americans 

would not continue if they sustained heavy losses. Most of Saddam’s inner 

circle believed that time was on their side. 

Defending Basra 

Basra is the largest city in southern Iraq and the Iraqis planned that it would 

be a key Coalition objective. By studying the Iraqi concept for the defense of 

Basra, it is possible to extrapolate how the Iraqi army planned to defend the 

other cities along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

Forces available for the defense of Basra included conventional military 

formations of the Regular Army’s III and IV Corps, elements of the small 

Iraqi Navy, the local Al Quds militia, members of the General Military Intelligence directorate, and Fedayeen Saddam formations.62 The military concepts 

employed for the defense represented the traditional military doctrine of a 

defense-in-depth, anchored on fi xed strong points throughout the sector. The 

defensive scheme included the use of fi xed obstacles, delaying and resisting 

units, reinforced by tanks and armored personnel carriers, defensive minefi elds, 

a mechanized “corps strike-force,” artillery kill-sacks, and a series of prepared 

fall-back positions. Like all local city commanders, the Basra commanders were 

ordered to stockpile a minimum of 60 days of supplies and munitions. These 

orders emphasized the need to hide and protect such stockpiles “to sustain 

units in the event of their isolation.”63 

The written plan for the defense for Basra refl ected both the intellectual 
106

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

predilection of an offi cer corps determined to sit on the defensive, and in some 

cases, their naiveté in believing that their plans contained a realistic depiction of 

either the Iraqi or the Coalition force. The local authorities in Basra sent excerpts 

of the plan for defending the city to Saddam for approval: 

The chief objective of the defense consists in forcing the enemy 

to be exposed, to... delay [him], and to...infl ict...the largest possible losses, by driving [him] into kill zones, and paving the 

way to launch a mortal blow against him, based on completion 

of a fundamental reorganization of the defense. To achieve 

this objective, it is necessary to distribute the units within the 

defensive position from the frontline to the rear depth in the 

following manner:

First. Units for protecting and observing the defensive minefi elds—composed of fi xed patrols [with] strong cover and concealment; occupy fortifi ed defensive positions and locations, 

with the necessity of insuring secure passages for them within 

the fi elds to perpetuate their movement.

Second. Resistance and hindering forces take the form of autonomous, self-suffi cient infantry companies, reinforced with 

a variety of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. It may be that 

a suitable composition will appear as follows:

(1) An infantry company.

(2) A platoon organized with guided anti-tank weapons.

(3) Anti-aircraft weapons (57mm-caliber guns/shoulder-carried 

rocket launchers).

(4) Tanks and armored personnel carriers.

(5) A network of compatible and redundant communications.

(6) Transformation of these units, as to the manner of the way 

they fi ght, into the defense through attrition, by distributing 

them into small groups assigned to observe the enemy and 

take advantage of opportunities to divert and delay him during 

hours of darkness, in addition to transmitting information.

(7) As appropriate, composition of headquarters mobilized to 

command these forces, in accordance with exposure of their 

frontlines.
107

The Regime Prepares for War

Third. Blocking and surrounding forces, reinforced with a variety of anti-tank weapons, opening up behind the protective 

minefi elds, in the form of a corps battle group or fi ghting groups 

hidden in secured and concealed positions and capable of fi ring 

on their targets, by exiting from their hiding positions to fi ring 

positions (with the body concealed). These units will be able to 

conduct their fi ghting in earnest and, with the assistance of the 

impeding minefi elds, drive the enemy into kill zones, which 

have been chosen and prepared in advance.

Fourth. A main strike force, which takes the form of a corps 

battle group of prevailing armor distributed in refuges to hide 

its mission of launching the strike against the forces of the enemy, after they have been driven into kill zones by the blocking 

and surrounding units. Here it is certainly to assure that these 

opening units at the front possess the capability of avoiding the 

effects of the enemy air forces, by reinforcing the line with fi eld 

air defense weapons.

Fifth. An opening line of artillery, including both principal and 

alternate sites of medium and heavy artillery, distributed in 

the form of batteries in accordance with their being positioned 

for the benefi t of facilitating the concentration of fi re...with the 

assurance that the sites of these batteries will be protected and 

capable of defense from all directions an island of resistance), 

and noting the designation of a section its resources for resisting 

the enemy’s tanks by using appropriate barrage.

Sixth. Special administrative zones for the initial advances for 

the purpose of fi lling defi cits in the supplies for supplying the 

fi ghting of the artillery units. Here it behooves us to assure 

the protection of them from any possible hostile land or air 

threats.

Seventh. A variety of units to confront the invasion and the 

enemy air assault, composed of elements of reconnaissance, 

reinforced by mechanized infantry and appropriate anti-tank 

and anti-aircraft weapons.

Eighth. It is necessary to cover each part of the defensive position 

with a network of observation posts equipped with compatible 

and redundant communications working with each unit from 

the front to the depth of the rear.

Ninth. It behooves us to put in place a detailed and researched 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

plan for the distribution of consolidated, monitoring radars in 

the areas of our opening units.

Tenth. It is assumed that groups of Fedayeen, will work in front 

of the lead artillery units, under the command of the general 

directorate of military intelligence, which has previously conducted research into their composition and methodology, the 

study of which has been forward to your Excellency.64

Besides the requirement to plan and prepare for a possible Coalition attack, 

Saddam tasked local commanders and party leadership to “deal with all the 

situations that may occur such as outside aggression from countries or adjacent 

governates, acts of sabotage, internal rioting, or any other action that requires 

decisive action or fi ghting...For all until death to defend Iraq and its Revolution, Party, and the President.”65 This direction created a command emphasis 

on securing critical facilities, specifi cally the homes of Ba’ath offi cials, as well 

as controlling the roads and bridges between the governorates (so a revolt in 

one area did not spill over into adjacent areas). Once again, concerns about 

the internal situation were clearly impeding preparations to meet a Coalition 

invasion.

To ensure that those involved in the defense were fully committed to carrying out their duty, the plan concluded with a typical effort to motivate by 

threat.

Fighters from specified forces in the plan will not retreat, 

whether in yards, streets, or headquarters, for any reason, 

except by a written and clear order from the emergency force 

command...severe punishment by way of summary execution 

will be carried out immediately following insubordination in 

front of the fi ghters.66

On 23 February, the Army’s Chief of Staff issued the results of a planning 

directorate meeting on the possible course an American invasion might take and 

the steps necessary to meet such an eventuality.67 For the fi rst time, the regime 

informed Iraqi forces in the south to prepare to engage in offensive operations. 

The new orders included:

First: Executing operations against the enemy during their assembly which was ordered by the central decree in accordance 

with direction from the President, Commander in Chief of the 

Armed Forces. The aims of the operations are to make trouble 

for and to intimidate the enemy during their assembly and also 

during the beginning of the attack on our troops.

Second: Form small Fedayeen commando fi ghting groups from 

special forces, deep reconnaissance and commando companies 
109

The Regime Prepares for War

equipped with weapons and suitably prepared. The duties of 

these groups are to infl ict maximum damage to the enemy 

defensive lines, positions, and helicopters.68 

Yet, as is the case with many Iraqi military documents, the Chief of Staff’s 

missive was long on ideas and short on the specifi cs required to implement the 

plan. Moreover, with only weeks left before the Coalition assault, it was too late 

to imbue the Iraqi army with a renewed offensive spirit. Besides presenting a 

rich target set for Coalition aircraft, any Iraqi attack into Kuwait would have run 

directly into the massed fi repower of American and British armored units.

In the end, such plans seemed designed to show activity and confi dence 

rather than actual defensive preparation. The ‘hope that the invasion wouldn’t 

happen’ was a common thread in planning and preparation efforts undertaken 

by the Iraqi regular army in the days immediately prior to the war.69 Given the 

nature of the regime, it was understandable that many planning staffs produced 

documents that were focused on the rhetorical at the expense of the practical.

Republican Guard Preparations

As indicated in the previous chapter, Saddam and Qusay provided the 

Republican Guard corps and division commanders with a shell of a defense 

plan on 18 December—the ring plan. One of the division commanders present 

at a later planning meeting claimed that the commanders who were expected 

to put the ring plan into effect were not allowed to have actual copies of the 

plan, but could only make notes.70 

Saddam’s new plan called into question 12 years of previous military 

planning and the underlying operational assumptions. In the absence of clear 

implementing instructions, Saddam and Qusay counted on the Republican 

Guard commanders to display considerable initiative to make the plan work.71

Unfortuantely, initiative was not a trait valued or even encouraged among 

Republican Guard offi cers. In effect, serious planning for the defense of Iraq 

simply ceased in the months before the invasion. The Republican Guard II Corps 

commander later commented to interviewers: 

In January 2003, during the resumption of United Nations inspections, the Republican Guard commanders kept wondering 

which plan we were supposed to be preparing. Very little was 

being passed to us from the Republican Guard Chief of Staff. I 

kept asking him, ‘Which plan?’ and he kept putting me off by 

issuing confusing or partial answers. I spoke to my counterpart 

in the I Republican Guard Corps and asked him to try and get 

some clarity from the Republican Guard Chief of Staff. He was 

unable to help. By late February and into early March 2003, we 

watched the military build-up in Kuwait and Turkey, and the 
110

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

mobilization of forces in the United States on the news. We still 

had no clear guidance from Republican Guard headquarters. So 

I started meeting with my commanders and staff offi cers to plan 

for the coming war. I included in these meetings the security 

offi cials (Special Security Organization, Directorate of Military 

Intelligence, etc.) assigned to my headquarters, because I did not 

want there to be any suspicions in Baghdad as to my purpose. 

There was already a kind of “cloud” around me.72 

From mid-February we started preparing extensive defensive 

positions. We made preparations and in some cases spread out 

forces away from their garrison locations. Most of this movement was from 15 February to approximately 1 March 2003. 

I recall that we prepared over 7,000 armored vehicle fi ghting 

positions during this time.73 We moved tons of ammunition, 

changed the storage locations, and extensively camoufl aged 

our fuel and ammunition stocks. I gave guidance to the commanders to save their ammunition for helicopters and not to 

engage fi xed-wing aircraft, [because] we expected an extensive 

air campaign by the Coalition. I also instructed them to begin 

making extensive reconnaissance from North to South in front 

of their positions.74 

Sometime in mid- to late-February 2003, I met with Qusay and 

the Republican Guard Chief of Staff because the Special Security 

Organization Chief had reported on my staff meetings and said 

that I was deploying my forces without authority. I was able to 

convince them of my honest intentions.75

On about 1 March, I ordered all remaining II Republican Guard 

Corps units to deploy out of garrison locations. The Republican 

Guard Chief of Staff called and told me I was deploying forces 

too early. I replied that I was personally responsible as a commander for over 70,000 men, 1,000 vehicles, and hundreds of 

cannons. How could I wait while the Coalition has the capability to strike? I told the Republican Guard Chief of Staff that as 

commander I was responsible for my decisions, and we ended 

the conversation without conclusion.76 

About three days before the war, approximately 16 March, but I 

cannot be sure, I met with the Republican Guard Chief of Staff. 

He and his staff were reviewing news on the Internet, and all 

the news was very bad.77 I was upset and told him that it was 

immoral that I was a corps commander and yet he had not told 

me anything about what was happening. He did not even notify 
111

The Regime Prepares for War

me when units moved from the I Republican Guard Corps. We 

were close to war and there were no planning meetings!78 

For example, an order was issued by the Republican Guard 

staff for the Republican Guard’s Adnan Division to move from 

Mosul to the area of Bayji-Tikrit about a week prior to the war. 

Additionally, there was the order for the Republican Guard’s 

Nebuchadnezzar Infantry Division to move from the area of 

Kirkuk to an area northeast of Tikrit also about a week prior to 

the war. I was never told of these moves beforehand and they 

had an impact on my planning for the II Republican Guard 

Corps.79 

I had strong confi dence in everyone around me including staff 

offi cers, commanders, leaders, and soldiers. We tried to beat 

time, imagining the war and working out the specifi cs of how 

it would go. We set up realistic training programs and broad 

operational agendas to make the preparations. I had set 15 

February 2003 as the drop-dead time for completing all of these 

actions. We fi nished deploying all of the corps’ troops starting 

from that date, and on my personal responsibility. Many, especially political and security offi cials, asked about the source 

of this conduct since one tank moving outside its barracks is 

considered a crime in the Republican Guard. I attributed all of 

this activity to myself in light of our analysis of the political 

and military situation. The strange thing was that no planning 

meetings were held. No meetings to investigate the political 

and military positions and to analyze them were conducted. It 

was as though the war was not about to start. Where were the 

intelligence assessments to supply us with the information we 

needed? Most of what was available was superfi cial.80

Despite the fact that my suggestions to the commanders, leaders, and soldiers in every one of my meetings did stray from 

the essence of the national political and media dialog, I tried 

to approach the images of reality one way or another even for 

the lowest ranking warriors. There were priorities that I set in 

directing operations at the end of February, like so:

I. Finish the necessary preparations for combat and make sure 

they are well-set all the way down to the rank of private. Pay 

constant attention to cover and concealment.

II. Do not use the alternate locations unless the primary locations 

have been exposed to enemy bombardment.
112

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

III. Send reconnaissance patrols and open observation posts. 

Establish ambushes with air defense weapons.

IV. Rely on wired communications and runners and prohibit 

the use of radio communications except in battle.

V. Specify the operations in the artillery fi eld, and specify locations for mobile artillery. 

VI. Direct freedom of action to deal with emergency situations 

if the enemy surprises us with deep-penetration patrols, and 

notifying higher headquarters of any developments in the 

situation.81

The Secretary of the Republican Guard painted a similarly bleak picture of 

preparations prior to the invasion: 

The Republican Guard did not perform any special training 

to defend Baghdad. Republican Guard units only had their 

typical individual and small unit training. There was never a 

war game of the defense of Baghdad because Saddam Hussein 

thought there would be a fi ght away from Baghdad and closer 

to the borders. In anticipation of the war, units were ordered to 

dig in and reinforce their defensive positions. They were issued 

enough ammunition, food, fuel, and supplies for one month. 

Soldiers were paid three months’ salary.82

Besides issuing his simplistic ring plan, Saddam’s supervision of the planning process appears to have been minimal. His participation was limited to 

giving his commanders inspirational speeches that bore no relationship to the 

gathering storm. On 30 December 2002, he spoke to his senior military leaders 

in the following fashion: 

We do not want this war, but if it is forced on us, we will force 

America to her knees. We will destroy her armies on the border 

of the desert, and if God wishes, the great evil force will fail before the forces of righteousness, no matter how small. If America 

[had] crumbled before the former Soviet Union, people would 

have said that a superpower had triumphed over a superpower, 

and there is nothing amazing about that. I am confi dent in our 

victory and that America will be made to kneel if she comes with 

her army, because God does not have any army left to fi ght for 

his cause other than the army of Iraq.83

With Saddam’s optimistic predictions ringing in their ears, the Iraqi regime 

and its military forces prepared to confront the armed forces of the Coalition. 

The attitude of those around was summed up when the President’s Secretary, 
113

The Regime Prepares for War

Abid-Hamid, announced to the assembled offi cers before they met with Saddam, “My brothers, the President is tired of the way things are. Do not mention 

any problems, concentrate on the positive.”84 Even General Hamdani, the plan’s 

most vocal critic up until that point, went silent. 

Final Events Prior to 19 March

As military and paramilitary preparations continued into March, the prospect of a diplomatic “win” for the regime ebbed. Despite Iraq’s commitment to 

renewed inspections, new declarations and documentation, and the destruction 

of Al-Samoud missiles, Saddam’s international “allies” had not been able to halt 

the massive build-up of Coalition forces. Nevertheless, even though President 

Vladimir Putin had ordered the evacuation of Russian citizens from Iraq, the 

Russian ambassador assured Iraqi offi cials that:

Russia, together with France and Germany, and expectedly 

joined by Syria and China, had prepared a resolution responding to the American-British resolution presented to the Security 

Council. Also, he stated that voting on the two resolutions was 

scheduled for March 9. The ambassador, also, indicated that a 

number of the Security Council’s countries, including Pakistan, 

Chile, and Kenya are expected to refrain from voting.85 

These developments gave Saddam hope that the international community 

could dissuade the Coalition from attacking. In mid-March 2003, Saddam held 

a meeting with intelligence service offi cials. A post-war account of the meeting 

shows that Saddam seemed sure he could avert war, even at this late date:86

A few weeks before the attacks Saddam still thought that the 

United States would not use ground forces; he thought that you 

would only use your air force...Of course he was aware [of the 

build-up of forces in the region], it was all over the television 

screen. He thought [the Americans] would not fi ght a ground 

war, because it would be too costly to the Americans. He was 

over-confi dent. He was clever, but his calculations were poor. 

It wasn’t that he wasn’t receiving the information; it was right 

there on television, but he didn’t understand international relations perfectly.87 

In the end, Saddam fi nally understood that the Coalition assault was only 

days or hours away and he took decisive measures to protect what mattered 

to him most—his position. In a discussion with the head of the Central Bank of 

Iraq and other senior leaders about ten months before the Coalition invasion, 

Saddam expressed concern that if a war started, the Central Bank would be 

bombed and all the country’s hard currency would be destroyed.88 In order to 
114

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

secure the cash, Saddam ordered what was essentially a raid on the Central 

Bank of Iraq:

On or about March 19, 2003, Saddam arranged a meeting between the presidential secretary, Qusay, and the fi nance minister 

... Saddam ordered the withdrawal of one and a quarter billion 

dollars and euros...The money was taken in approximately 300 

metal cases. Each metal case held 3 to 4 million in [U.S. dollars] 

and euros for a total amount of approximately one billion and 

30 million. The gold was left behind at the Central Bank of Iraq 

because gold is gold, even if it burns down. Saddam agreed to 

leave it at the Central Bank of Iraq. The amount of gold at the 

Central Bank of Iraq was 4.5 tons in brick form. Saddam was 

waiting at the main presidential palace for money because it 

was taking all night, and he was expecting the [Americans] to 

begin attacking Iraq.89 

It is clear that even as he led Iraq into military defeat, Saddam prepared 

for the internal security aftermath of the coming battle. One lesson from 1991 

was while the use of force was still the stock and trade of this regime, cash was 

an increasingly effective form of ammunition to either confront or motivate 

the tribes.
115

The Regime Prepares for War

Notes

1 Captured document, (July 2002) “Military Magazine.”

2

 Captured document, (9 March 2003) “Saddam’s Speech to IIS Directors.”

3

 Captured document, (9 March 2003) “Saddam’s Speech to IIS Directors.” 

4

 Project interview of Zuhayr Talib Abd al-Satar Al-Naquib, Director of Military Intelligence, 16 

Nov 2003.

5

 Classified Intelligence Report, May 2003.

6

 As noted by Tariq Aziz, the Iraqis often overstated the degree to which their influence campaign 

had any tangible effects. In several cases they adjusted the targets of their campaign in order 

to get more impact (See captured document, (5 February 2002) “Memo from the Assistant of 

Intelligence Service for Operations, 4th Directorate, to Director of the IIS regarding French-Iraqi 

Relations.”).

7

 Classified Intelligence Report, June 2004. It should be noted that none of the contracts were executed “...Iraq concluded a contract with a Russian oil company to exploit the Majnoon oil field 

in southern Iraq. However, the Russian company could not raise the required capital (20—30 

billion USD) to execute the contract. In response to the failure of the Russian company, Iraq approached China and France and offered them a contract. The company involved was probably 

the Total oil company. France agreed to the contract in principle, but with the stipulation that it 

would not be executed until sanctions were lifted. Negotiations with China were still on-going 

when the Iraqi regime fell.” 

8

 Classified Intelligence Report, June 2004. Additionally, for an extensive and authoritative description of the Oil-for-Influence program see also Strategic Intent section, Vol. 1 of the “Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD” (CIA, 30 September 2004).

9

 Lionel Jospin was the French Prime Minister from 1997–2002. 

10 Jacques Chirac has been the President of France since 1995.

11 Classified Intelligence Report, May 2003.

12 For more information on the way Saddam’s regime attempted to influence foreign politicians 

and officials through the issuance of oil allocations under the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program, 

please see the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Report on Oil Allocations Granted to the Russian 

Presidential Council, Report on Oil Allocations Granted to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and Report 

on Oil Allocations Granted to Charles Pasqua & George Galloway, May 17, 2005.

13 See Strategic Intent section, Vol. 1 of the “Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the 

DCI on Iraq’s WMD” (CIA, 30 September 2004).

14 Strategic Intent section, Vol. 1 of the “Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI 

on Iraq’s WMD” (CIA, 30 September 2004) p.34.

15 The Palestinian Liberation Organization leader, Yasser Arafat, then replied: “Israel has 240 

nuclear warheads for Arab countries, 12 nuclear warheads for every Arab country, [but] these 

things won’t threat[en] Arab security.” Captured video tape, (19 April 1990) “Video Containing a Recorded Meeting that took place among President Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi Cabinet, 

President Yasser Arafat, and the Palestinian Delegation.” 

16 Classified Intelligence Report, March 2004. Also project interview of Ali Hasan al-Majid, 10 Nov 

2003. Chemical Ali believes there were no WMD in Iraq and the entire issue with Saddam and 
116

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

WMD was to scare neighboring countries.

17 Classified Intelligence Report, June 2004.

18 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

19 Captured document, (2 July 1996) “IIS Memorandum 945/712: Secret Instructions When International Inspection Teams Check Sites.”

20 United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, Statement in the Security Council on Iraq, 5 February 2003.

21 United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, Statement in the Security Council on Iraq, 5 February 2003.

22 Captured Iraqi document, (11 January 2003) “Ba’ath party Memo Number 460.” Additional 

examples include document, (1 Dec 2002) “Memo from Ali Libi Hajil to All Party Commands,” 

which states “It’s mandatory to assign the party unit in the west side to be on the look-out and 

detect any infiltration attempts or reconnaissance planes flying over the restricted area and 

notify the authorities about any attempts by the Zionist foe or the American enemy to bury 

any proscribed material and then accuse Iraq with it. Please review and pass it on to all party 

organizations and give the matter great urgency and importance.” Another memorandum, (27 

Dec 2002) “Memo To All Party Commands Regarding Outsiders Planting Sanctioned Materials 

in Iraq” notes, “take precautions from the enemy implanting material prohibited according to 

U.S. sanctions which could lead to a justifiable attack against Iraq and please take all precaution 

in protecting all borders, especially Iran and Kuwait borders, and to watch for any movement 

and not give the enemy a chance.”

23 Captured Iraqi document, (11 January 2003) “Ba’ath party Memo Number 460.”

24 Captured document, (15 December 2002) “UN Inspection Visit.”

25 Captured document, (Jan—Mar 2003) “Meeting Minutes: Hussein Military Branch Command, 

Sinhareeb Division.” A good example can be found in the 13 January 2003 directive to substitute 

in all instances of the phrase “American strike” with the phrase “American aggression.”

26 In the next chapter we will see the effect they had on the morale of the Iraqi soldiers.

27 Captured document, (8 March 2003) “Correspondence Between Air Force Command and the 

Office of the Commander Regarding Orders for Psychological Operations Units.” 

28 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 

29 Classified Intelligence Report, March 2003. 

30 For example, the official Ba’ath Party “Rumor Form” had such data categories as type, source, 

setting, analysis, response, and official opinion. Captured document, (15 December 2002) “Correspondences and Circulations of Ba’ath Party, Fallujah Branch Including Emergency Plans.”

31 Captured document, (11 March 2003) “Information Letter from the Iraq Military Intelligence Directorate about Anthrax; Leaflets; American Forces Impersonation, and Oil Barrel Trenches.”

32 Classified Intelligence Report, 21 April 2003. 

33 Captured document, (December 2002) “Memo From Iraqi Secretary of State Office to Commanders in Charge of All Parties Organizations Regarding Emergency Plans.”

34 Joint Forces Command interview of COL Jamal Altaaey, Iraqi prisoner of war, Camp Bucca, 10 

July 2003 .

35 Captured document, (16 March 2003) “Memorandum from Army Chief of Staff: Subject—Moving Munitions.” 
117

The Regime Prepares for War

31 Captured document, (11 March 2003) “Information Letter from the Iraq Military Intelligence Directorate about Anthrax; Leafl ets; American Forces Impersonation, and Oil Barrel Trenches.”

32 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, 21 April 2003. 

33 Captured document, (December 2002) “Memo From Iraqi Secretary of State Offi ce to Commanders in Charge of All Parties Organizations Regarding Emergency Plans.”

34 Joint Forces Command interview of COL Jamal Altaaey, Iraqi prisoner of war, Camp Bucca, 10 

July 2003 .

35 Captured document, (16 March 2003) “Memorandum from Army Chief of Staff: Subject—Moving Munitions.” 

36 Captured document, (21 March 2003), “Memorandum from Commander, Combat School of the 

1st Corps to BUI Arsenal.”

37 For example see MEMRI Iraq News Wire—No. 14, 6 March 2003. See also Gregory Hooker, 

Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Role of Military Assessments, (Washington 

Institute for Near East Policy, 2005), p. 79.

38 Project interview of Kamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan Al-Tikriti, Secretary of the Republican 

Guard and Special Republican Guard, 14 Nov 2003.

39 Project interview of Zuhayr Talib Abd Al-Satar Al-Naquib, Director of Military Intelligence, 16 

Nov 2003.

40 Address by the President of the United States to the Nation, 17 March 2003.

41 Captured document, (19 March 2003) “Correspondence Among High Level Offi cials Regarding 

the Amount of Money Needed for Emergency Plans for the Various Governates.” 

42 Captured document, (December 2002) “Ba’ath Military Branch Memorandum—Emergency 

Plan B.” 

43 Captured document, (Date undetermined, but after 26 December 2002) “Ba’ath Implementation 

of Local Defense Plans.”

44 Captured Document, (17 March 2003) “A Report on the Emergency Plan Training of Al-Muthanna 

Governate.” 

45 Captured Document, (17 March 2003) “A Report on the Emergency Plan Training of Al-Muthanna 

Governate.” 

46 Captured Document, (17 March 2003) “A Report on the Emergency Plan Training of Al-Muthanna 

Governate.” 

47 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 

48 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.”

49 Taha used the full name for the Ba’ath party which was the Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party or the 

initials ABSP. 

50 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” Based on other documents and examining the 

Coalition timeline it is possible that the actual dates for this inspection tour should be at least 

a week earlier. See captured document, (17 March 2003) “Report on Emergency Plan Training 

of Al-Muthanna Governate.” Also project interview of LTG Kenan Mansour Khalil Al-Obadi, 

Senior Military Advisor to RCC Member Mizban Khudr Al-Hadi, 30 Nov, 2003. 

51 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 
118

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

52 As-Samawa is in the predominantly Shiite area of Southern Iraq and tribal loyalties to the regime 

have been suspect since the 1991 uprising in the area. 

53 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” The Iraqi Army Chief of Staff was LTG Ibrahim 

Ahmad Abd Al-Sattar Muhammad Al-Tikriti. 

54 Project interview of Zuhayr Talib Abd Al-Satar Al-Naquib, Director of Military Intelligence, 16 

Nov 2003.

55 Project interview of Major General Hamid Isma’aeli Dawish Al-R’baei, Director General of 

Republican Guard General Staff, 18 Nov 2003.

56 Project interview of Zuhayr Talib Abd al Satar Al Naquib, Director of Military Intelligence, 16 

Nov 2003, and project interview of Ali Hasan Al-Majid (Chemical Ali), 10 Nov 2003.

57 Note: This was not as true of the Republican Guard formations, which had fi rst call on available 

spare parts.

58 For example, see captured document, (6 March 2003) “Contract for the Tank Engines and Spare 

Parts.” The MIC was facilitating a $5 million shipment of spares for T22 and T55 tanks as well as 

BMP-1 fi ghting vehicles from a Bulgarian fi rm through a Syrian corporation and family across 

the Syrian border. 

59 Project interview of Raad Hamdani, Commander II Republican Guard Corps, 10 Nov 2003.

60 Captured document, (20 February 2003) “Report by the Offi ce of the Chief of Staff of the Army 

on Iraq Battle Plan.” 

61 Captured document, (20 February 2003) “Report by the Offi ce of the Chief of Staff of the Army 

on Iraq Battle Plans.”

62 The general offi cers interviewed for this project all denied any direct knowledge of the Fedayeen 

Saddam to include the integration of Fedayeen forces into conventional planning. The planning 

document referred to in this section identifi ed Fedayeen and other unspecifi ed “commando” 

forces operating both “inside and outside” and being used to “strike the enemy’s rear and his 

assembly areas and his means of communications.” Captured document, (20 February 2003) 

“Report by the Offi ce of the Chief of Staff of the Army on Iraq Battle Plans.” 

63 Captured document, (20 February 2003) “Report by the Offi ce of the Chief of Staff of the Army 

on Iraq Battle Plans.”

64 While there appears to be a disconnect between what most of the Regular Army and Republican Guard offi cers interviewed for this project stated about conventional force and Fedayeen 

Saddam integration and what documents like this one imply, the difference is more linguistic 

than real. When translated, the word Fedayeen can be “one who sacrifi ces.” But this term is also 

used in reference to “commando” or “special forces” in general as opposed to the very specifi c 

organization known as Fedayeen Saddam. See captured document, (20 Feb 2003) “Report by 

the Offi ce of the Chief of Staff of the Army on Iraq Battle Plans.”

65 Captured document, (2003) “Emergency Plan for Al-Basrah Governate.” 

66 Captured document, (2003) “Emergency Plan for Al-Basrah Governate.” 

67 Captured document, (8 March 2003) “Top Secret Letter of Army Chief of Staff # 2195 dated 23 

February 2003.” 

68 Captured document, (8 March 2003) “Top Secret letter of Army Chief of Staff # 2195 dated 23 

February 2003.”

69 Captured document, (8 March 2003) “Top Secret letter of Army Chief of Staff # 2195 dated 23 

February 2003.”
119

The Regime Prepares for War

70 Interview of Salih Ibrahim Hammadi Al-Salamani, Commander, Baghdad Republican Guard 

Division, 10 Nov 2003.

71 Captured military planning documents in the period before the 2003 war indicate a military 

staff planning and orders process that routinely produced very detailed logistics, command 

and control, medical, and security annexes for even minor military operations. 

72 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” Numerous senior leaders discussed the danger of 

meetings outside the visibility of the senior leadership.

73 According to the Al-Nida Division’s chief of staff there were four positions dug for the more 

than 500 armored vehicles in the Al-Nida. This does not include complete dummy brigade 

positions 5-10 km away from the actual locations. Project interview of Al-Nida Division Chief 

of Staff, 28 Nov 2003.

74 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

75 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

76 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

77 Numerous senior Iraqi leaders have indicated in interviews that open source information (Internet) about the disposition and intent of the Coalition was a primary source of information. 

78 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

79 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.”

80 Unpublished draft memoirs of LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander II Republican Guard Corps.

81 Unpublished draft memoirs of LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander II Republican Guard Corps.

82 Interview of Kamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan Al-Tikriti, 14 Nov. 2003.

83 Unpublished draft memoirs of LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander II Republican Guard Corps. 

84 Unpublished draft memoirs of LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander II Republican Guard Corps.

85 Captured document, (Date unclear—probably fi rst week of March 2003) “Russian Report on 

American Troop Dispositions in the Gulf.” References place the document date sometime during 

the fi rst week of March 2003.

86 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, June 2003.

87 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003.

88 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, June 2003.

89 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003.

VI. DOOMED EXECUTION
Soldiers of the Special Republican Guard - 20021

There are confl icting reports and no one can confi rm the veracity of the US story that US 

forces have made a breach in one of the combat points...The Iraqi Information Minister 

said that these reports are part of a confused method and a military strategy that seeks to 

create a propaganda clamor.

—Al-Jazirah reporter2
123

VI. DOOMED EXECUTION

Everyone in whose body the Hulegu’s intent and action has settled 

down—will commit suicide at the walls of Baghdad and Iraq towns, 

as was the case with those who died at the walls of Jenin and Palestinian towns. 

— Saddam Hussein, 13 January 20033

Reconstructing the events of the fi nal days of Saddam’s regime remains 

and likely will remain a challenge. From the Iraqi government viewpoint, the 

war was a series of events that it could never get ahead of and rarely comprehended. In the midst of an increasingly chaotic situation, both the regime and 

its military institutions lost control. Moreover, Saddam’s peculiar leadership 

style, the operational concept employed by the Coalition, and the rapid collapse 

of major Iraqi forces all tend to obscure contemporary analysis of the war from 

an Iraqi perspective. The diffi culty in building a precise picture lies in the fact 

that though individual sources were well placed by position and background 

to describe events, they rarely possessed a complete view of the battle.4 The 

fi nal Iraqi military collapse came so fast that no one on Iraqi command side 

could grasp a complete picture.

Nevertheless, based on numerous post-war interviews with the Iraqi 

commanders and the recovery of hundreds of thousands of contemporaneous documents, an outline of events that is plausibly accurate is coming into 

view. While the incomplete nature of this evidence should temper the fi nality 

of judgments, one must remember that much has already been written and 

many judgments have been made about the war without the benefi t of any 

Iraqi perspective at all.

Though several key Iraqi commanders were interviewed for this book, this 

account of the operations centers on the interviews of a few key offi cers, wellplaced to view many key events, and relatively perceptive and honest with 

interviewers. The most impressive of these interviewees was one of the few 

truly competent offi cers Saddam tolerated near the top ranks of the regime, 

Lieutenant General Hamdani, who served during the war as Commander of 

the Republican Guard II Corps. Hamdani provided considerable insights into 

the efforts of the Republican Guard II Corps to defend such areas as the Karbala 

Gap and the nature of Iraqi military plans and preparations.

Hamdani’s views on the conduct of the defense of the Karbala Gap suggested that an adversary not hampered by the restrictions imposed by Saddam 

could have posed serious diffi culties to a modern attacking force. Hamdani 

himself had had a long and distinguished career in the Iraqi Army, possessing 

extensive combat experience beginning as a platoon commander during the 1973 

Yom Kippur War, in which the Iraqi forces were sent to reinforce the Syrians 

at the end of that confl ict. More recently, he served in the front lines for much 
124

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

of the Iran-Iraq War as a battalion commander and was a brigade commander 

during DESERT STORM.

5

 

His long war service in front-line units identifi ed him as both a competent 

offi cer and an individual Saddam could trust. Given the regime’s paranoia, 

military competence was no guarantee of advancement or even survival. What 

protected General Hamdani from a fate that befell some of the military leaders 

from the Iran-Iraq War was the fact that Saddam’s sons, Qusay and Uday, as 

well as Tariq Aziz’s son, served in his battalion during the war with Iran.6 In a 

regime where social connections sometimes counted for more than competence, 

the relationship the general established with those three individuals undoubtedly helped to propel him to the top of the Republican Guard and protected 

him from Saddam identifying him as a danger to the Ba’ath regime.

General Hamdani was particularly well placed during the OPERATION IRAQI

FREEDOM to present an account of the Iraqi view of the war.7 His Republican 

Guard II Corps was responsible for defending the southeastern approaches to 

Baghdad along which both the US 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Marine 

Division advanced. In short, he commanded the Iraqi troops facing the American 

main effort and supporting ground attacks.

As stated earlier, the Iraqi military commanders charged with their nation’s 

defense found themselves hamstrung by a number of interrelated factors. 

Quite simply, Saddam trusted no one with the possible exception of his sons. 

Thus, Iraqi commanders were not able to make the necessary preparations and 

deployments to meet a Coalition ground invasion. Moreover, Saddam’s fear 

of a coup continued to make it impossible for even corps commanders to do 

any signifi cant collaborative planning.8 The fi nal effect of such distrust made it 

impossible to create coherent plans above the corps level for Iraq’s defense.

It is worth re-stating the handicaps that hobbled Iraqi generals even within 

the purview of their individual commands. Incessant spying, suspicion, and 

interference by often militarily incompetent superiors—political and military—was a constant psychological stress as well as a serious impediment to 

making military preparations. Saddam’s threat calculations, as well as the inability and/or unwillingness of most of his subordinates to provide accurate 

information, exacerbated the planning diffi culties throughout the system. A 

combination of mutually exclusive political assumptions and a national security 

system where truth was in short supply conspired to make adequate preparations for war virtually impossible—especially a war that Saddam repeatedly 

announced would not happen. Finally, there was the negative impact of the 

change in war plans on December 18, 2002. Barely three months before the onset 

of hostilities, Hamdani and his colleagues found themselves saddled with an 

unworkable and unrealistic plan for the defense of central Iraq and Baghdad—a 

plan that Saddam had drawn up at the last moment without regard to military 

realities and apparently without the advice of any of his more competent senior 

military commanders.9
125

Doomed Execution

The Coalition Psychological Campaign—Effects of Precision 

Weapons

From the Iraqi perspective, it appeared, as in 1991, that any Coalition attack 

would begin with lengthy air operations.10 Saddam, it seems, believed that air 

attacks would be the primary military means the Coalition would utilize against 

Iraq. Most of his senior military offi cers still using the template of the Gulf War 

believed Coalition efforts would open with a sustained air campaign possibly 

followed weeks later by ground operations.11 It was a shock to many of them 

when the Coalition offensive began with a simultaneous air and ground attack, 

coupled with a comprehensive psychological operations campaign aimed at 

undermining the willingness of Iraqi soldiers to fi ght. It is likely that at the 

time, Coalition planners underappreciated the psychological effects precision fi repower had on Iraqi combat units. Lieutenant General Majid Husayn 

Ali Ibrahim Al-Dulaymi, Commander of the Republican Guard I Corps, told 

interviewers after the war, “Our units were unable to execute anything due to 

worries induced by psychological warfare. They were fearful of modern war, 

pin-point war in all climates and in all weather.”12

The general then added that psychological operations were “the bullet that 

hits the heart before hitting the body.... When it hits, it makes a fearful man; 

he walks without a brain. Even the lowest soldier knew we couldn’t stop the 

Americans.”13 Besides the normal tools of a psychological campaign such as 

leafl ets and radio broadcasts, the general emphasized the impact of precision 

weapons on the psychology of Iraqi soldiers. He himself received a severe shock 

during a visit to the Adnan Republican Guard Division shortly after a series 

of precision air attacks had obliterated one of its battalions that moved in the 

open. In his words, “The level of precision of those attacks put real fear into 

the soldiers of the rest of the division. The Americans were able to induce fear 

throughout the army by using precision air power.”14

The story of the Al-Nida Division, which as we have seen earlier was the 

best-equipped division in the Iraqi military, underlines the devastating psychological effects of Coalition airpower. Considering that the Al-Nida Division 

was never really engaged in the ground fi ghting during the course of the war, 

what happened to it suggests that psychological operations, integrated with 

precision fi re, created a generalized dread of seemingly inevitable destruction; 

this combination quite literally broke the will of many Iraqi units subjected to 

it. In the eyes of the average Iraqi soldier, Iraq’s inability to stop the United 

States from “fl ying 8,000 miles to drop its trash (pamphlets)” on them proved 

the regime’s military impotence. The fact that the Coalition seemed to know 

exactly where to drop the “trash” made every soldier in the Republican Guard 

feel as if they were in “a sniper’s sight.” Witnessing the effects of precision 

weapons that devastated exposed positions did not help already poor morale.15

The Al-Nida commander offered the following opinion on the psychological 

effects of Coalition air attacks on his troops:
126

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

The air attacks were the most effective message. The soldiers 

who did see the leaflets and then saw the air attacks knew the 

leaflets were true. They believed the message after that, if they 

were still alive. Overall they had a terrible effect on us. I started 

the war with 13,000 soldiers. By the time we had orders to pull 

back to Baghdad, I had less than 2,000; by the time we were in 

position in Baghdad, I had less than 1,000. Every day the desertions increased. We had no engagements with American forces. 

When my division pulled back across the Diyala Bridge, of the 

more than 500 armored vehicles assigned to me before the war, I 

was able to get fifty or so across the bridge. Most were destroyed 

or abandoned on the east side of the Diyala River.16

In effect, precise airpower and the fear it engendered made an entire division of the Republican Guard combat ineffective. In this case it was not so much 

destroyed as dissolved. For the average Iraqi soldier the Americans appeared to 

be blowing up every hole that they could find. It must have been an unnerving 

realization when each of them realized they were hiding in a hole. 

The Air Campaign 

Regime High-Value Targets

The opening salvo of “The Defining Battle” was an American air strike on 

Saddam’s suspected location. Although the attack missed Saddam, it did confuse him about US intentions. According to Saddam’s personal secretary, the 

first US missiles hit a Baghdad residence called “Dora Farm.” While Saddam’s 

wife and daughters had at times used this residence, Saddam himself had 

reportedly not set foot on Dora Farm since 1995. The morning of the opening 

attack, at approximately 0330 Baghdad time, Saddam and his bodyguards went 

to his personal secretary’s house. It was an attempt to try and discover what 

had happened and determine if this were the start of the impending Coalition offensive. After gathering what information they could, Saddam and his 

personal secretary relocated to a safe house in the Al-Mansur neighborhood in 

central Baghdad. Upon arriving in Al-Mansur, Saddam anxiously recorded a 

video message for the Iraqi people. Because they had no staff, Saddam wrote 

the speech in his own hand, which required him to appear for the first time on 

television wearing his oversized glasses.17 

The attack on Dora Farm signaled the start of the Coalition air campaign 

and caused the Iraqi air defense command to immediately swing into action. 

Despite a profound inability to limit the ferocity of the Coalition air attacks it 

did demonstrate a determination to appear effective. Which to some extent was 

all that really mattered. As Saddam often reminded his officers, effort in the face 

of overwhelming force was the key to success. For instance, early in the war, 
127

Doomed Execution

the Commander of the 1st Air Defense Region, in a typically optimistic overstatement, reported that his forces had either “averted or downed” more than 

130 enemy cruise missiles, helicopters, or fi ghter aircraft.18 This report was not 

just the hopeful bluster of the combat uninitiated as evidenced by the tone of 

air defense reporting within hours of the fi nal regime collapse. On 8 April, the 

day after American forces entered Baghdad to stay, a fi eld report to the Minister 

of Defense from the Air Defense Command noted indignantly that “the enemy 

continues to violate the sanctity of our air space,” and proceeded to describe 

success against enemy aircraft.19 Memories of the reported execution of the air 

defense commander in the early days of DESERT STORM undoubtedly had an 

impact on the new commander’s willingness to be entirely forthcoming.

Before the war, Iraqi leaders had every reason to expect they personally 

would become targets of any air campaign. If there were doubts about the 

Coalition’s intent to decapitate the regime, the opening night attack on “the 

farm” dispelled them. To improve his chances of survival, Saddam added a fi nal 

layer of security measures to his now-routine “coup-proofi ng.” He and his inner 

circle attempted to counter precision attacks targeted at regime leadership by 

stepping up secrecy, varying the locations of meetings and stop-overs, instituting 

elaborate electronic signature reduction measures, and using “safe” sanctuaries. 

Combined, these measures generally proved successful against Coalition efforts 

to eliminate key regime personnel, although they also signifi cantly degraded 

the regime’s ability to maintain a clear awareness of or provide any relevant 

command and control to the battlefi eld.

Saddam’s personal security included elaborate measures designed to keep 

his location and movements a secret from even close associates and advisors. 

The security services had worked out and rehearsed most of these arrangements prior to the start of the war. The inner circle’s wartime communications 

network included only the most senior cabinet ministers and government 

offi cials. The security services assigned these ministers three low-ranking but 

trusted employees to provide a 24-hour alert team (8-hour shifts) at a central 

headquarters. During the war, when Saddam wished to meet with a minister, 

he sent a representative by car to inform the alert teams. These alert teams 

then traveled by car to the hidden location of the respective minister, informed 

him of Saddam’s orders, and transported him to a secret link-up point. At the 

link-up point, a special Presidential Guard detail transported the minister to a 

new transfers point and from there a new detail took him to a presidential safe 

house. All presidential vehicles were equipped with black curtains to block 

the minister’s view of the route of travel. As a fi nal measure to prevent tracking devices, all cellular phones, watches, calculators, personal pens or pencils, 

and/or any battery-operated devices were prohibited at all meetings.20

In addition, the security services had designed the hide locations as sanctuaries, not bunkers. Bunkers took a major construction effort and attracted the 

attention of American intelligence sensors during their construction. In fact, not 

many bunkers remained unscathed by the end of the war. Designating a civil-
128

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

ian-constructed building or residence as a sanctuary required no extra work 

that might be noticed by the ever-prying eyes. Throughout the war, Saddam 

moved between various safe-houses centered on the upscale district known as 

Al-Mansour. This area provided other targeting challenges beyond the problem of uncovering Saddam’s hide-sites. By placing many of these hide-sites 

in heavily populated civilian districts or by being sure they shared a common 

wall with “protected” sites like foreign embassy property, religious sites, or 

medical treatment facilities, Saddam sought to create foolproof sanctuaries 

from Coalition air attacks.

Military Targets

Precision air attacks in the first days of the war may have failed to decapitate 

the regime, but they had a devastating effect on the Iraqi armed forces–even 

when they missed. The Commander of the Al-Nida Republican Guards Division, whose division dissolved from the psychological impact of the air attacks, 

commented to an interviewer after the war: 

The early air attacks hit only empty headquarters and barracks 

buildings. It did affect our communication switches which were 

still based in those buildings. We primarily used schools and hidden command centers in orchards for our headquarters—which 

were not hit. But the accuracy and lethality of those attacks 

left an indelible impression on those Iraqi soldiers who either 

observed them directly or saw the damage afterwards.21

For the most part, the brigades of the Al-Nida Republican Guard Division 

escaped attack during the first week of the war. But one air attack during this 

period did find and strike the 153rd Artillery Battalion, located in the 41st Brigade area. The battalion had dispersed itself in three distinct locations: it had 

hidden its artillery pieces in an orchard, the soldiers in a second hide position, 

and the ammunition in a third location. The division commander said he was 

shocked when “The air attack hit all three locations at the same time, and annihilated the artillery battalion.”22 Such experiences became commonplace as 

Coalition air power chewed up Iraqi ground forces that attracted the attention 

of satellites or other aerial reconnaissance.

During the course of the conflict’s first week, the other two brigades of the 

Al-Nida escaped serious damage from air attack by remaining hidden in prepared positions. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the second week, Coalition air 

power found and hit both the 42nd and 43rd Brigades. The Al-Nida Division’s 

commander noted the effect of these air attacks on his forces:

In the 42nd Brigade sector, the troops were in their prepared 

positions and were hit very effectively for five days. The continuous nature of the attacks did not allow us to track the number 
129

Doomed Execution

of losses. After the attacks many of the soldiers “escaped” [a 

euphemism for deserted]. By the end of the war more than 70 

percent of the Al-Nida Republican Guard Division “escaped,” 

[while at the conclusion of hostilities] between the air strikes 

and desertions only 1000-1500 soldiers remained out of more 

than 13,000.23

Matters were no better with the division’s 43rd Brigade. This brigade started 

the war with three mechanized battalions and one tank battalion. But after one 

particularly heavy air strike, virtually all of the troops abandoned their positions and ran away. By the time the brigade made its fi nal move to Baghdad 

on April 1, when the division was transferred to the Republican Guard I Corps 

and ordered to defend the “red line,” the unit had simply ceased to exist as an 

organized combat unit. Its soldiers had abandoned virtually all of their vehicles 

east of the Diyala River and walked away rather then risk moving them and 

becoming targets for Coalition air attacks.24 

Even before the war, the mere threat of air or missile attack had degraded 

the Al-Nida division commander’s ability to coordinate his brigades, due to a 

regime mandate that all units and headquarters seek shelter in isolated hide sites. 

The Al-Nida commander therefore placed his primary headquarters just outside 

Baqubah, some distance from his fi ghting forces, and made its primary focus 

seeking and maintaining protection from air attack. To improve its chances of 

survival, “the headquarters was dug into underground shelters with reinforced 

walls and iron plates on the ceilings.... A separate larger shelter was co-located 

in a nearby orchard for meetings.”25 

The division’s headquarters possessed no computers—wall maps with 

manual plots were the primary means of keeping track of the division’s units. 

Primary communication was by land lines, and radio communications were 

kept as limited as possible. The division commander did possess a Thuriya 

[satellite phone], but was afraid to use it for fear of attracting an air attack 

on his headquarters.26 When Coalition attacks eventually destroyed the main 

communications system, the division established a relay system to maintain 

contact between its headquarters and the various units under its command. To 

communicate, the division commander was forced to spend much of his time 

moving among his units. 

Nevertheless, for some Iraqi commanders, Coalition air attacks on Iraq’s 

ground forces were less successful in the early days than they were to be later 

in the war. As General Hamdani reported in post-war interviews, Iraqi forces 

were generally safe as long as the troops were not moving:

During this time there were heavy air attacks on the Medina 

Division, but we were surprised at how few fell on the Al-Nida 

Division. The attacks were effective against fi xed sites such as 

communications and logistic facilities, but much less so on the 
130

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

forces themselves. We had multiple positions for each vehicle, 

and the troops remained dispersed. The Nebuchadnezzar Division took some damage from air attacks during its move into 

position during this time, but it was not seriously hurt. The real 

effect was on the morale of the troops. At this point morale had 

not broken. My soldiers were still prepared to fi ght.27

The Defense of the Southern Cities and Confusion Out West

The View at the Top

As Coalition air attacks ravaged Iraq’s military forces and installations, 

ground forces rolled over the Iraqi regular army units in their way. The British 

1st UK Armored Division, supported by the US Marine Corps’ 23rd MEU, drove 

north and then east to seize the Ramallah oil fi elds and close off the southern 

city of Basra. Meanwhile the 3rd Infantry Division, followed by the 1st Marine Division, sliced up the desert roads west of the Euphrates River. The 1st 

Marine Division then turned in to cross the Euphrates at An-Nasiriyah. After 

fi ghting its way through the outskirts of Nasiriyah, the 1st Marine Regimental 

Combat Team (RCT) drove to the northeast towards Al-Kut, while the 5th and 

7th Marine RCTs crossed to the north of Nasiriyah with the objective of driving 

up the Tigris-Euphrates valley towards Diwaniyah. The 3rd Infantry Division 

continued its advance, bypassing An-Nasiriyah, As-Samawaha, and An-Najaf 

to gain a position from which it could drive through the Karbala Gap and attack Baghdad.

As the American advance reached toward the northwest, it came under 

increasingly heavy attack from Ba’ath militia and Fedayeen Saddam. To the 

Americans, these attacks appeared fanatical and beyond reason. In fact, they 

were suicidal; in the 3rd Infantry Division, unit after unit reported going “black” 

on ammunition (almost empty) as they dealt with Fedayeen Saddam, who 

charged tanks in small groups or in the back of Toyota pick-ups.

However, the picture of the war forming in the Iraqi high command was 

entirely different from what was actually happening. The regime assumed that 

Coalition forces would attack, or at the very least invest, each of the cities along 

the Euphrates and not leave their supply lines open to attack by Iraqi forces 

operating from these cities. The reports reaching Baghdad of heavy fi ghting 

around the outskirts of the southern cities reinforced this pre-conception. As 

Iraqi units attacked out from the cities, their commanders reported exactly the 

message that Baghdad expected to hear: that everything was going wonderfully and that Iraqi forces were slaughtering the invaders in surprisingly large 

numbers. 

Throughout the war, the quality of the reporting from the military and 
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security channels to the regime leadership was mixed. Reporting through 

political channels was almost uniformly bad. An operations log from the General Military Intelligence Directorate (GMID) provide a detailed, if somewhat 

confusing, hour-by-hour picture of events from 20 March through 2 April 2003. 

The fi rst entry notes simply say, “At 0532 hours the beginning of the enemy’s 

aerial hostilities, with enemy airplanes bombing the city of Baghdad.”28 Soon 

thereafter, other cities, particularly in the south, were reported to have “thick 

aviation” over them.29 

On that fi rst full day of war, the majority of the entries in the 37th Division’s 

log referred to the loss of “monitoring stations” throughout the county.30 Of 

particular note was the emphasis placed on the rapid loss of monitoring stations 

in the western border areas (near Jordan). The GMID log noted that Coalition 

attacks had destroyed, attacked, or cut off at least 34 of these monitoring stations on 20 March alone.31 Iraqi concern undoubtedly heightened when multiple 

reports received that evening indicated that several groups of as many as 16 

enemy armored vehicles were on the road between the Jordanian border and 

Kilometer 160.32 Log entries on the evening of 22 March noted that “Enemy has 

a massive presence of armor in the Al-Kasarat region [Jordan] 90 kilometers 

from Ar Rutbah.”33 The impression of these reports was that a large American 

armored force was driving from Jordan and across the western desert. This 

impression would have profound implications later in the war. Over time, 

these and other reports helped to fi x in Saddam’s mind the idea that the main 

Coalition attack was coming out of Jordan.

One of the more interesting encounters in the western desert during this 

period occurred as the lead elements of a massive Coalition special operations 

effort swarmed across the Jordanian border and ran into an isolated Iraqi unit 

near the village of Al-Hibaria. According to an intelligence report to Saddam’s 

secretary on 23 March, early on the previous morning an American patrol 

consisting of “four armored cars and a small vehicle” attacked the Iraqi patrol 

which had resisted “until the ammunition ran out” and was then captured.34

During questioning, the senior Iraqi present identifi ed himself to his American 

captors as a sergeant from the border forces. Questioned by the Americans, 

he convinced his captors of his military ignorance, signed a “local cease-fi re 

agreement,” and was released.35 Unknown to his American captors, the sergeant was actually an offi cer from Iraqi’s elite Special Mission Unit 111 sent to 

the region on 17 March to gauge the situation in the west.36 In a clear grasp of 

the obvious, the Director of Military Intelligence added at the bottom of the 

report that “we should notify the chiefs of the regional military leadership and 

the Minister of Defense to tell our soldiers to sign this type of pledge [military 

cease-fi re agreement].”37

These and other reports continued to fi xate the regime’s elites on a Western 

approach. Losing their early warning outposts in the opening moments of the 

war could only have one meaning: the Americans were doing something big 

in the western desert and they did not want it seen. An early assessment in a 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

GMID operations log notes that the enemy, in addition to attempting to move 

on An-Nasiriyah in the south, “has utilized all of his present forces and it is possible that he will undertake to reinforce them with additional forces or that he 

will open up a front in the northern region.”38 By 25 March the reports noted a 

“military force composed of approximately sixty tanks and armored vehicles...20 

kilometers southwest of the Ar Rutbah region...and they had begun to move 

in a strategic direction...and that according to the commander of the Al-Qa’im 

border group individuals coming from Syria told him that ‘the intention of the 

enemy is to open a front by way of Jordan.’”39

According to these reports, Coalition “armor” was not the only thing crossing the western borders—friends were arriving as well. The operations log notes 

on 21 March at 0015 hours, “eight Syrian persons surrendered themselves to the 

Al Qa’im border troops...according to them they came to serve as Mujahideen 

with the Iraqi people against the American enemy and...more would be arriving soon.”40 Support and promises of support from foreign fi ghters like this 

continued throughout the war. According to a memorandum to the Director 

of the Iraqi Intelligence Service dated 27 March:

We have been contacted by Dr. Abid Al-Aziz Al-Rantisi [senior 

Hamas leader in Gaza] ...during the past few days to ensure his 

and Palestinian support against the barbaric American enemy. 

He requested us to open the check points at the border to let 

the volunteer fi ghters participate in the war.41

This offer was apparently part of a fi rst trickle of foreign fi ghters, which 

would soon thereafter become a fl ood.42 The memorandum went on to say, 

“Hamas is willing to carry out demonstrations and suicide attacks to support 

Iraq.” The intelligence services reported that they were “pleased with the Hamas 

stand in this situation as we always expected the movement’s support.” The 

memo concluded by saying how “helpful it would be if Hamas was to conduct 

operations against American and Israeli interests in the occupied lands.”43

From the Iraqi perspective, though the situation in the west was troubling, 

the fact that they still controlled the major southern cities meant that their 

overall strategy was working. The Minister of Defense announced in a news 

conference on March 27:

The enemy encircled the town of Al-Samawa from the direction 

of the desert and is now in the back of the town. The tribes of 

Al-Muthanna, the Ba’ath Party, Saddam Fedayeen, and military 

units are now implementing special operations aimed at these 

American units....Now, as to the situation in the mid-Euphrates sector; in the past three days, the enemy’s losses were very 

heavy, as they are losing tanks and personnel carriers; they are 

fi ring at civilians in more than one place and in more than one 

sector. The performance of our units is very good and there is 
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very good cooperation in the mid-Euphrates sector between the 

Saddam Fedayeen, the Ba’ath Party fi ghters, and the tribesmen. 

Before I came to the news conference, I talked to Staff Lieutenant General Salah Abbud, deputy commander of the region. He 

told me that the enemy had withdrawn because they sustained 

heavy losses.44

Since this optimistic assessment was going out the same time the 3rd 

Infantry Division and 1st Marine Division were rapidly destroying all Iraqi 

units that challenged them, it was easy to believe that the Minister of Defense 

was simply parroting regime-generated propaganda. But a close study of the 

documentary evidence indicates that many of the regime elites truly believed 

these misconceptions. Ba’ath Party commanders were reporting accurately that 

they were still holding the cities though their reports of infl icting heavy losses 

on the Coalition forces were false. No one in Baghdad had any reason or desire 

to doubt them.45 Typical of the reporting reaching Baghdad was this March 21 

report from the Southern region command’s control center:

The enemy is advancing toward the airport in An-Nasiriyah... a 

counter-attack force of the 11th Infantry Division made contact 

with the enemy and [was able to] destroy six enemy tanks...one 

Iraqi tank has been destroyed.46

The fact that most of the 11th Infantry Division had effectively evaporated 

under the fi rst ground assaults of the Coalition was something that neither 

Saddam nor those around him had any way of knowing. They were receiving 

similarly optimistic reports from the militia forces to complement those from 

trusted party offi cials. For instance, a report from the security offi cer of a Basrabased Fedayeen Saddam unit enthusiastically reported on March 24:

The latest attack...by the Fedayeen and the heroic men of the 

Party on the remnants of the enemy...on the Az-Zubayr Bridge 

and fi red up two tanks with their crews and the enemy was 

routed to the rear...the routed force of the enemy is estimated 

to be more than fi fty tanks.47 

A week into the campaign, perhaps sensing that he was receiving infl ated 

reports, the Minister of Defense displayed a glimpse of the professionalism 

his peers credited to him. He established a committee to explore exactly how 

American ground forces were fi ghting the campaign. On 27 March, this committee forwarded its report titled “The Methods of the US Enemy During the 

Aggression Against Our Steadfast, Fighting Country.”48 It was a mixture of 

already well-understood generalizations of American capabilities and some 

fanciful conjecture to explain events that were not making sense in Baghdad. 

This report stated that the Americans were avoiding entering the cities, 

“while capturing important communications nodes to control entry and exit 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

points for towns and cities, with the objective of preventing the arrival of reinforcements...”49 The committee also warned that US forces would attack at a 

number of places at the same time, “in order to dilute our effort and confuse 

our troops, coupled with a propensity to withdraw in case of casualties and 

to hold onto land in case of any success.”50 Both of these items might have 

provided the regime hints as to what was actually happening, but it appears 

the report was either not widely circulated or it was ignored. Possibly the 

Minister of Defense failed to take it seriously because of bizarre elements. One 

of its explanations for how the Americans could appear at so many different 

places was that Chinook helicopters were capable of air-landing heavy battle 

tanks—which Chinooks were not.51

The View of Local Ba’athists

The high command had one vision of the war’s progress, but that largely 

refl ected the reports it was receiving from the battlefront. It is therefore instructive to take a close look at what the local offi cials were actually dealing with as 

opposed to what they were reporting. The best source on what local Ba’athists 

were seeing in one region was Lieutenant General Yahya Taha Huwaysh-Fadani 

Al-Ani, the assistant military advisor to the Ba’ath commander in the Central 

Euphrates region. In his previous career, General Yahya had reached the pinnacle of Commander, Naval and Coastal Defense Force, managing to reach 

retirement. However, in January 2003 he had been pressed back into service. 

By his own admission, General Yahya knew he had only limited experience in 

coordinating a land battle. He did, however, have a front row seat to events as 

they occurred. General Yahya had a particularly good view of the impact the 

apparent two-pronged Coalition advance on Ad-Diwaniyah and An-Najaf had 

on local Ba’ath offi cials. In fact, those perceived threats were actually American 

feints designed to confuse the Iraqis as to the Coalition’s true objectives— and 

they worked. 

On 28 March, General Yahya fi rst came into contact with American forces. 

According to his account:

On the 28th, after the Coalition had rested and resupplied some 

distance away, the Bradley armored personnel carriers arrived 

at the outskirts of As-Samawa, but did not enter the city. They 

covered and penned us in the city while their supply columns 

moved to the north behind a screen of tanks. Some Fedayeen 

Saddam patrols attacked with RPG-7s, while the Al-Quds force 

fi red some 120mm mortars. I went to the roof of the As-Samawa 

hospital to see what I could outside the city. I saw tanks and 

armored personnel carriers approaching, covered by eight 

helicopters.52
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Around 29 or 30 March, we learned that the fi ghting in An-Najaf had started. I lost communications with my boss, regional 

governor Mizban. 

I contacted Ad-Diwaniyah and An-Najaf and asked them to 

contact the governor, but they said they had not heard from 

him for two days. We then heard that regional governor Mizban 

had been dismissed and sent back to Baghdad, but we did not 

know who his replacement was. We thought it was Lieutenant 

General Salah Abboud as the new regional governor of the 

Central Euphrates region.53

Clearly, he was able to see that the Americans were making no effort to enter 

As-Samawah and that since their supply columns were heading north, he could 

have reasoned that most of the Coalition’s combat power must be proceeding 

ahead of it. If he needed any confi rmation that Coalition forces were bypassing 

the area, then the fi ghting around Najaf (100 miles north of his position) the 

next day should have done the trick. Still, no evidence of any such reasoned 

analysis traveled up the chain of command. 

Of course, the confusion over who was actually in charge of the region at 

this point may have a considerable amount to do with faulty reporting to Baghdad. This command confusion was due in part to the Ba’ath regime’s security 

bureaucracy. In addition to regional governor Mizban’s dismissal on 29 March, 

the local head of the governorate of As-Samawah, Saif Al-Din Mishadad, also 

received his walking papers and was replaced by a regular army offi cer, Major 

General Ali Al-Hababi. Nevertheless, Baghdad reversed its decision three days 

later and Mizban was returned to offi ce, quite fi ttingly on April Fool’s Day.54

Governor Mizban’s diffi culties with the defense of As-Samawah were not 

his only ones. At the same time the defenders of An-Najaf (also within his area 

of responsibility) were in equal diffi culty. By the time Saddam received accurate 

reports on the situation it was already too late to take effective action. Iraq’s 

former trade minister records Saddam’s anger in the following terms:

Saddam appeared upset with the events in An-Najaf, telling the 

ministers that the situation in An-Najaf was “diffi cult,” that it 

appeared the city was about to fall to Coalition forces, and that 

“even the Ba’ath Party was facing diffi culty in An-Najaf.” After 

a brief discussion, Saddam ordered that Mahmoud Dhiab AlAhmad [Minister of Interior] to leave the meeting and contact 

Mizban Khuthair al-Hadi, the Central Euphrates regional commander, and direct Mizban to order Iraqi forces to withdraw 

from An-Najaf. Al-Ahmad returned shortly thereafter and 

reported that he was not successful in contacting Mizban.55

By now the US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division had already moved north of 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

An-Najaf in preparation for its drive through the Karbala Gap. The 3rd Infantry 

Division was replaced at As-Samawah by units of the 82nd Airborne, reinforced 

by Abrams and Bradleys. For the defenders of As-Samawah, the situation became increasingly desperate. General Yahya continues his account of events:

On 31 March I noticed that there were only approximately 200 

fi ghters left in As-Samawah. The Al-Quds fi ghters complained 

that they no longer had any soldiers. The Ba’ath Party said they 

no longer had any men.”56 

By this time, communications with Baghdad were all but cut off. In one 

last communication with local authorities, Baghdad ordered the replacements 

of their party leader and the commander of the local Fedayeen Saddam. Both 

men were immediately ordered to Baghdad.

On 3 April, the local leadership of As-Samawah decamped. As General 

Yahya indicated, “No one knew where they had gone. Their guards didn’t even 

know where they had gone.”57 At this point the general and his staff decided 

that discretion was the better part of valor and left for Ad-Diwaniyah on the 

morning of the fourth. With the departure of the Ba’ath offi cials, civic order 

quickly disintegrated. General Yahya recalled, “In the morning...when we 

started out, the mobs started looting everything. They came to steal our cars, 

but my guards scared them off.”58 It took almost a full day to get to Ad-Diwaniyah, and once there he again found himself in the midst of chaos. The Defense 

Ministry, shocked to hear that As-Samawah was about to fall, ordered Yahya to 

organize the impenetrable defense of Ad-Diwaniyah. Inexplicably, the Defense 

Minister reversed himself two days later and ordered General Yahya to return 

to his former post in Baghdad as the head of the military academy.

59 

Putting aside the fact that the Ministry of Defense was worried about staffi ng 

its military academies as the Coalition was approaching Baghdad’s suburbs, 

General Yahya’s account suggests a complete breakdown of military-political cooperation in the Euphrates region. The authorities in Baghdad had little sense of 

what Iraqi forces were confronting near the cities, while local authorities clearly 

had no control of their subordinates. While local Ba’ath leaders dithered, fought 

amongst themselves, and then fi nally ran off, thousands of Fedayeen Saddam 

continued to sacrifi ced themselves to maintain the regime. While their attacks 

caused US soldiers some local diffi culties as they sped towards Baghdad, their 

tactical impact on the course of the conventional war was virtually nothing.

The Military View

At the start of the war, Lieutenant General Hamdani was responsible for 

defending Baghdad from attacks originating from the southeast. Units under 

his command were spread from Ba’qubah northeast of the capital, to Al-Kut 

southeast of the capital and then in an arc that generally ran to An-Nasaf and 
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up to Karbala. The Al-Nida Division (41st, 42nd, and 43rd Brigades) deployed 

in the area around Ba’qubah. The 3rd Special Forces Brigade deployed at the 

Al-Rasheed airport—to protect the regime from internal rebellion as to defend 

against external threats. The corps artillery was located southwest of the capital 

at Sarabadi. The Medina Division (2nd and 10th Armored Brigades and the 14th 

Mechanized Brigade) was deployed nearby immediately south of Baghdad at 

As-Suwayrah. The Baghdad Division was deployed in the area of Al-Kut, where 

it could move either south in case of trouble in the Sh’ia regions, or attack the 

fl anks of an Iranian drive on Baghdad. Finally, the start of the war found the 

Nebuchadnezzar Republican Guard Division in the midst of quietly moving 

from the area around Kirkuk through Tikrit to Al-Hillah. This involved subjecting the division to a 300 mile movement under constant threat of Coalition air 

attack. To accomplish this task, the Division had to leave all of its tanks and 

artillery behind and move in small groups. It still lost over 10 percent of its men 

to air attack. And when it was put in the line without its heavy equipment, it 

had no better prospects of stopping the tanks of the 3rd Infantry Division than 

did the Fedayeen Saddam.

Hamdani fi rst learned of the start of the Coalition’s offensive when reports 

of air attacks throughout his area of responsibility fl ooded into his headquarters. 

During the war’s initial phase, he spent much of his time trying to divine the 

Coalition’s intentions. From the earliest reports he understood that a substantial 

portion of the Coalition’s forces was moving up the west side of the Euphrates 

River. Consequently, he ordered elements of the Medina Division to cross the 

Euphrates to take up positions guarding the Karbala Gap.

Before his forces could execute the order, General Hamdani’s superior, the 

Republican Guard Chief of Staff, countermanded the order. Hamdani recalled, 

“Saddam had declared that no Republican Guard forces would deploy west of 

the Euphrates River. Apparently he was afraid that forces west of the river would 

become trapped if the bridges were destroyed and would not be available for 

defending Baghdad.”60 What Hamdani failed to inform the Chief of Staff was 

that he had already moved two battalions of the Medina Division across the 

Euphrates. Though his superiors denied him the use of a third battalion, which 

he had intended to move into the Karbala sector, he was determined to make 

the best of a bad situation. Sensing that “if the Coalition were going to strike 

up the west side of the Euphrates, the critical point or the ‘neck of the bottle’ 

was the gap between Karbala and the lake. To cover this key terrain, General 

Handani “stretched the two Medina battalions to cover the road between AlMusayyib and Karbala.”61

At the same time that Hamdani was moving troops to cover the Karbala 

Gap, he ordered the Baghdad Division, which was defending Al-Kut, to prepare 

to move up the Tigris River to defend the bridges near An-Numaniyah. Meanwhile, as the fi nal units of the Nebuchadnezzar began arriving in his area, he 

took advantage of the regime’s inattention to place some units on the “west” 

side of the Euphrates.
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

By 24 March, as the vicious sandstorm closed in, Hamdani took advantage 

of the Coalition’s tactical pause to discover and assess the true overall situation. 

That task was not a particularly easy thing to do. Reports from the southern 

cities were almost uniformly optimistic, but Hamdani knew that such reporting 

rested on what the locals could see from very limited vantage points. His own 

tactical reporting told him that Coalition logistics convoys were sweeping past 

the cities, and it was not hard to deduce that heavy armored formations were 

moving with them. That he was able to develop a realistic appraisal of ongoing 

events demonstrates that intuition, knowledge, and training often count for as 

much as the best sensor technology:

By this time, I thought that the Coalition would focus on a Euphrates axis of advance and would simultaneously isolate the 

forces in the south on a line from An-Najaf to Al-Kut. Once the 

south was cut off, they would maneuver west of the Euphrates 

River toward Baghdad. My estimate of the situation was that 

it would not be in the Coalition’s interest to fi ght a number of 

battles before Baghdad. Coalition forces would use air power 

to make up for the limited forces on the ground. They would 

move rapidly up the west side of the Euphrates River and attack Baghdad from the southwest. I expected they would use 

airborne and air assault forces, false and real, to isolate and 

confuse the defenses around the cities.62 

Based on his estimate of the situation, Hamdani moved his 3rd Special 

Forces Brigade from the Rasheed district to Al-Hillah. By 25 March, it had 

moved into its assigned positions unscathed by American airpower, which the 

sandstorm had partially blinded. The brigade commander reported back that 

the Al-Hillah Ba’ath offi cials were near panic and confused about the state of 

affairs to the south. More troubling to Hamdani were reports that “The Al-Quds 

units were in chaos and abandoning their posts.” According to Hamdani, this 

information provided a strong indication that matters were spinning out of the 

regime’s control.63

Even though Hamdani clearly divined Coalition intentions, those above 

him did not share his certainty. In Baghdad, rumors persisted that the Israelis 

were on the verge of joining the assault with one airborne and three armored 

divisions. This force was said to be ready to attack through Jordan.64 Continuing Coalition special operations throughout the western desert region also 

worked to keep the regime’s attention focused on the west rather than on the 

main Coalition attack coming from the south.

Signifi cantly, the regime was also receiving intelligence from the Russians 

that fed suspicions that the attack out of Kuwait was merely a diversion. An 

example of this intelligence was the following document sent to Saddam on 

24 March:
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The information that the Russians have collected from their 

sources inside the American Central Command in Doha is that 

the United States is convinced that occupying Iraqi cities are 

impossible, and that they have changed their tactic; now they 

are planning to spread across the Euphrates River from Basra in 

the south to Al-Qa’im in the north, avoiding entering the cities. 

The strategy is to isolate Iraq from its western borders...Jordan 

had accepted the American 4th Mechanized Infantry Division; 

they were supposed to enter through Turkey, but after the Turkish parliament refused, they changed direction and are now in 

the Suez Canal heading to Al-Aqaba.65

Such external sources of information were only one of the fog-generators 

obscuring the minds of Iraq’s senior leadership. The bizarrely optimistic reporting coming up the chain of command from Fedayeen Saddam authorities in the 

south continued to add to Baghdad’s and Saddam’s misunderstanding. One 

Fedayeen Saddam report claimed the destruction of 42 tanks and 49 armored 

personnel carriers near Karbala on 25 March.66 Hamdani did his best to draw 

a more accurate picture of the situation for the regime, but was constantly 

stymied by Saddam’s and his close associates’ refusals to entertain comments 

contrary to what they wanted to believe. Long after the war ended, Hamdani’s 

frustration was still palpable:

Part of the problem with reporting the conditions on the ground 

was the political leadership. The Ba’ath offi cials in command 

of the local units in the Middle Euphrates Region did not understand what was happening. [Nevertheless] Saddam gave 

great credit to an idealized vision of tribal warfare. In Saddam’s 

eyes this kind of close combat was what the Ba’ath Party could 

deliver. Saddam thought that the Ba’ath commanders knew 

more than the professional military. The Ba’ath destroyed the 

army.67

The US seizure of the bridge at Al-Kifl 30 miles north of An-Najaf convinced 

Hamdani that he was facing the main US attack. However, he remained perplexed by the purpose behind the assault on Al-Kifl . His earlier assumptions 

were that the Coalition would attack through the Karbala Gap and then cross 

the Euphrates north of Al-Kifl . Now it appeared they were crossing the river a 

hundred miles south of the point he had predicted.

To fi nd out what was going on, he decided to carry out a personal reconnaissance of the bridge area along with the commander of his 3rd Special Forces 

Brigade:

A retired soldier from Al-Kifl met me along the way and told me 

the Americans were close to the bridge. I sent the commander 

of the 1st Battalion of the Special Forces Brigade ahead to the 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

bridge site to confi rm the report. He told me, when he returned, 

that when he climbed the wall of the canal next to the bridge, he 

could reach out and touched the side of an American Bradley 

fi ghting vehicle. This meant that I was personally only 300 to 

500 meters away from the American units.68 

Hamdani became convinced that this was a serious threat and immediately 

concentrated artillery from the Medina and Nebuchadnezzar Divisions to carry 

out what he termed an artillery raid against the American position. The artillery was a mix of 152mm cannons, BM-21 rocket launchers, and light artillery. 

Hamdani allocated 10 rounds to each weapon for the mission. His plan was to 

have them fi re the 10 rounds as rapidly as possible and then run for cover before 

American counter-fi re came in. While the Iraqis believed they had destroyed 

seven vehicles, the attack barely registered with Americans around the bridge. 

On the other hand, the American counter-fi re plastered the surrounding area. As 

Hamdani later said, “The American reaction to our Kifl attack was very strong. 

We were somewhat overwhelmed by the volume of the counterattack fi re.”69

As Hamdani attempted to organize counterattacks to dislodge the Americans from the Al-Kifl bridgehead, he was also trying to build a clearer picture 

of what else he was confronting. The lack of clear information from the south 

continued to hamper him, while intelligence from Baghdad was proving 

useless. He later stated, “I was told by Qusay that American forces were in 

An-Najaf and were quickly moving on Ad-Diwaniyah.”70 This would suggest 

that the Americans were going to attack up the east side of the Euphrates and 

not the west as Hamdani was still predicting. However, contrary to information coming from Baghdad, the Americans were doing exactly what Hamdani 

predicted. The 3rd Infantry Division was moving away from Najaf, which the 

101st Airborne Division was now investing, and racing towards Karbala—on 

the west side of the Euphrates.

It is almost hard to fault Qusay for sending out this misleading information as optimistic reports streaming out of the Central Euphrates Regional 

Command Headquarters were still bombarding Baghdad. These reports, while 

generally accurate as to the location and timing of enemy activity, completely 

missed every other detail. For example, on 28 March, the Central Euphrates 

Regional Command Headquarters reported that “an enemy force...headed from 

the Afak intersection toward Diwaniyah” but that a regiment of the Al-Quds 

“engaged them and forced them to withdraw.”71 The report got the location 

of the American forces correct, but rather then being forced to withdraw, the 

Americans smashed the Al-Quds force and continued to roll. It appears that 

since the Al-Quds force was destroyed, no report reached Baghdad informing 

them that the Americans had changed direction and were now rolling towards 

Al-Kut and not Diwaniyah.

A deluge of other reports that same day listed numerous American attacks 

throughout southern Iraq, but almost every one examined to date reported that 
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Doomed Execution

the Americans were “forced to withdraw by the brave party units and fi ghters 

for Saddam.”72 However, the true import of what was happening was not lost 

on local Iraqi military offi cers. For instance, in a post-war interview the senior 

military advisor to the regional commander, Lieutenant General Al-Obadi, 

described the action outside Ad-Diwaniyah:

The style of the American attacks was to attack and withdraw 

immediately...they did not fi ght in the cities...all the time Coalition convoys were moving north on the highway to Baghdad, 

while we were locked up.”73 

Lieutenant Colonel Al-Obadi clearly understood that the American attacks 

aimed to pin the Iraqis to the cities. 

As Hamdani suggested, “Republican Guard headquarters in Baghdad was 

providing information of very little value.”74 To get a clearer picture of American 

intentions, he began sending Republican Guard patrols into the zone south of 

his area of responsibility. In each case, they soon ran into the Americans. Those 

who survived reported that the Americans were in strength on both sides of 

the Euphrates. Hamdani later stated, “As the reconnaissance reports began to 

come into my command post in Al-Hillah, I assessed that the Coalition had 

three axes of advance.” 

In fact, there were only two main American axes of advance in the south. 

Hamdani’s patrols had picked up the fact that the 3rd Infantry Division was 

defi nitely racing up the west side of the Euphrates and was likely to come 

through the Karbala Gap. However, he seems to have misinterpreted the US 

Marine feint towards Ad-Diwaniyah as a major effort. The 1st Marine Division 

was in reality about to switch its advance from the northwest to the north and 

drive through An-Numiniyah across the Tigris to attack Baghdad from the east. 

Hamdani’s misreading of the situation may have resulted from his own preconceived notions of Coalition intentions. Talking about a war game in 2002 he 

stated, “I warned strongly against keeping the Baghdad Division in Al-Kut, if 

enemy forces ever reached Ad-Diwaniyah. I did not want the Baghdad Division cut off from Baghdad.”75 Now that the Baghdad Division was in Al-Kut, 

he saw his fear coming true and warned the division commander to “pay closer 

attention to his west than the south.” Unfortunately for the Baghdad Division, 

the Marines were coming from the south.

One of Hamdani’s patrols that escaped American attention reported a critical piece of information: the Americans were establishing a large logistics base 

to the west of Najaf in the desert.76 The establishment of a logistics base so far 

north confi rmed in Hamdani’s mind that the Americans were going to come 

through the Karbala Gap. In his view, it made no sense for the Americans to 

establish a massive logistics base on the west side of the Euphrates if they had 

any intention of attacking up the east side. Unfortunately for the prospects of a 

more successful defense, none of his warnings had much effect on those in com-
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

mand in Baghdad. Instead, the Baghdad command became ever more obsessed 

with imaginary American and Israeli forces coming through Jordan, while it 

ignored the reality that American forces were already on its doorstep. 

By the time the last of Hamdani’s patrols reported in, fi ghting was breaking 

out all across the Republican Guard II Corps’ entire front. Hamdani’s forces 

were under heavy pressure from the Marines who were closing in on the east 

side of the Tigris, and by renewed attacks by the 3rd Infantry Division that 

had fi nished re-arming and re-fueling on the west side of the Euphrates River. 

As he attempted to reposition force to meet these threats, he was stymied by 

the seeming complacency of the regime, which apparently failed to recognize 

how desperate the Iraqi position was becoming. At the end of March, Hamdani 

fi nally received permission to move the Baghdad Division from Al-Kut and back 

to the capital. However, by the time it arrived in the vicinity of Abu Gayreb, it 

had become a battered wreck of less-than-brigade strength. The division was 

replaced in Al-Kut by the 34th Regular Army Division, which bore the brunt 

of the Marine attack on the city and promptly collapsed.77 

On 30 March, American pressure increased considerably with a series of 

attacks toward Al-Hillah and Al-Hindiyah. Unsure of what to make of confl icting reports, Hamdani went forward himself to see what was transpiring. His 

personal reconnaissance led him to believe that “the attacks toward Al-Hindiyah 

were more dangerous..., because it looked like the Americans were trying to 

secure their fl ank for an attack into Karbala.”78 

With pressure mounting on both fl anks, Hamdani found himself in an increasingly diffi cult situation. Returning to his headquarters, he called Qusay to 

urge a fundamental re-deployment of Iraqi forces to meet the American threat 

at Al-Hindiyah and to prepare to meet an assault through the Karbala Gap. He 

asked that the Al-Nida Division be moved south to defend the approaches to 

the city from the Euphrates, while the rest of the Medina Division would be 

re-deployed to the west bank of the Euphrates to meet the threat to Karbala. 

Qusay was non-committal, but the Republican Guard Chief of Staff castigated 

Hamdani. Hamdani recalled that “I was told that I was not fi ghting the plan. 

This was incredible to me—the plan! What plan, I asked him. The Americans 

had wrecked our plan.”79

In the end, it was impossible for Qusay and the Chief of Staff to accept 

Hamdani’s warnings of impending doom when they had such a chorus of positive reports fl owing in, announcing things such as “the Ba’ath knights, the great 

Republican Guard soldiers, and the Fedayeen Saddam attacked and forced the 

enemy to leave Al-Hindiyah...the enemy had great losses in soldiers.”80 In effect, 

Hamdani had become an Iraqi Cassandra—his predictions entirely discounted 

in the ever-optimistic land of Saddam’s innercircle. The only reinforcements 

Qusay would part with were elements of a special forces battalion from the 

Republican Guard I Corps. Hamdani did not receive permission to re-deploy 

any of his forces to new locations.
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Realizing that little help was going to be forthcoming, Hamdani focused on 

doing the best he could within the restrictions imposed by the regime. By the 

beginning of April, Coalition attacks were disrupting communications between 

his headquarters and subordinate units. Hamdani was now forced to undertake 

time consuming and arduous trips between units that stretched from Karbala to 

Al-Kut. To make matters worse, when the Marines drove into An-Numiniyah 

they cut a lateral access road, and he now had to detour through Baghdad to 

visit each fl ank of his corps. 

On the evening of 1 April, he received reports that American forces, estimated to include 150 tanks of the 1st Marine Division, were attacking across 

the Tigris at An-Numiniyah.81 The following day he journeyed out to the Tigris 

where he confi rmed the reports, and for the fi rst time realized that the main 

Marine effort was heading for Al-Kut and not Ad-Diwaniyah. He also now realized that the Marine attack on Baghdad would come from the east and not the 

south as he had originally thought—a direction where he had precious little to 

stop them. The situation was now critical and about to get worse. On his way 

back from this trip, Hamdani received more bad news from his Chief of Staff: 

major American forces were driving toward the Karbala Gap and chewing their 

way through the Medina Republican Guard’s 14th Brigade. Going through 

Baghdad, Hamdani stopped at the Republican Guard Headquarters to receive 

whatever updates they had and begged for help. But the Chief of Staff was 

away from his offi ce, and no one else knew anything. Hamdani stated, “The 

stop was not helpful.”82 

Upon his arrival at the Karbala battle front, Hamdani met with the Commander of the Medina Division who reported that his division was under intense 

pressure by both American ground and air forces. As for just how intense, Hamdani got an immediate demonstration. As he listened to the Medina commander, 

Coalition aircraft savaged “the better part of a battalion in defensive positions 

right beside us. I think there were something like 39 killed, 100 wounded, and 17 

armored vehicles destroyed.”83 During this meeting, both men received orders to 

meet with the Republican Guard’s Chief of Staff. According to Hamdani, when 

they arrived at the meeting site, “The Medina commander provided a frank 

and honest assessment. The news he reported was not good. He told the Chief 

of Staff that the Medina 14th Brigade commander was very brave in battle, but 

was not having great success against the Americans.”84

In the middle of this depressing meeting, Hamdani and the Republican 

Guard Chief of Staff were called to an emergency meeting to be held by Qusay. 

This was a clear indication that most of the operational decisions had devolved 

from Saddam to his son at this point in the war. It was to be one of the more 

important meetings of the war. As Hamdani relates:

The Minister of Defense had a message from Saddam. The 

message was an order for immediate execution. The Minister 

of Defense said that Saddam would not be able to meet dur-
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

ing the next two days, but that he had just met with Saddam 

and the plan was explained to him.85 The minister went on to 

explain that what had happened over the last two weeks was a 

“strategic” trick by the Americans. He told us American forces 

were going to come from the direction of Jordan, through AlRamadi, and into northern Baghdad. Emergency procedures 

were to go into effect at 0500 the next morning.86 The Al-Nida 

was supposed to shift to the northwest of Baghdad under the 

Republican Guard I Corps.87 Minefi elds were to be immediately Minefields were to be immediately 87

established to the west and northwest of Baghdad. The talk of 

establishing minefi elds made me think that they thought we 

were fi ghting Iran again or something.88

At this point, Hamdani indicated that the plan would leave him with only 

the Medina and Nebuchadnezzar Divisions with which “to fi ght the American 

attacks from the south! I told them that this plan was the opposite of what we 

were facing.”89 The Minister of Defense replied that he was only the messenger 

and that there was no further use for discussions since Saddam had spoken. 

Qusay at least allowed Hamdani to explain his view of the situation:

I said that a minor attack was moving up the Tigris along the 

line from An-Nasiriyah to Al-Kut. [the Marine’s 1st RCT] This 

attack was actually somewhat of a surprise to me given the tight 

roads and poor armor terrain in the area. Another minor attack 

was pushing up the middle ground from As-Samawah to AdDiwaniyah. However, the main attack was on the west side of 

the Euphrates River through Karbala and into the southwest side 

of Baghdad. The US 4th Infantry Division would soon join in the 

main thrust. I said that the Americans would own Karbala by 

that night, and they would move quickly to take the bridge.90 

Hamdani’s operational view on 2 April was surprisingly in line with the 

latest strategic intelligence provided through the Russian ambassador to Baghdad. According to a memorandum from the Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs to 

Saddam, dated 2 April, Russian intelligence reported through its ambassador 

that:

1. The American’s were moving to cut off Baghdad from the south, east, 

and north. The heaviest concentration of troops (12,000 troops plus 

1,000 vehicles) was in the vicinity of Karbala.

2. The Americans were going to concentrate on bombing in and around 

Baghdad, cutting the road to Syria and Jordan and creating “chaos and 

confusion” to force the residents of Baghdad to fl ee.

3. That the assault on Baghdad would not begin before the arrival of the 

4th Infantry Division sometime around 15 April.91
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Doomed Execution

It is unclear if Qusay had seen the Russian report, but Hamdani’s arguments 

made him pause. After Hamdani fi nished his presentation, Qusay turned back 

to the Minister of Defense and Republican Guard Chief of Staff to ask their opinions. The Minister could only suggest that he did not know whether Hamdani 

was right or wrong, but plans should still be carried out as President Hussein 

had ordered. According to Hamdani:

He said that we should execute the plan as Saddam directed. 

The Republican Guard Chief of Staff at fi rst did not answer 

either way. He repeated over and over, “we must fi ght.” The 

Regular Army Chief of Staff said that he did not agree with my 

theory and that Saddam was right. He said, “We must all be 

100 percent with Saddam.” The Republican Guard Chief of Staff 

then said that I had never executed the plan and that I moved 

forces without permission. He said that I was to blame for all 

these casualties.92

Qusay remained unsure of what to do, but fi nally ordered the Al-Nida 

Division to move in to support the Republican Guard I Corps as they established a defense against the American thrust coming from Jordan. “He also 

directed a withdrawal from Karbala and that all units move to the east side of 

the Euphrates.”93 Hamdani, realizing the argument was lost, tried to salvage 

something and asked for permission to destroy the strategic Al-Qa’id Bridge 

on the Euphrates (Objective Peach). He received Qusay’s permission and then 

went to talk privately to the Chief of Staff. Hamdani had only been speaking 

to him for a moment when he received a call informing him that the Al-Qa’id 

Bridge was already under attack. As he recalls, the offi cer reporting indicated 

that columns of enemy armor were moving from Jaraf Al-Sakhr towards the 

bridge. I gave the report to those present, but they did not believe it.”94

Only Qusay seemed somewhat alarmed at the news. The other generals 

ignored it and turned to discussing the shape that the minefi elds to the west of 

Baghdad should take. Hamdani commented on the dismal scene: “It was the 

kind of arguments that I imagine took place in Hitler’s bunker in Berlin. Were 

all these men on drugs?”95 In a mood of utter disbelief, he left the meeting to 

fi ght “two real battles—one on the Tigris and one on the Euphrates”—while the 

generals, Saddam, and his sons dealt with their imaginary universe.96

The question of how such a critical bridge could have been left standing is 

one of the great mysteries of the war. Hamdani referred to it afterwards as the 

“Iraqi Remagen Bridge,” and it was surely that.97 Its importance was well understood long before the fi rst American tank arrived, which makes its survival 

all the more puzzling.

In fact, Hamdani had asked for permission to destroy the bridge as early as 

23 March, but was told by Saddam, in a message forwarded by the Republican 

Guard headquarters, that he was not to destroy the bridge under any circum-
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

stances. Nevertheless, Hamdani still had the bridge rigged for demolition.98 As 

he related the story later:

Despite Saddam’s orders I moved one company-sized element 

of the reconnaissance battalion to Karbala to begin screening 

south of the city along the approaches to the main highway. The 

reconnaissance battalion was commanded by one of my better 

young offi cers, Colonel Hassani. I ordered him in person and 

in writing to destroy the bridge whenever he felt that Coalition 

forces were approaching. He was ordered not to wait for additional orders on this point.99

A week later, the regime’s internal security priorities interceded to undo all 

of Hamdani’s preparations. Early in April, Hamdani had sent his Chief of Staff, 

Staff Major General Abdullah Mechpass, to the bridge with explicit orders to 

check on demolition preparations. However, according to Hamdani, “Upon his 

arrival, he immediately ordered Colonel Hassani to ignore my orders and not 

to destroy the bridge because it was against the specifi c direction of Saddam 

and that I [Hamdani] would be killed by security personnel if the bridge were 

destroyed.”100 Hamdani later concluded that both offi cers “acted out of personal 

loyalty to me, but they were still wrong.”101

Upon reaching his forward headquarters, Hamdani gave the order for the 

Medina Division to pull back from Karbala, but to keep one of its battalions on 

the west bank of the Euphrates to harass and attempt to contain the American 

penetration. He also began moving elements of the Medina’s 10th Brigade to 

the area. A personal reconnaissance confi rmed that the Americans were up on 

the Euphrates in strength, but information from the front remained ambiguous. 

There were reports that the bridge had been blown, but those reporting probably did not realize that the demolitions only affected one side of the duel span 

bridge. At dark Hamdani met up with the Republican Guard Chief of Staff and 

that organization’s director of the staff. Both believed the bridge was destroyed 

and incredibly explained the presence of American tanks on the far side of the 

Euphrates by claiming they were being delivered there by helicopters.102 

Hamdani reported his plans to establish a new defensive line west of Latifi ya. However, the Republican Guard Chief of Staff demanded that he use all 

the combat power in the II Republican Guard Corps to launch an immediate 

counterattack. Hamdani tried to warn him that the Americans could see at 

night as well as they could during the day, while his troops would be fi ghting 

blind. The Chief of Staff brushed aside Hamdani’s arguments and reiterated 

his demand for an attack.

Over the course of the next few hours, the Iraqis gathered their strength. 

Armor from the 22nd Brigade moved into position to attack from Al-Iskandariyah, while a portion of the 10th Armored Brigade, reinforced by a special forces 

battalion was to attack down the road from Al-Yusufi yah. The latter attack was 
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Doomed Execution

to use the cover provided by a large industrial complex on the southeast side 

of the bridge to mask its approach. Three truck loads of explosives were to 

follow up the attack and be blown up on the bridge to ensure that this time it 

fell into the river. Hamdani was racing against the clock in hopes of launching 

his attack before 0400, the hour when daylight brought with it American air 

power out in full force.103 

But in war nothing is simple. The deployment of a division that had never 

practiced night movements or even conducted maneuvers together proved 

frightfully diffi cult. Hamdani’s description of the attack demonstrates the Iraqis 

were not lacking in courage, only in skill:

The attack moved forward slowly because we did not have 

night vision...The Medina Division’s commander and I followed 

the 10th Armored Brigade with our communications groups...

At 0200 American jets attacked our force as we moved down 

the road. We were hit by many missiles. Most of the Medina 

Division’s staff were killed. My corps communication staff was 

also killed. When we reached the area near the bridge where 

the special forces battalion had set up a headquarters, we immediately came under heavy fi re. Based on the volume of fi re, 

I estimated at least 60 armored vehicles.104 

At approximately 0430, a team of Iraqi special forces soldiers had managed 

to creep to within 400 meters of the bridge, but by then the Iraqi attacking force 

had lost all of its tanks and its ammunition trucks had also been blown up.105

Hamdani continues:

At around 0445 the sky started to lighten and the jets returned 

and started killing us one after another. In the early light I 

saw more than 60 tanks on the bridge. The fi ring from the 

American armored vehicles increased in all directions. Little 

distinction was made between civilian and military structures 

and vehicles.106

At 0630 on 3 April, Hamdani reported to the Republican Guard Headquarters that the counterattack had failed. He also warned that he desperately needed 

reinforcements to patch together a line to keep the Americans from marching 

directly on Baghdad. But only four hours later he received news from local 

civilians that 150 American tanks were already moving east and northeast and 

headed straight for Baghdad. The American breakout had begun and Hamdani 

received no reinforcements with which to stop them.

With his command vehicle and its communications equipment destroyed, 

Hamdani left the battlefi eld in a civilian vehicle driven by a junior signal offi cer. 

In an attempt to reach his forward headquarters, approximately ten kilometers 

north of Al-Mahmuiyah, he found himself in a race with American armor:
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

As we drove we began to see American armor units racing down 

the roads. I was hoping to make it to my forward headquarters 

before they did. They were driving and shooting at the same 

time. There was a lot of fi ring, and I am sure there were a lot of 

casualties. As we were about to reach the compound of my forward headquarters, the car I was driving was hit by enemy fi re. 

The tires were all shot out and the lieutenant was killed.107 

Hamdani managed to link up with the few surviving members of his staff 

and make it back to his headquarters. As he attempted to gain a handle on the 

situation and pass along orders to surviving units, he glanced out the window 

and saw an American M1 Abrams tank in the middle of the courtyard. At that 

point he told his remaining staff offi cers to leave and go home. Their war was 

over:

We had no more weapons and we had no more morale. Looking 

out the window was like being in some kind of movie. I could 

see M1s, M2s [Bradley Fighting Vehicles], and helicopters. I 

remained hidden away in the building until 7 or 8 April when 

a civilian in the area told me Baghdad had fallen. I was sleeping 

in an orchard next to my compound during this time.108 

The Ba’ath Regime Ends With a Whimper, Not a Bang

The awareness of this catastrophic military defeat only slowly dawned on 

Saddam and those around him. Those at the center of power still kept a solid 

hold on unreality. Even if they did grasp the truth, they remained silent or contented to echo Saddam’s musings or pass along tidbits of favorable news. The 

only decisive action many of Saddam’s inner circle seemed capable of in the 

regime’s fi nal days were attempts to stem the fl ow of bad news. For instance, a 

Ministry of Defense memorandum dated 6 April told subordinate units, “We 

are doing great” and reminding all staff offi cers to “avoid exaggerating the 

enemy’s abilities.”109

Despite such wishful thinking and the willful denial of the truth, Saddam’s 

Ba’athist regime’s military was dead or dying by 6 April. Coalition attacks had 

destroyed almost all of the corps and division headquarters in combat. The few 

that remained were ineffective due to the furious pace of the American advance. 

While some isolated units continued to fi ght, they were no longer connected to 

a coherent military organization. They were in fact the last twitch of an army 

in its death throes.

In the fi nal days of the regime, Saddam understood at some level that all was 

lost, and became focused on his own personal survival. According to debriefs 

of those closest to him, he moved from safe-house to safe-house every 3 to 6 
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Doomed Execution

hours. To the extent possible, his inner circle attempted to update him on the 

battlefi eld situation, but continuing the pattern of lies and omissions, much of 

the information he received was fi ction. 

According to Tariq Aziz, by 6 April even Saddam had accepted that the end 

was near. On that day, he called a meeting with the Iraqi leadership at a house 

in the Mansour District of central Baghdad. During the meeting, Saddam’s tone 

was that of a man “who had lost his will to resist” and “knew the regime was 

coming to an end.”110 Later that day, Saddam traveled to another safe-house a 

few miles away and met with his sons Uday and Qusay, the Minister of Defense, 

the Chief of Staff of the Al-Quds, the Chief of Staff of the Republican Guard, the 

Chief of Staff of the Fedayeen Saddam, and his ever-present personal secretary. 

It was now almost midnight, and according to those present, the combination 

of some truthful battlefi eld reports and open media (Saddam was known 

to watch Western satellite news at times during the war) fi nally affected the 

leader’s decision-making. 

Saddam began giving orders to deploy and maneuver formations that had 

ceased to exist. His attention focused on plans to have the Republican Guard 

enter Baghdad and join with the Fedayeen Saddam in “preparing” for urban 

warfare.111 Late the next day Saddam met again with his closet advisors and accepted “that the army divisions were no longer capable of defending Baghdad, 

and that he would have a meeting with the Ba’ath Regional Commanders to 

enlist them in the fi nal defense of the regime.” A subsequent meeting on the same 

day produced an unexecuted concept to divide Baghdad into four quadrants. 

He placed loyal Ba’ath stalwarts in command of each sector and charged them 

with defending the city to their deaths.

In Saddam’s view, some options still remained. To maintain this fi ction, 

he and his followers had to divorce themselves from the reality outside their 

safe-houses. At the same time Saddam was holding meetings with his military 

staff, an American armored brigade already held Baghdad’s airport. Worse, as 

he was discussing with Ba’ath loyalists the plan for the fi nal defense of the city, 

another brigade of American armor was busily chewing up the manicured lawn 

in front of his palace in the center of the city.

* * * * * * *

Since the end of the war one question that has come up regularly is whether 

the regime had made plans to continue the confl ict through the insurgency the 

United States is currently combating. As far as can be determined through interviews conducted for this book, and the tens of thousands of records reviewed 

so far, there were no national plans to transition to a guerrilla war in the event 

of military defeat. Nor, as their world crumbled around them, did the regime 

appear to cobble together such plans. Still buoyed by his earlier conviction 

that the Americans would never dare enter Baghdad, Saddam held onto his 
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The Iraqi Perspectives Project

hope that he could stay in power—until the last minute. At the same time, the 

military and civilian bureaucracy went through their daily routines until the 

very end, as if their world was not collapsing. 

For someone looking at the regime from the outside during its final days, 

the continued functioning of the regime’s bureaucracy appears at times bizarre. 

However, it is quite clear that even as American tanks were smashing the last 

armed resistance on the road to Baghdad, the regime, in many respects, continued to function as if it was business as usual, even if it were sometimes a 

macabre type of business. Some of the orders issued by the regime in its final 

days underline the surreal atmosphere of the period.

• An order dated 1 April ordered the customs police to return to their 

positions at the international airport.112

• On 2 April, the Ba’ath party asked for inspections of air defense units 

to be undertaken and these reports to be forwarded to Party Headquarters. 

• Another missive ordered all divisions “to stop encouraging people to 

volunteer for suicide missions.” 

• In the war’s last week, two edicts were signed by Saddam ordering 

local party officials to clamp down on the black market.113

• As Coalition tanks rumbled into Baghdad, the Military Intelligence 

Directorate confirmed Saddam’s order that Arab Fedayeen volunteers 

receive the same salaries and benefits as Iraq’s special forces.114

• As the American tanks parked on the grounds of Saddam’s Baghdad 

palace, the bureaucracy produced orders that (1) honored “fighters” 

of the 1991 Gulf War, (2) increased transportation allowances for all 

Iraqi armed forces, and (3) informed the Telephone Operator Battalion 

about “the new numbers of the planning ministry in their replacement 

location.”115

Finally, on the regime’s last day, the Military Intelligence Directorate produced a memorandum to commanders in the southern areas of Iraq which 

complained about “the slow process in handling several cases for runaway 

soldiers.” The memo reminded commanders that it was their responsibility to 

“take actions to speed up the process of handing over these arrested soldiers 

and returning them back to their army units and to prepare a report for these 

runaway cases...on a daily basis.”116 The intention was clearly to maintain a list 

of those whom the regime would punish as soon as the Americans had given 

up and gone home.
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Notes

1 Captured document (2002), “Soldiers of the SRG.”

2

 “Al-Jazirah Correspondent Confi rms No US Forces in Baghdad,” Doha Al-Jazirah Satellite 

Channel Television, 7 April 2003. 

3 Address by President Saddam Hussein in the 12th Anniversary of Um Al-Maarik, 17 January 

2003 (www.iraqcrisis.co.uk/resources.php), downloaded 1 October 2003. Hulegu was the thirteenth-century Mongol leader who sacked Baghdad. Saddam’s reference to the modern day 

operation in the Jenin refugee camp in Palestinian-controlled territory is another example of 

his particular histography. Most credible reporting on the Israeli military operation into Jenin 

places the dead at 52 Palestinian fi ghters and 24 members of the Israeli Defense Forces (11 April 

2002).

4

 The study is limited in its description of the operational/tactical views of regular army forces 

in the North, general purpose Iraqi forces in the west, and Fedayeen Saddam forces in general. 

Additional research continues on these and other areas.

5

 “Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

6

 Examples of purging within the ranks of Iraq’s senior offi cer corps during the Iran-Iraq War are 

documented in Said Aburish’s Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge (Bloomsbury Publishing, 

London: 2000). pp. 208, 23-239, 245-246, 263, and 312. According to Phebe Marr, 6 of 20 Regular 

Army division commanders were executed on charges of conspiracy after March 1991. The 

Modern History of Iraq (Westview Press. Boulder; 2004), p.264.

7

 The documents, interviews, and other source materials that have been reviewed to date confi rm 

General Hamdanis’s account.

8

 Here it is worth noting that the history of independent Iraq from 1932, when it gained independence, to 1968, when the Ba’ath assumed control, is a history of one coup after another as 

senior army offi cers jockeyed for power. Moreover, there were several coup plots in the 1990s, 

which heightened the regime’s paranoia about its security.

9

 Various Iraqi generals interviewed suggested that they believed that most of the conceptual 

planning for this order was the work of Saddam, Qusay, and the Chief of Staff of the Republican 

Guard.

10 This view was widespread throughout the Iraqi military forces as well as within Saddam’s 

innercircle. General Hamdani, for example, commented in one of his interviews, “I expected 

a repeat of 1991 with a long air campaign before any [Coalition] ground forces entered Iraq.” 

“Perspectives II Republican Guard Corps.” 

11 What the Iraqis missed was the fact that Coalition commanders believed that the large forces 

they deployed in Kuwait for the coming ground offensive—the 3rd Infantry Division, the 1st 

Marine Division, the 1st UK Armored Division, and the 101st Airborne represented a tempting 

target that the Iraqis might attack with any WMD in their possesion once the air campaign began. 

The best means to avoid chemical attack, Coalition military leaders believed, was dispersion, 

which the small size of Kuwait did not allow. Hence, the decision to begin the ground offensive 

concurrently with the air campaign as a means of dispersing Coalition forces forward into enemy 

territory. 

12 Project interview of Majid Hussein Ali Ibrahim Al Dulaymi, Commander, I Republican Guard 

Corps.

13 Project interview of Majid Hussein Ali Ibrahim Al Dulaymi, Commander, I Republican Guard 

Corps.
152

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

14 Project interview of Majid Hussein Ali Ibrahim Al Dulaymi, Commander, I Republican Guard 

Corps.

15 Project interview of Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 November 2003. 

16 Project interview of Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 Nov 2003. 

17 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, July 2003. The televised broadcast of this speech, with Saddam 

uncharacteristically wearing glasses, led to some speculation in the Coalition that it was actually 

a “body-double” and not Saddam.

18 Captured document, (22 March 2003) “Memorandum #56 from Commander, 1st Air Defense 

Region to Directorate of Air Defense.”

19 Captured document, (8 April 2003) “Air Attack Reports on the Air Defenses.” 

20 Classifi ed intelligence report, April 2003. 

21 Project interview of Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 November 2003. 

22 Project interview of Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 November 2003.

23 Project interview of Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 November 2003. 

24 Project interview of Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 November 2003. 

25 Project interview of Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 November 2003. 

26 Project interview of Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 November 2003. 

27 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

28 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.” The 37th Division was a part of the 7th Directorate of the Directorate for General Military 

Intelligence. The 7th Directorate also controlled Special Mission Unit 111. 

29 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.” 

30 Based on a review of this and other documents there were hundreds of monitoring stations 

manned by small 3 to 5 man teams spread across Iraq. These stations served as listening posts 

and reported visual, audio, and occasionally signal collections directly to Baghdad. 

31 More than 1 million leafl ets were dropped on the “monitoring stations” by USAF MC-130 Talons 

by 21 March, resulting in many of these stations being abandoned. 

32 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.” 

33 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.” Coalition forces in the general area at the time were lightly armed special operation force 

patrols. 

34 Captured document, (23 March 2003) “Memorandum 4811 from GMID to Secretary–Presidency 
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Doomed Execution

of the Republic.” This report is confi rmed by the log of the 37th Division of the GMID in captured 

document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 2003.” 

35 Captured document, (23 March 2003) “Memorandum 4811 from GMID to Secretary–Presidency 

of the Republic.” Given the tone of the report, it is probable that the Sgt Badi was actually the 

Unit 111 Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the mission. 

36 Captured document, (31 March 2003) “Military Movements Directorate Letter and GMID Correspondence .” 

37 Captured document, (23 March 2003) “Memorandum 4811 from GMID to Secretary–Presidency 

of the Republic.” 

38 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.” 

39 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.”

40 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.”

41 Captured document, (27 March 2003) “Memorandum to Director of the IIS, Subject: Hamas.” 

42 This same operations log records that on 27 March “three busses of Syrian volunteers [had] 

arrived.” However, “one of them collided with a bombed out bridge, leading to...losses in the 

ranks of the volunteers.” Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th 

Division 20 March–2 April 2003.” 

43 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.” 

44 Foreign Broadcast Information Service,”Iraqi Defense Minister Ahmad Holds News Conference 

27 March,” Dubai Al-Arabiyah Television, 1850 GMT, 27 March 2003.

45 Given the general doctrinal framework within which the Iraqis were operating—namely one in 

which every move was carefully choreographed much like the French concept of “methodical 

battle” before the Second World War—it is not surprising that most senior Iraqis were incapable 

of conceiving of the kind of maneuver the 3rd Infantry Division was executing.

46 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.” 

47 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March–2 April 

2003.” 

48 Captured document, (26 March 2003) “MOD Report on Iraq’s Strategic Defense in Preparation 

for the Latest War.” 

49 Captured document, (26 March 2003) “MOD Report on Iraq’s Strategic Defense in Preparation 

for the Latest War.”

50 Captured document, (26 March 2003) “MOD Report on Iraq’s Strategic Defense in Preparation 

for the Latest War.”

51 The II Republican Guard Corps Commander indicates that this same over-estimation in heavylift capabilities was repeated by the Republican Guard’s Chief of Staff to explain how the US 

3rd Infantry Division could have gotten armor across the Euphrates north of Karbala on 2 April. 

“Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

52 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 
154

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

53 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 

54 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 

55 Classifi ed intelligence report, April 2003. 

56 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 

57 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 

58 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 

59 “Perspectives Assistant Senior Military Advisor.” 

60 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

61 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” The area to which Hamdani was referring is 

 referred to in Coalition planning documents as the “Karbala Gap.”

62 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

63 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” This is consistent with the description of the 

Al-Quds and Ba’ath Party Militia operations in As-Samawah in an interview with the assistant 

military advisor to the middle Euphrates Region Commander.

64 One IIS report dated 29 March 2003, passed information received from “Jordanian drivers” 

that “about 10,000 Israeli soldiers [are] in Jordan waiting for orders to attack Iraq...” Captured 

document, (29 March 2003) “Iraqi Intelligence Service Report about American Forces.”

65 Captured document, (25 March 2003) “Letter from Russian Offi cial to Presidential Secretary 

Concerning American Intentions in Iraq.”

66 Captured document, (27 March 2003) “Telegrams from the Al-Fajir Regiment.”

67 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

68 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

69 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

70 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” The latter represented the move by the 1st 

Marine Division up the central Euphrates Valley; the Marines were about to switch directions 

to the north to cross the Tigris at An-Numaniyah. 

71 Captured document, (28 March 2003) “Situation Reports from the Middle Euphrates Region 

Command to the Presidential Offi ce and General Command of the Armed Forces.” 

72 Captured document, (28 March 2003) “Situation Reports from the Middle Euphrates Region 

Command to the Presidential Offi ce and General Command of the Armed Forces.” 

73 Project interview of LTG Kenan Mansour Khalil Al-Obadi, Senior Military Advisor to RCC 

Member Mizban Khudr Al-Hadi, 30 November 2003.

74 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

75 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

76 In US Central Command’s OPLAN, 1003V this logistics base was called Logistics Support Area 

Bushmaster and was established by elements of V Corps on 21 March.

77 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” (Also project interview of Salih Ibrahim Hammadi Al-Salamani, Commander, Baghdad Republican Guard Division, 10 November 2003). 

78 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”
155

Doomed Execution

79 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

80 Captured document, (31 March 2003) “Situation Reports, Commander 1st Sector Karbala.” 

81 Two-thirds of the 1st Marine Division—the 5th and 7th RCTs—had driven up Highway 1 to 

Ad-Diwaniyah before cutting over to An-Numiniyah on the Tigris. The 1st RCT—the other 

one-third of the division—had driven up Highway 7 to Al-Kut before turning northwest along 

the Tigris to reunite with the division’s main body at An-Numaniyah. 

82 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

83 V Corps Summary from April indicates that the corps’ close air support force was focused on 

destroying the supporting artillery of the Medina Division as well as supporting the close-in 

fi ght. 

84 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

85 Undoubtedly Saddam was worried about an American precision air attack directed against his 

person.

86 Hamdani said he had not been informed as to exactly what the natures of those emergency 

procedures were. Captured documents indicate an extensive series of “emergency plans” (some 

going back to 1993) at the national and Governorate levels that predominately focused on local 

Ba’ath militias controlling critical building, key bridges, and local populations.

87 Interviews with the Al-Nida Republican Guards Commander indicate that they received the 

order on 1 April. However, due to the cumulative effects of air attacks and desertion, the division was only able to move 1,000 troops and 50 armored vehicles into this fi nal defensive line 

(from a pre-war strength of almost 14,000 troops and 550 armored vehicles).

88 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

89 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

90 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” The bridge referred to here was called Objective 

Peach by the Coalition and was located approximately 20 kilometers northwest of Al-Iskandariyah.

91 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Letter From Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Offi ce of the 

President Regarding Russian Intel.” 

92 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

93 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

94 Unpublished draft memoirs of LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander, II Republican Guard Corps. 

95 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

96 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

97 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” Hamdani was referring to the Ludendorff 

railroad bridge at Remagen that soldiers of the US 9th Armored Division captured on 7 March 

1945. Its capture and exploitation allowed the Americans to gain a secure bridgehead over the 

Rhine and eventually led to the surrounding of the Ruhr pocket in which much of the German 

Army in the west went into captivity.

98 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

99 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

100 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 
156

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

101 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

102 This is a physical impossibility and something well known by most competent Iraqi military 

offi cers. The 25,000-pound usable load of a CH-47 falls well short of being able to lift a Bradley 

fi ghting vehicle, much less an Abrams tank.

103 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

104 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

105 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

106 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” It is worth noting here that American forces 

were fi ring on buildings from which they were taking fi re, while many US troops had begun to 

regard any civilian vehicle driving around in the midst of a massive fi refi ght during the dawn 

hours as being a suicide bomber’s vehicle, bent on attacking them.

107 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.” 

108 “Perspectives Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps.”

109 Captured document, (6 April 2003) “Ministry of Defense/Air Force Command Memorandum 

No. 171, Referring to a Minister of Defense Chaired Conference on 30 March 2003.” 

110 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, May 2003.

111 Classifi ed Intelligence Report, October 2003.

112 Captured document, (1 April 2003) “Memorandum to Customs Police.”

113 Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Orders from the Arabic Socialist Ba’ath Party to the General 

Command of the People’s Army.” 

114 Captured document, (4 April 2003) “General Military Intelligence Directorate to the 8th Adjutant 

Confi rming Saddam Hussein’s Order to Treat the Arab Fedayeen Volunteers the Same Way 

as Special Forces Troops in Terms of their Salaries and Supplies.” The total number of Arab 

volunteers is not clear. However, an 11 March 2003 memo indicates signifi cant bureaucratic 

efforts by the Ministry of Defense to integrate Arab volunteers into training camps, to get them 

equipped, and to get them paid. Volunteers noted on this document came from such countries 

as Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Libya, and the Palestinian 

territories. Captured document, (11 March 2003) “Military Command Memos Concerned with 

the Arabian Volunteers to the Iraqi Special Forces.” 

115 Captured document, (6 April 2003) “Correspondence of the Communications Directorate on 

Order to Honor Fighters in 1st Gulf War, Orders to Increase Allowance for Transportation.” 

116 Captured document, (7 April 2003) “GMID Commanding.” 
157

Iraq. Source: Courtesy of Central Intelligence Agency, 

CIA Atlas of the Middle East, 1993.1

Illustrations
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

158

Iraqi’s Regional Command Plan Sectors.2
Illustrations

159

Population Density of Iraq.

Using Iraqi perpectives of the American “Way-of-War,” the 

obvious terrain to attack through was from the West.3
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

160

Iraqi forces on the eve of Operation Iraq Freedom February/March 2003.4
Illustrations

161

Iraqi Republican Guard tactical picture (mid-March 2003).5
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

162

Iraqi Force Repositioned (2 April 2003).6
Illustrations

163

Concept of the Operation.7

Extract from Iraqi Plan For the Defense of Basra
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

164

Dictator-in-Training.8

Saddam visits the Soviet Union (mid-1970s).

Saddam meets with tribal leaders (21 September 1996).9
Illustrations

165

Saddam and tribal leaders (undated).10

Saddam pinning medal on Tariq Aziz and Taha Yasin Ramadan, members of the 

Revolutionary Command Council (Circa 2002).11
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

166

Special Republican Guard exercise.12

Special Republican Guard Mortar Squad during a scripted exercise.13
Illustrations

167

Iraqi-sponsored Palestinian training camp.14

Examples of Iraqi military studies, including detailed technical, damage, 

and operational assesments of US airpower.15
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

168

Iraqi Air Force MIG-25 Foxbat being excavated near 

Al Taqqadum Airfi eld (July 2003).16

Undated photograph of Saddam in 

formal military attire.17
Illustrations

169

Undated photo of the Minister of 

Defense Sultan Hashim Ahmed Al 

Hamed Al Tai.18

Izzat Al Duri, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the Northern 

Region.19

LTG Raad Al-Hamdani Commander 

II Republican Guard.20

Staff LTG Huwaysh-Fadani Al-Ani 

Deputy Military Advisor to Central 

Euphrates Region.21
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

170

Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed Saeed 

Al-Sahaf.22

Patch of the Fedayeen Saddam.23

This is part of their (The United States) sick mentality. 

The US villains have no presence in Baghdad City. They 

tried to bring in a group of tanks and armored personnel 

carriers through al-Darah. They were besieged there. 

Most of them were dealt with. Their villains were slaughtered. We made them drink poison last night and the 

great forces of leader Saddam Hussein have taught them 

a lesson that history will never forget (7 April 2003).
Illustrations

171

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Overview of the Republican Guards, Regular Army, and Special Forces.24
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

172

Minister of Defense

GEN Sultan Hashim Ahmad Al-Jabburi Al-Tai

MOD Entourage

Stf BG Walid Abdel Malik Al Rawi

Lt Col Ibrahim Hussein

BG Harith Ahmed Al Ayash

Notes:

1. The Chief of Staff of the Air Force became the Chief of Staff of the Air Defense just 

 prior to OIF.

2. The Iraqi Joint Chiefs of Staff included Army, Air Force, Air Defense, and Army Aviation 

 but not the Iraqi Navy.

Inspector General

GEN Ibrahim

Al Kazraji

General Secretary

GEN Hussein Zemin

Janabi

MOD Database

BG Salah

Minister of Defense

Special Staff Officers

Navy Air Defense

Force Air Force Army Aviation Operations Intelligence

Admin/Personnel Logistics Training Public Affairs

Chief of Staff - Army Aviation

Staff MG Samir Fadil Abbas Najm

Chief of Staff - Air Defense Force

Staff MG Hamid Rajar Shlah

Chief of Staff - Army

GEN Ibrahim Abdel

Satar Al Tikriti

Chief of Staff - Air Force1

Staff LTG Hamid Raja Salah

Al-Tikriti Joint Chiefs of Staff2

Overview of the Ministry of Defense Organizations.25
Illustrations

173

NOTES

1

 Courtesy of Central Intelligence Agency, CIA Atlas of the Middle East, 1993.

2

 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

3

 Defense Intelligence Agency, 22 March 2002.

4

 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

5

 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

6

 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

7

 Captured document, (20 February 2003) Report by the Offi ce of the Chief of Staff of the Army 

on Iraq Battle Plans.”

8

 Captured document, “War photos and pictures from Saddam’s visit to the Soviet Union in the 

1970’s.”

9

 Captured document, (21 September 1996) “Photograph of Saddam Hussein and letters from 

tribal leaders.”

10 Captured document, (date unknown) “Saddam and tribal leaders.”

11 Captured document, (date unknown) “Tariq Aziz photographs.”

12 Captured document, (date unknown) “Special Republican Guard photos.”

13 Captured document, (undated) “Special Republican Guards photographs.”

14 Captured document, (undated) “Military style parade at an unlocated Palestinian training 

camp.”

15 Captured documents, (21 December 1991): “Letters from GMID regarding unexploded American 

missile,” (1990) “MOD/AFC study on strategy behind hostile air attack on air bases in 1991,” 

(6 December 1999) “MOD conference report on Cruise Missile technology.”

16 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

17 Captured document, (date unknown) “Undated photograph of Saddam Hussein.”

18 Captured document, (July 2002) From an issue of Iraq’s military magazine.

19 Captured document, (July 2002) “The Military Magazine issued by Ministry of Defense.”

20 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

21 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

22 Foreign Broadcast Information Service, (7 April 2003) “Iraqi Information Minister denies presence of U.S. Forces in Baghdad.”

23 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

24 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

25 Iraqi Perspectives Project Graphic.

175

Annex. The Iraqi Perspectives Project:

Methodology and Sources of Information

Archival restraints, personal predications, limitations of time and energy help explain the frequent practice of concentrating on only one 

side of a confl ict; but combat is more than shadow boxing. 

— Peter Paret1

Methodology

For those trying to learn military lessons, the best teacher is often defeat in a 

battle.2 Historical cases of the winning side making adaptive changes based on 

careful study of “how we won” are diffi cult to fi nd.3 The most notable examples 

of militaries learning lessons are those recovering from defeat, such as the German Army after World War I or the US Army after Vietnam. The perspective 

of the losing side provides a powerful agent of change.4 To buck that historical pattern, any study of “how we won” must include a careful study of the 

adversary’s perspectives on “how he lost.” Other nations are already conducting campaign analyses of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These nations may have a 

better chance of seeing lessons from the “loser’s perspective” than Americans 

would, given the afterglow of a conventional success.5

The distinction between learning lessons and collecting lessons is critical. 

The relevant metric for successful “learning” as a part of a lessons-learned activity should be the extent to which past experience informs the preparation of 

US military forces for future possibilities. Americans are often self-critical; some 

have declared the US military is again preparing for the last war and that it can 

learn little “fi ghting such fools.”6 The fact that the United States can only guess 

as to its next adversary suggests that using Iraq as a “surrogate” for potential 

conventional foes may be appropriate; the war of 2003 was a battle of wills and 

not a sterile battle against a “rent-a-foe” in a training exercise. As with any surrogate, understanding the likely similarities and differences is crucial.

In general terms this project has followed the basic outline for critical analysis put forward by the Prussian theorist Carl von Clausewitz in his On War: 

“War is not waged against an abstract enemy, but against a real one who must 

always be kept in mind.”7 The fi rst step requires the discovery and interpretation The first step requires the discovery and interpretation 7

of equivocal facts. The second step aims to trace effects back to causes. Finally 

the third step requires an investigation and evaluation of the means employed.8

Even with a narrowly defi ned project purpose, task, and methodology, there are 

still limitations to the analysis. In the next section, we categorize and discuss 

four limitations: (1) understanding, (2) accounting for chaos and the nature of 

war, (3) bounding the project or identifying the “trade space,” and (4) recognizing preconceived notions about the adversary. 
176

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Understanding

Understanding the limits that impede one’s ability to understand or even 

adequately perceive the “perspective” of another person, organization, or culture (much less to place that understanding in the context of an event) is foundational. Many well-founded theories explain why it is diffi cult for individuals 

and organizations to understand others.9 For the purposes of this project, the 

three most relevant reasons why this is diffi cult are (1) the way human beings 

manage the information they possess, (2) the way they deal with new information, and (3) fi nally how they attempt to place that information in a meaningful 

context of past events. 

Managing information. The fi rst barrier to understanding is the tendency 

for individuals to be overconfi dent in their ability to combine information in 

complex ways. Such overconfi dence has three major elements. The fi rst is, in 

reality, the majority of people do not know what information they rely on or 

how they actually use the information they have. In other words, they do not 

even understand themselves. Such blindness inevitably leads to an overestimation of the sophistication of the thought processes. The second element is a 

lack of self-awareness of the extent to which individuals lock information into 

preconceived beliefs and assumptions. Throughout history, military leaders and 

staffs have consistently attempted to force reality into their vision of the future 

rather than adapt the vision to the reality. Finally, the third element leading to 

overconfi dence is a lack of self-awareness of the extent to which individuals 

rely on analogies with past events, “especially recent events that they or their 

own country have experienced fi rst hand.”10 

Assimilating new information. The second barrier to understanding is 

the tendency for individuals to assimilate new information into preexisting 

beliefs. Robert Jervis argues that “ambiguous or even discrepant information 

is ignored, misperceived, or reinterpreted so that it does minimum damage to 

what the person already believes.”11 Assimilating new information presented 

signifi cant challenges to US policy makers and military professionals, given the 

long, adversarial relationship the United States had with Saddam’s regime. 

Avoiding the Hindsight Bias. The third major barrier to understanding 

is what political scientists have termed the “Hindsight Bias.” This bias results 

from the psychological dilemma confronted when trying to reconstruct and 

understand a series of decisions and judgments when you know how events 

actually played out. As Roberta Wohlstetter stated:

It is much easier after the fact to sort the relevant from the irrelevant signals. After the event, or course, a signal is always 

crystal clear. We can now see what disaster it was signaling since 

the disaster has occurred, but before the event it is obscure and 

pregnant with confl icting meanings.12 
177

Annex

The challenge is, how do you reconstruct the battlefi eld in such a way 

that the operational and intelligence communities can benefi t? The solution 

is fi nding a balance between knowledge of actual events from both sides free 

from preconceived interpretations. Because this challenge falls into the nature 

of how human beings think and perceive, knowledge of the bias is the only 

defense against its effect.13 

Accounting for the Nature of War

It is impossible to foresee with any degree of certainty which effects 

will be brought about by this particular cause, nor is it possible to state 

with any degree of certainty in retrospect what particular cause has 

produced this effect. 

— Hans J. Morgenthau14

Accounting for the nature of war is critical if analysts, commentators, and 

historians are to avoid over-simplifi cation or—even worse—the creation of a 

perfectly elegant but perfectly wrong description of what happened. The nature 

of war, being the domain of chance, does not lend itself to a clear description of 

cause-and-effect, no matter how determined or detailed the investigation. 

The character of the Coalition’s campaign (e.g., multidimensional, rapid, 

precise) only serves to exacerbate the nature of what is a natural state of affairs 

in warfare—chaos. The use of the term “chaos” applies not only to the general 

conduct of the Iraqi defense but also to a fundamental, conceptual description 

of war itself. The non-linear effect of obscure, unrecorded, and often unknowable events makes any detailed analysis subjective and, in some instances, no 

better than the pre-war intelligence estimates of “what might be.”15 

Throughout the ages, military historians have struggled to bring order to 

battlefi eld chaos and match cause-and-effect to outcomes and actions in a campaign. The advantage enjoyed by a historian’s post-facto view of the world, as 

opposed to the intelligence offi cer’s predictive view, does not confer any special 

key to the puzzle of chaotic events.16 The nature of war makes the historian’s 

question “Why did this adversary react this way?” no less challenging than the 

intelligence offi cer’s question of “How will this adversary react to us?” 

The Trade Space

The trade space consists of areas open to exploration at the outset. The 

trade space for the Iraqi Perspectives Project was initially defi ned as the same 

space covered by the US Joint Forces Command Lessons Learned Report on the 

conduct of major combat operations during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, only 

from the adversary’s point of view. The Iraqi Perspective Project focuses on the 
178

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

military aspects at the operational level of war and does not overlap with other 

major areas of investigation, which fall into the following categories:

Tactical perspective. First, the Services and other groups are examining the 

conduct of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM from a tactical and weapon system level. 

These studies will include references, fi ndings, and background at the operational level, but the primary focus remains on building a tactical perspective.

17 

Strategic perspective. The second area consists of ongoing studies to examine the strategic issues associated with OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. Evaluations 

of its strategic nature are in the open press and academic journals. Most strategic 

lessons-learned studies however, are being conducted by the US Department of 

Defense’s Joint Staff. As with tactical studies, elements of operational warfare are 

a natural component of these strategic views, but for the most part they remain 

distinct in their focus on strategy. There is an overlap between the strategic areas 

examined from the Coalition and Iraqi perspectives by the Iraqi Perspectives 

Project. This overlap results from the nature of the campaign. From the coalition 

perspective, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM was a major campaign conducted in a 

theater of war. However, from the Iraqi perspective, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

was a strategic campaign representing the gravest threat to the regime. 

Ongoing issues. The third area of the trade space not covered by this project 

involves the issues studied by the Iraqi Survey Group and those topics related 

to ongoing intelligence operations (specifi cally international terrorism and insurgency) after 9 April 2003. The Iraqi Perspectives Project had unprecedented 

access to the information, facilities, and people necessary to develop this report. 

Nonetheless, it was diffi cult to come to signifi cant conclusions or insights into 

the basic study questions while issues were still unfolding and remain a focus 

of the study. For example, when focusing on weapons of mass destruction, the 

Iraqi Survey Group had over 1,200 qualifi ed professionals working to resolve 

the fundamental questions surrounding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction 

programs. The Iraqi Perspectives Project does not have the expertise or resources 

to address those issues in detail. The conduct of a parallel study effort to the 

Iraqi Survey Group would be diffi cult and disruptive to the study’s efforts to 

explain the Iraqi perspective on the conduct of the war.18 Thus, the Iraqi Perspectives Project did not explicitly address the issue of weapons of mass destruction 

(WMD). The same logic applied to the Iraqi Survey Group mission holds true 

to the other organizations collecting information on international terrorism and 

the ongoing insurgency. 

Preconceived Notions About the Adversary

Finally, this study has a view of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM that remains 

infl uenced by the long relationship the United States had with the former Iraqi 

regime. We should be wary of the tendency to fi t available evidence into previously developed concepts of the problem. In addition to perceptions of Iraq, 
179

Annex

Americans remain bound up within their own perceptions of themselves. At 

fi rst blush, many post-war analyses from the 1991 Gulf War seem applicable 

to the public analyses of the recent campaign.19 Given the continuous nature 

of the US–Coalition confl ict with Iraq since 1990, this appears to make sense at 

fi rst. The problem however, is the analysis of the fi rst Gulf War included very 

little information available from the “losing side.” As one commentator noted 

“[i]t is rather common for American military analysts substantially to ignore 

the enemy when they assess a war; this pattern seems to hold for the Gulf War 

in 1991.”20 It is likely that with America’s “easy success in major combat operations,” analysts are enthusiastically fi tting the new information of the 2003 Gulf 

War into comfortable, old analytical frameworks—only with more confi dence 

than before.21 

Major Sources of Information

Most of this study on Iraq’s military performance rests on two primary 

sources of information: (1) interviews, debriefs, and interrogations of a signifi -

cant cross-section of the senior leaders of the military and the Ba’ath regime; 

and (2) captured Iraqi documents.22 Augmenting these primary sources are 

extensive open-source reporting, academic research, and declassifi ed extracts 

of US government intelligence material, assessments, and reports.23 The foundation of this Iraqi performance study rests on Iraqi primary sources—it is their 

perspective. 

People

The Iraqi Perspectives Project Team identifi ed the Iraqis that would, in a 

perfect world, provide the most historical insight into the study questions. The 

personnel selection process took into account the centralized but complex chain 

of command that existed in Iraq. The simplest analysis began with the wellknown list of individuals identifi ed as the “Top-55” Black List—the “deck of 

cards” (see Figure A-1). With the exception of Saddam Hussein, many of these 

individuals were available (i.e., in custody) to the Iraqi Perspectives Project 

Team between November and December 2004 (see Table A-1). Of the Iraqis 

available, we determined that 20 of the 55 were the most likely to provide the 

strategic and/or operational military insights necessary to satisfy the project’s 

questions. Most of those identifi ed had been directly involved in military or 

political command and control during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. For example, 

the Secretary of the Republican Guard or Saddam’s personal secretary provided 

insights into Saddam’s decisions or his actions immediately prior to the war. 

Saddam was captured after the interview phase and was not available as 

of this writing for an interview. But the Iraqi Perspectives Project Team has had 

access to most of the existing debriefs and documentation captured with him. 
180

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

While this information did not directly support to the study questions, it provided 

insights into Saddam’s personality and habits. Therefore, Saddam’s picture was 

added to Figure A-1. 

A signifi cant number of Iraqis were determined to be of potential value but 

ended up not being placed in the “Top-55”. They were selected on the basis of 

their commands and location on the battlefi eld. In two other cases, other Iraqis 

were selected by the study team based on the recommendations of Iraqis previously interviewed. 

Not all interviews were of equal value. In addition to the diverse conditions 

in which the various interviews took place, each Iraqi subject had different motivations for answers.24 Some Iraqis were clearly anxious to appear cooperative 

in hopes of gaining favor later. Others attempted to establish a rationale for why 

they should not be considered a threat. Still other interviewees attempted to hide 

the fact they were persons of considerable and signifi cant infl uence over events 

or were, in fact, personally implicated in the regime’s crimes. 

For example, Lieutenant-General Raad Hamdani (Commander, II Republican 

Figure A-1. The “Top-55” Black List leaders of the former Iraqi regime.

 The photos with purple borders are considered signifi cant 

sources of information for this study.
181

Annex

Guard Corps) was interviewed on fi ve different occasions, totaling more than 20 

hours. According to Hamdani, the primary motivation for discussing his actions 

during the war was one of a professional soldier trying to establish an honest 

history of what occurred. He viewed history as a “sacred duty” of all soldiers and 

an important step in building a new Iraq. In nearly every respect, the team found 

his answers truthful and honest to the extent that his memory would allow.

On the other hand, General Ali Hassan Al-Majid Tikriti was quite different. 

Number 5 on the Coalition’s Black List, “Chemical Ali” was a member of the 

Revolutionary Command Council. The Iraqi Survey Group Interrogation Team 

assessed him as an intelligent individual, highly manipulative of those around 

him—“a consummate con-man.” A US offi cer with ten years of interrogation/

debriefi ng experience who was working with the IPP team was able to observe 

the debriefs of Chemical Ali. The offi cer noticed that in subtle but effective ways, 

Chemical Ali managed to manipulate the assigned interrogation team and supporting analysts. Based on the collected interviews and reviews of previous 

interrogations, it became obvious to the team that Chemical Ali’s memory for 

details was impressive—as long as that memory did not include his own actions 

or decisions. 

For the most part, the Iraqi Perspectives Project Team accepted the judgments 

of US Government experts on the veracity of the subjects they interviewed; the 

team made no attempt to reach independent conclusions. Where possible, the 

team corroborated the statements with other interviews or hard data such as 

imagery or battlefi eld reporting.

Figure A-2. Sources Below the “Top 55.”
182

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

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Table A-1. List of primary sources for interviews, debriefs, 

or written responses to questions.
183

Annex

Documents

The seemingly obvious place to gather insights on Iraq’s operational planning would be to examine the Iraqi equivalent of OPLAN 1003V—US Central 

Command’s classifi ed theater-level war plan. In fact there was no equivalent 

document. Even if such a document had existed, the nature of document exploitation after OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM would not have guaranteed it would 

have been available to this study. Document exploitation is challenging under 

the best of circumstances. For every document seized, someone must determine the content (translation), the context (e.g., at what level was it written, 

for what purpose), the relative value (e.g., was it a draft, was it seen or acted 

on by a principle or organization) or even whether it was ever promulgated. 

The rapid collapse of Saddam’s regime resulted in the opening of a relatively 

well-documented and technologically advanced government bureaucracy to 

examination. That is the good news; the bad news is the scope and scale of the 

documentation available for exploitation. The Iraqi Perspectives Project Team’s 

fi rst encounter with the challenge came on a visit to the document exploitation 

operation in Qatar in November 2003. 

Upon entering the main warehouse (Figure A-3), the team confronted a 

scene reminiscent of the end of the Steven Spielberg movie Indiana Jones and 

the Raiders of the Lost Ark. After recovering the lost Ark of the Covenant from 

Figure A-3. Captured-documents warehouse.
184

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

the Nazis, the audience watches archivists box it up and slowly wheel it into 

an anonymous US Government warehouse already fi lled with similar boxes, 

presumably only to be lost again. 

As a supporting organization to the Iraqi Survey Group, the Combined 

Media Processing Center has the mission of processing masses of documents, 

maps, digital, and analog media captured during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. 

From the standup of the Combined Media Processing Center in the summer 

of 2003 through the writing of this document, that organization has amassed a 

document collection of over almost 600,000 fi les, including thousands of media 

fi les. Archivists have triaged the collection for critical data, scanned them into 

a captured documents database, and made them available to analysts through 

a classifi ed government network.25 

The Iraqi Perspectives Project team has taken full advantage of this operation in preparation of this study. In addition to maps, the team has drawn 

heavily on the captured documents database and used almost 700 document 

and media fi les to support this analysis with more than 100 cited. Materials 

range from a planning map of the Republican Guard headquarters displaying 

the defensive scheme of Baghdad to the Top Secret transcribed minutes of the 

meeting between the Russian Ambassador and members of the Iraqi Foreign 

ministry immediately prior to the outbreak of war.26 

Research Methodology

Phase I: Background Research

The fi rst phase of the Iraqi Perspectives Project began with a survey of 

available open-source and classifi ed literature on the subject of Iraq, the regime, 

and OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. The aim was to establish and understand the 

sources of information and how the team could gain the highest return on time 

invested. The output of this phase was a database of classifi ed and unclassifi ed 

references, a bibliography of published works, and a plan of action for primary 

interviews. (See References for a partial bibliography.)

The team leveraged a considerable collection of open-source material on 

Iraq’s military capabilities ranging from historical reviews on Iraq’s military 

capabilities, in Kenneth Pollack’s Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness 1948-1991 

and military assessments after the fi rst Gulf War to more current estimates 

ranging from the excellent series published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies to the growing volume of post-war analyses.27 Additionally, 

there are several works on the nature of the Saddam Hussein regime and its 

inner workings, including Kanan Makiya’s seminal work Republic of Fear and 

a number of academic articles.28 

Prewar classifi ed material on Iraq’s regime is voluminous. The majority of 

classifi ed sources deal with externally observable capabilities (e.g., force struc-
185

Annex

ture, training events, force disposition) and the resulting analysis of how the 

Iraqis might use them in different scenarios. Some prewar analysis did prove 

accurate in assessing the internal relationships and potential impact on operational effectiveness, but its utility to the operational planners is hard to judge. 

The team also made use of the extensive intelligence produced during 

the prewar period and, to a lesser extent, analyses of major combat operations after 1 May 2003. These assessments include analyses of Iraqi military 

capability and orders of battle, background material on Iraqi military doctrine, 

intelligence summaries from coalition units, commander’s assessments and 

planning documents of the coalition units in the fi ght, and imagery. These 

documents represent a valuable secondary source of information to provide 

context; establish a background; and, in many cases, validate primary sources. 

The other valuable purpose of these documents, specifi cally the operations 

planning documents prior to the major combat operations and the intelligence 

assessments prior and during major combat operations, is to provide a basis 

to contrast perspectives. 

Phase II: Collection

The second phase involved deploying a portion of the Iraqi Perspectives 

Project Team to Baghdad to conduct individual interviews with Iraqis. An accomplished Arabic linguist and trained strategic debriefer, as well as complete 

access granted by US Central Command, the Iraqi Survey Group, the Coalition 

Provisional Authority, and various US Government agencies, supported this 

phase. 

The primary method during this phase was to conduct interviews, acting 

as historians collecting oral histories. There were two distinct advantages to 

this approach. First, since this project represents a historical inquiry, the authors 

provided a clear distinction between themselves and the intelligence teams that 

had been talking to the detainees for upwards of six months on a narrow range 

of questions. While the answers (and sometimes non-answers) to the interrogations have provided background and, in some cases, direct information to 

the study, they generally failed to provide the context within which the Iraqis 

made operational decisions. 

The second advantage of the historical approach was the tendency of professional soldiers to want to tell their own war story.29 To be clear some of those 

interviewed had other motivations. These ranged from a sense of professional 

duty as a soldier, to an attempt to recover a sense of martial pride after Iraq’s 

catastrophic defeat on the battlefi eld, to boredom and a desire to talk and not 

just answer questions. In several cases, the Iraqi Survey Group interrogation 

teams and analysts noted the increased willingness of several detainees to talk 

under these “oral history” conditions. 

The Iraqi Perspectives Project interviewed the subjects under three distinct 
186

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

circumstances. The fi rst was to utilize the debriefi ng centers established by 

coalition military commands. The process involved reviewing the available 

dossier information on the subject, to include previous interviews, interrogations, and debriefs. The next step required coordinating with the interrogation 

teams working with the subject to clear both the method of interview and the 

actual interview questions. This step had the additional advantage of providing 

insights on the disposition, personality, and perspective of the interviewees.30 

The team conducted these interviews in a relaxed environment, usually with a 

1:250,000 scale military map on the table and a translator (see Figure A-4). The 

interview lengths varied from one to two hours. 

The second method of conducting interviews involved meeting Iraqis not 

in coalition custody but instead at various public locations in Baghdad. It was 

clear to the Iraqis that the interviews were part of a US Government history 

project. The advantage of these interviews was that they generally were not 

constrained by time, conditions were more conducive to a relaxed discussion, 

and they provided easy access to the Iraqis of interest. 

Finally, the third method was through a third party, usually a coalition debriefi ng team already working with the subject. In these cases, the basic set of 

questions was modifi ed for the subject and provided to the debriefer. In some 

cases, the team observed the interviews; in other cases, it received answers to 

the questions through the debriefi ng team or after the answers had been pubFigure A-4. Iraqi Perspectives Project interview with former Republican 

Guard offi cer in Baghdad – November 2003. 
187

Annex

lished in US government reports.

As with all instances of collecting information from individuals (whether 

in journalism, oral histories, or human intelligence), there are certain caveats 

readers should keep in mind. Individuals provide information for reasons of the 

following: (1) honestly trying to present the truth, (2) exercising their own sense 

of self-importance, (3) attempting to deceive or infl uence, (4) attempting to curry 

favor, or (5) providing out of fear. There are no automatic fi lters to account for 

these variations, but there are some simple techniques. Among the techniques 

to control for variations in motivation, the team used the US Government assessments of a particular source, multiple sources for a given comment or story, 

and cross-referenced facts with alternative sources (i.e., fi nding documents that 

corroborate an interview). In the fi nal analysis, historical analysis comes down 

to a matter of judgment, based on the data available. 

Phase III: Exploitations and Analysis

The third phase of the project involved follow-up and exploitation of the 

material gathered to date. The interviews were transcribed and correlated to 

other sources of information (i.e., other interviews; documented interrogations; 

imagery; and, in some cases, intelligence assessments or battlefi eld reports from 

the coalition). In addition, with the contacts and leads developed in Phases I 

and II, the team was able to focus its remaining research into key areas of the 

growing Iraqi exploited documents available through the US Government. 

The document exploitation conducted in support of the Iraqi Perspectives 

Project has provided a signifi cant amount of critical information from inside 

the regime. Examples of these documents exist throughout the body of the 

study, including such items as Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs transcriptions 

of conversations with the Russian Ambassador to Iraq prior to and during 

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (March 2003), Iraqi Republican Guard staff studies 

of probable coalition military courses of action and recommended reactions 

(February 2003), plans for surviving precision air attacks (2002), and Iraqi 

studies of US satellite capabilities (February 2003). The volume of documents 

and the fact that the number of newly translated documents is growing daily 

means that while the team screened a large percentage of the database with a 

priority document fi lter, this study could utilize only a small fraction of what 

potentially would be available in less relevant translations.31 

 As with the previously cited cautions on using information gathered from 

humans, there are concerns relating to documents. Basil Liddell Hart once 

suggested that “[n]othing can deceive like a document. A purely documentary 

history is akin to mythology.”32 As this study will illustrate, the cautions on 

documents may be even more important, especially when following the paper 

trail within the bureaucracy of such a corrupt regime. Among the reasons one 

must view documents with caution are the possibility of forgeries, offi cial docu-
188

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

ments written for less than honest purposes, missing documents, documents 

out of context, or those left purposely incomplete. The Iraqi Perspectives Project 

has attempted to place documentary evidence in context with information from 

multiple human sources and, where possible, cross-reference with secondary 

sources to include coalition intelligence information. 

The Iraqi Perspective 

What was the Iraqi view of the operation? The simplicity of this question 

belies the challenge and complexity of answering it. The challenge is even more 

daunting when considering the friction and sometime controversy, of describing 

the intent, plans, and actions of the coalition during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, 

where one has access to many original documents, fi rst-person interviews, and 

a common culture. In investigating the Iraqi perspective of OPERATION IRAQI

FREEDOM, the Iraqi Perspectives Project made every effort to access original 

documents and personal interviews. Given the security situation in Iraqi during 

the major investigation phase of this study, access to Iraqi material remained 

more limited than access to Coalition material. However, the authors believe 

that the benefi ts of this study, and others like it, far outweigh any methodological shortcomings. 
189

Annex

Notes

1

 Peter Paret, “Military Power,” The Journal of Military History, vol. 53, no. 3, (July 1989), pp. 

239–256.

2

 The distinction between learning lessons and just collecting lessons is critical. The metric for 

the “learning” part of lesson-learned activities can be summarized as the extent to which past 

experience informs actions in the preparation for some future possibility. 

3

 An exception to the rule might be the German OKH, which after the 1939 campaign in Poland 

instituted numerous changes to organization and doctrine prior to the 1940 campaign in France. 

See Williamson Murray, “The German Response to Victory in Poland: A Case Study in Professionalism,” Armed Forces and Society (Winter 1981). 

4

 Although this is not always the case (the Italian military being a case in point). See Macgregor 

Knox, Mussolini Unleashed, 1939-1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy’s Last War, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982. 

5

 For example, FBIS documents from DPRK, Russia, China, Ukraine, and many others all indicate 

an active examination of relevant lessons. 

6

 Loren Thompson, “Lessons of Iraq: Strategic and Joint Implications,” briefi ng presented at the 

Defense News Force Projection Conference, 22 September 2003. 

7

 Carl von Clausewitz, On War, ed. and trans. by Michael Howard and Peter Paret, Princeton 

University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1976, p. 161.

8

 Clausewitz, On War, pp. 156–169.

9

 A signifi cant body of work (case studies and theoretical analysis) relating to the issue of thinking 

about the adversary perspective are found in the broader analyses of surprise and deception. 

Setting the differences in context aside, these works all explore the implications of considering 

alternative theories as well as the practical impacts of analytical processes on decision-makers, 

and are applicable to the Iraqi Perspectives Project. For example, see Roberta Wohlstetter, Pearl 

Harbor: Warning and Decision (Stanford: University Press, 1962); Graham Allison and Philop 

Zelikow, Essence of Decision – Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 2nd edition. (New York, 

Longman Press, 1999); Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics 

(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976); Richards J. Heur, Jr., “Strategic Deception and 

Counterdeception – A Cognitive Process Approach,” International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 25, 

No. 2 (June 1981) p. 294-327; Richard K. Betts, “Analysis, War, and Decision: Why Intelligence 

Failures are Inevitable,” World Politics, Vol. 31, No. 1 (October, 1978) p. 61-89; Abraham Ben-Avi, 

“The Outbreak and Termination of the Pacifi c War: A Juxtaposition of American Preconceptions,” 

Journal of Peace Research, No. 1, Vol. XV (1978) p. 33-49.

10 Robert Jervis, “Deterrence and Perception,” International Security, Winter 1982/1983, vol. 7, no. 3.

11 Jervis, “Deterrence and Perception.”

12 Roberta Wohlstetter, Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision (Stanford, CA, 1962), p. 387.

13 A more detailed discussion of this phenomenon and its effects can be found in the Central 

Intelligence Agency, Center for the Study of Intelligence report; Psychology of Intelligence 

Analysis, chapter 13, “Hindsight Biases in Evaluation of Intelligence Reporting,” (Washington 

DC, 1999).

14 Hans J. Morgenthau, “The Limitations of Science and the Problem of Social Planning,” Ethics, 

vol. 54, no. 3, April 1944.
190

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

15 A good description of the challenges and limitations in attempting to “unravel” the chaotic 

nature of the battlefi eld can be found in Roger Beaumonts’s, War, Chaos, and History (Novato, 

CA, 1994), especially chapters 2, 3, and 5).

16 Continuing debates and newly published books on such topics such as generalship in the US 

Civil War, the causes of World War I, or even the impact of air power in Vietnam, point to the 

inherent limits of analysis (specifi cally cause-and-effect) relating to warfare. 

17 For example: The US Army’s On Point (Washington DC, 2004) and CENTAF’s data fi lled reference 

“Operation Iraqi Freedom - By The Numbers” (classifi ed Secret version released by CENTAF 

Assessment and Analysis Division on 22 April 2003).

18 For a detailed description of the Iraqi Survey Group mission and methodology, see Scope Note, 

vol. I, “Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD” (Central Intelligence Agency, 30 September 2004), pg. 1-5.

19 For example: Rick Atkinson, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War (Boston, 1993), 

Summers, Harry Glenn, On Strategy II: A Critical Analysis of the Gulf War (New York, 1992), or 

Freeman and Karsh, The Gulf Confl ict, 1990-1991: Diplomacy and War in the New World Order 

(Princeton, 1993), and the US Army, Certain Victory: The US Army in the Gulf War (Washington 

DC, 1993).

20 John Mueller, “The Perfect Enemy: Assessing the Gulf War,” Security Studies vol. 5, no. 1, Autumn 1995.

21 For example, compare the debate surrounding judging military performance after the fi rst 

Gulf War in Steven Biddle, “Victory Misunderstood: What the Gulf War Can Tell US About the 

Future of Confl ict,” International Security, vol. 21, no. 2, Fall 1996; Daryl Press, “Lessons from 

Ground Combat in the Gulf: The Impact of Training and Technology,” International Security, 

vol. 22, no. 2, Autumn, 1997; Thomas Mahnken and Barry D. Watts, “What the Gulf War Can 

[and Cannot] Tell Us about the Future of Warfare,” International Security, vol. 22, no. 2, Autumn 

1997) with the emerging popular consensus after OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM as seen in Dr Steven 

Biddle’s Testimony, Committee on House Armed Services, October 21, 2003 “OPERATION IRAQI 

FREEDOM Outside Perspectives;” Walter Boyne, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, What Went Right, 

What Went Wrong, and Why (New York, NY, 2003), Andrew Krepinevich, “OIF: A First Blush 

Assessment,” CSBA Publication, 2003; Frederick Kagen, “War and Aftermath,” Policy Review, 

no. 120, Aug/Sep 2003, plus a rapidly growing list of contemporary history books and personal 

memoirs. 

22 For the purpose of the project, primary source material is considered to be either interviews 

with the former regime offi cial or documents believed to have been a part of the former regime. 

Secondary material is someone’s (other than the team’s) analysis of material relating to the 

former regime.

23 All classifi ed material referred to or quoted has been cleared for use in this unclassifi ed manuscript by the appropriate US Government agencies. 

24 See the section “Research Methodology.” 

25 A “document” can range from a single-page note between the Iraqi Intelligence Service and the 

Iraqi President’s Offi ce to several hundred-page documents on a wide range of military plans 

and studies. The US Government maintains a centralized database for foreign military, technical, 

and open-source documents and their translations. 

26 The exploitation challenge in regard to maps is perhaps more challenging than documents. In 

December 2003, the Iraqi Perspectives Project was the fi rst group of analysts to begin examining the maps collected at the Combined Media Processing Center facility. The challenge is that 

no apparent discipline existed on the part of the Iraqi map maintainers to document the date, 

time, and purpose of the map; nor were the maps marked at capture with similar information. 
191

Annex

The dilemma is determining the relative value of maps in terms of those used for the war, those 

used for planning and exercises, or those dating to a previous war. 

27 For example, among the many CSIS Studies (including drafts) authored by Anthony Cordesman: “Iraqi Armed Forces on the Edge of War,” (revised 7 February 2003); “The Lessons of the 

Iraq War” (21 July 2003); “Iraqi Intelligence and Security Forces and Capabilities for Popular 

Warfare” (16 January 2003); and “The Iraq War: Iraq’s Warfi ghting Strategy” (11 March 2003).

28 Kanan Makiya; Republic of Fear, The Politics of Modern Iraq (Berkeley CA) Updated 1998. 

Journal articles include Ahmed Hashim, “Saddam Husayn and Civil-Military Relations in Iraq: 

The Quest for Legitimacy and Power,” Middle East Journal, vol. 57, no. 1, Winter 2003.

29 This desire to tell their “soldier’s story” included offi cers who may not be deemed “professional” 

by Western standards but like to think of themselves as such.

30 The Iraqi Perspective Project developed a basic list of 45 questions and then tailored the list to 

cover strategic, operational, and tactical categories. The list of questions was developed in such 

a way that the questions were not leading or did not describe a coalition understanding of the 

events. While the team used this list as a guideline, most interviews were tailored to the subject 

and circumstances. 

31 As of the end of August 2005, the Iraqi Perspectives Project had screened (software keyword 

search) most of the almost 600,000 Iraqi documents posted to the Department of Defense captured document database. 

32 Cited in Harold C. Deutsch, “The Matter of Records,” The Journal of Military History, vol. 59, 

no. 1 (January, 1995).

193

REFERENCES

Captured Iraqi Documents

 The following documents are content summaries, partial translations, 

or full translations of the original Arabic.

Captured media fi le, (27 May 1987) “Saddam and Inner Circle Discuss USS 

Stark Incident.” 

Captured document, (date unclear - from late 1980’s) “Handbook on Ideology and Requirements of Being an Iraqi Soldier.” 

Captured document, (undated – believed to be pre-1990) “Discussion Between Saddam and His Advisors about the Election in Iraq and Transportation 

after the War.”

Captured media fi le, (19 April 1990) “Video Containing a Recorded Meeting 

That Took Place Among President Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi Cabinet, President 

Yasser Arafat, and the Palestinian Delegation.” 

Captured media fi le, (pre-August 1990) “Saddam Hussein and Offi cial 

Discuss the Case of Kuwait and the American Position.”

Captured media fi le, (Sept/Oct 1990) “Saddam and Members of the RCC 

Discuss American Reactions to Invasion of Kuwait.” 

Captured document, (30 September 1990) “The Minutes of the Reception 

Held Between Saddam Hussein and As’ad Byud Al-Tamimi, Chief of the Islamic 

Jihad Movement (Bait Al-Maqis).” 

Captured document, (22 March 1991) “Notes Between [fi eld] Agents and 

General Military Intelligence Directorate (GMID) about the Riot Incidents in 

1991.”

Captured media fi le, (1 May 1991) “Saddam Meeting with High Ranking 

Offi cials Evaluating Iraqi Military Performance in the 1991 War.” 

Captured media fi le, (5 May 1991) “Saddam Hussein’s Meeting with High 

Ranking Iraqi Offi cials, Evaluating the Iraqi Military Performance on the Battlefi eld during the fi rst Gulf War 1991.”

Captured media fi le, (29 February 1992) “Saddam Meeting with Military 

Commanders Discussing 1991 Uprisings.” 

Captured media fi le, (15 March 1992) “Meeting of High Ranking Military 

Offi cials Supervised by Minister of Defense Regarding Lessons of the 1991 

War.”

Captured media fi le, (15 May 1992) “Seminar held by Al Bakir University 

for Military Studies on the Strategic Role of the Um Al Ma’arik Battle.” 
194

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Captured document, (1992) “Interrogation Records of a Father and Son For 

Insulting the Saddam Regime, the Daughter Informed the IIS.” 

Captured document, (30 August 1993) “Chief of the Seventh Section and 

Chief of the First Section Correspondence Regarding Desire for a Study About 

the Role of Air Forces in the Gulf War 1991.”

Captured document, (13 October 1993) “Iraqi Intelligence Service Memo to 

Iraqi Head of State Regarding American Position in Somalia.” 

Captured media fi le, (approximately 1993) “Iraqi Command Meeting Regarding the Coalition Attack on Iraq and the 1991 Uprising.”

Captured document, (approximately 1993) “9th Session on the Role of the 

Republican Guard.”

Captured media fi le, (approximately 1993) “Saddam Discussing Issues 

Related to the War in 1991.” 

Captured media fi le, (date unclear - late 1994) “Saddam Meeting with High 

Ranking Offi cials Regarding the New Clinton Administration and its Attitudes 

Towards Iraq.” 

Captured media fi le, (15 April 1995) “Saddam Hussein, Council of Ministers, 

and Ba’ath Party Members Discussing UN sanctions against Iraq.” 

Captured document, (14 June 1995) “RCC Decision About Fedayeen Saddam Rights and Privileges Forwarded to MIC.” 

Captured media fi le, (10 August, 1995) “Saddam Hussein Meeting with 

Leaders of the Republican Guard Regarding Readiness of the Guard.”

Captured media fi le, (8 October 1995) “Saddam Hussein Meeting with Qusay 

and Leaders of the H-J Operation Regarding Republican Guard Movements.” 

Captured document, (2 November 1995) “Military Directorate Correspondence Reports About Fedayeen Saddam Troops and their Organizational 

Structure.” 

Captured media fi le, (5 November 1995) “Saddam and Senior Leaders 

Discuss the Republican Guard.”

Captured media fi le, (20 November 1995) “Military Scientifi c Conference 

by Air Force and Armored Forces Command on Um Al Ma’arik Battle.”

Captured document, (22 November 1995) “Military Directorate Correspondence Regarding Secret Visit from Vietnam Army Chief of Staff.” 

Captured media fi le, (approximately 1995) “Saddam and Senior Advisors 

Discuss International Reaction to UN Inspection Report.”

Captured document, (2 July 1996) “IIS Memorandum 945/712: Secret Instructions When International Inspection Teams Check Sites.”

Captured document, (21 August 1996) “Reference File of the Laws of the 

Fedayeen Saddam.” 
195

References

Captured document, (13 July 1997) “Letter from Secretary of the Presidential Offi ce to SSO Director and Others Ordering Security Employees Not to 

Address Secretary.” 

Captured document, (1 January 1998) “The Leader and the Masses: A Book 

About Saddam.” 

Captured document, (15 January 1998) “Memos Issued by the Head of the 

Fedayeen Saddam Passing Down Regulations for Executions.” 

Captured document, (April 1998) “Um Al-Ma’arik Magazine Article Regarding Masons Coalition with Zionists.”

Captured document, (4 May 1998) “SSO Report on the Masons and the 

Secrets Behind Their Hatred of Iraq.” 

Captured document, (25 May 1999) “Fedayeen Saddam Instructions.” 

Captured document, (8 July 1999) “Saddam Meeting with Ba’ath Party 

Comrades.” 

Captured document, (11 July, 1999) “Plans and Analysis Reports by the 

Fedayeen Saddam Secretariat.”

Captured document, (22 October 1999) “Correspondence from Ministry 

of Foreign Affairs to Iraqi Embassy in Tripoli Regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses 

and Other Groups.” 

Captured document, (1999) “Presidential Order to Monitor All Internet 

News Concerning Iraq.” 

Captured media fi le, (1999) “Saddam Hussein’s Meeting with a Group of 

Ba’ath Party Members to discuss Ba’ath Party Theories and Issues.” 

Captured document, (approximately 1999) “1999 IIS Plan for Training Fedayeen Saddam Using IEDs.”

Captured document, (after 1999) “Saddam Discusses Western Politics and 

America’s Involvement in Somalia.”

Captured document, (3 February, 2000) “Correspondence Between Yugo 

Import and MOD Regarding Visiting Yugoslav Delegation.” 

Captured document, (14 March 2000) “Memo from Offi ce of the Fedayeen 

Saddam Chief of Staff about Special Operations Against Car Thieves.”

Captured document, (26 April 2000) “SSO Study on Masonic Movement 

and Its Conspiracies Against Iraq.” 

Captured document, (12 July 2000) “Saddam Speech to the Iraqi People 

Regarding Preparations for the Coming Battle.” 

Captured document, (7 October 2000) “Correspondence from Presidential 

Offi ce to Secretary General of the Fedayeen Saddam Regarding Foreign Arab 

Volunteers.” 
196

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Captured document, (16 November 2000) “Military Orders for Fedayeen 

to Blow up a Building.” 

Captured document, (23 December 2000) “Fedayeen Saddam UAV and 

Special Boat Plans.”

Captured document, (12 May 2001) “Open Letter to the President of 

USA.”

Captured document, (1 July 2001) “Correspondence Between Fedayeen 

Saddam and Iraq National Olympic Committee Regarding a Letter from a 

Widow.” 

Captured document, (9 September 2001) “Republican Guard Plan Report 

Entitled ‘Operation Holy Conquest: Evacuation and Dispersal’.” 

Captured document, (12 December 2001) “Meeting Minutes Between Saddam Hussein and Leader of Serbian Radical Party.” 

Captured document, (2001) “A Report on a Cartoon Character Called 

‘Pokemon’ from Directorate of General Security.”

Captured document, (5 February 2002) “Memo from the Assistant of Intelligence Service for Operations, 4th Directorate, to Director of the IIS Regarding 

French-Iraqi Relations.”

Captured document, (15 March 2002) “Report on the Study ‘Next Stop Iraq’ 

by American Kenneth Pollack.”

Captured document, (20 March 2002) “Security Plan for Karbala Force of 

Fedayeen Saddam from Fedayeen Secretariat.” 

Captured document, (9 May 2002) “Correspondence Issued by Secretariat 

of Fedayeen Saddam Regarding Cutting Off Hands of the Fedayeen Saddam 

Members Who Were Smuggling Weapons to the Saudi Side During 2001.”

Captured document, (28 June 2002) “Report on Study by Richard Betts.” 

Captured document, (25 August, 2002) “Soldiers of the Republican Guards 

Headquarters of Offensive Mission as Noted in Republican Guards Training 

Guidance.” 

Captured document, (29 August 2002) “Correspondence Issued from AlTa’mim Branch Command under the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party to Emergency 

Regiment Command Secretary.”

Captured document, (5 September 2002) “Military Training Manual Based 

on Lessons from the Al-Khafji Battle.”

Captured document, (11 October 2002) “Memos Within Fedayeen Saddam 

General Secretariat Regarding Disciplinary Actions and Punishment Orders.” 

Captured document, (8 November 2002) “Letter Addressed to Saddam 

and Signed by the Minister of Defense Referring to the Summer 2002 Military 

Exercise ‘Golden Falcon’.”
197

References

Captured document, (1 Dec 2002) “Memo from Ali Libi Hajil to All Party 

Commands.” 

Captured document, (15 December 2002) “Correspondences and Circulations of Ba’ath Party, Fallujah Branch Including Emergency Plans.”

Captured document, (15 December 2002) “UN Inspection Visit.”

Captured document, (date undetermined, but after 26 December 2002) 

“Ba’ath Implementation of Local Defense Plans.”

Captured document, (27 Dec 2002) “Memo To All Party Commands Regarding Outsiders Planting Sanctioned Materials in Iraq.”

Captured document, (December 2002) “Ba’ath Military Branch Memorandum - Emergency Plan B.” 

Captured document, (December 2002) “Memo From Iraqi Secretary of 

State Offi ce to Commanders in Charge of All Parties Organizations Regarding 

Emergency Plans.”

Captured document, (11 January 2003) “Ba’ath Party Memo Number 

460.” 

Captured document, (16 January 2003) “Training Exercise ‘Heroes Attack’ 

Plan for Kadhima Command, Al-Muthana Force of the Fedayeen Saddam.” 

Captured document, (Jan – Mar 2003) “Meeting Minutes: Hussein Military 

Branch Command, Sinhareeb Division.”

Captured document, (20 February 2003) “Report by the Offi ce of the Chief 

of Staff of the Army on Iraq Battle Plan.” 

Captured document, (23 February 2003) “Special Unit in Fedayeen Organization Formation Orders from Military Intelligence Director.” 

Captured document, (25 February 2003) “Military Industrialization Commission Annual Report for 2002-2003 Investments, Projects, and Plans.”

Captured document, (date unclear - probably fi rst week of March 2003) 

“Russian Report on American Troop Dispositions in the Gulf.”

Captured document, (8 March 2003) “Correspondence Between Air Force 

Command and the Offi ce of the Commander Regarding Orders for Psychological Operations Units.” 

Captured document, (8 March 2003) “Top Secret Letter of Army Chief of 

Staff #2195 Dated 23 February 2003.” 

Captured document, (9 March 2003) “Movement Order No. 3 for 2003, alHussein Brigade General Staff Headquarters.”

Captured document, (9 March 2003) “Plan by al-Quds for Defending District 

Issued by Karbala Division Commander.”
198

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Captured document, (9 March 2003) “Saddam’s Speech to IIS Directors 

Before the War.” 

Captured document, (11 March 2003) “Information Letter from the Iraq 

Military Intelligence Directorate about Anthrax; Leafl ets; American Forces 

Impersonation, and Oil Barrel Trenches.”

Captured document, (11 March 2003) “Military Command Memos Concerned with the Arabian Volunteers to the Iraqi Special Forces.” 

Captured document, (15 March 2003) “Letter from Qusay to Saddam Regarding the Preparation of Fedayeen Forces to Strike Deep within Kuwait if 

American Forces Converge on Baghdad.” 

Captured document, (16 March 2003) “Memorandum From Army Chief of 

Staff: Subject – Moving Munitions.” 

Captured document, (17 March 2003) “Report on Emergency Plan Training 

of al-Muthanna Governate.” 

Captured document, (19 March 2003) “Correspondence Among High Level 

Offi cials Regarding the Amount of Money Needed for Emergency Plans for the 

Various Governates.” 

Captured document, (21 March 2003) “Memorandum From Commander, 

Combat School of the 1st Corps to BUI Arsenal.”

Captured document, (22 March 2003) “Memorandum #56 from Commander, 

1st Air Defense Region to Directorate of Air Defense.”

Captured document, (23 March 2003) “Memorandum 4811 from GMID to 

Secretary - Presidency of the Republic.”

Captured document, (25 March 2003) “Letter from Russian Offi cial to Presidential Secretary Concerning American Intentions in Iraq.”

Captured document, (25 March 2003) “Correspondence from Fedayeen 

Saddam to Uday Regarding Fedayeen Saddam Suicide Mission Team.”

Captured document, (26 March 2003) “MOD Report on Iraq’s Strategic 

Defense in Preparation for the Latest War.” 

Captured document, (27 March 2003) “Memorandum to Director of the IIS, 

Subject: Hamas.” 

Captured document, (27 March 2003) “Telegrams from the Al-Fajir Regiment.”

Captured document, (28 March 2003) “Situation Reports from the Middle 

Euphrates Region Command to the Presidential Offi ce and General Command 

of the Armed Forces.” 

Captured document, (29 March 2003) “IIS Report about American Forces.”
199

References

Captured document, (31 March 2003) “Military Movements Directorate 

Letter and GMID Correspondence.” 

Captured document, (31 March 2003) “Situation Reports, Commander 1st 

Sector Karbala.” 

Captured document, (1 April 2003) “Memorandum to Customs Police.”

Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Letter From Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

to Offi ce of the President Regarding Russian Intel.” 

Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Orders from the Arabic Socialist Ba’ath 

Party to the General Command of the People’s Army.” 

Captured document, (2 April 2003) “Written Summaries for the 37th Division 20 March – 2 April 2003.” 

Captured document, (4 April 2003) “General Military Intelligence Directorate to the 8th Adjutant Confi rming Saddam Hussein’s Order to Treat the Arab 

Fedayeen Volunteers the Same Way as Special Forces Troops in Terms of their 

Salaries and Supplies.” 

Captured document, (6 April 2003) “Correspondence of the Communications Directorate - Order to Honor Fighters in 1st Gulf War, Orders to Increase 

Allowance for Transportation.” 

Captured document, (6 April 2003) “Ministry of Defense / Air Force Command Memorandum No.171, Referring to a Minister of Defense Chaired Conference on 30 March 2003.” 

Captured document, (7 April 2003) “GMID Commanding Offi ce Correspondence.”

Captured document, (8 April 2003) “Air Attack Reports on the Air Defenses.” 

Captured document, (2003) “Emergency Plan for Al Basrah Governate.” 

Captured document, “Iraqi Strategic Defense Plan of the Four Regional 

Commands.”

US Government Documents

Central Intelligence Agency, “Hindsight Biases in Evaluation of Intelligence 

Reporting,” Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, Chapter 13, (Washington DC, 

1999).

Central Intelligence Agency, Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor 

to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD, Vol. I, (Central Intelligence Agency, Langley, VA, 

30 September, 2004).
200

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Central Intelligence Agency, The Iraqi Senior Offi cer Corps: Shaped by Pride 

Prejudice, Patrimony, and Fear, 18 March 2003.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), “Saddam Addresses Air Defense Offi cers,” Baghdad, Republic of Iraq Radio Main Service, 13 May 2000. 

FBIS, “Saddam Discusses Possible ‘Enemy’ Landing Operations With Military Commanders,” Republic of Iraq Television, 1 February 2003.

FBIS, “Iraq RCC Decree Forms Four ‘Commands of Regions’ in Case of 

War,” Baghdad Iraqi Satellite Channel Television, 15 March 2003.

 FBIS, “Iraqi Army General Command Issues Statement on Military Operations 23, 24 Mar,” Baghdad Iraqi Satellite Channel Television, 24 March 2003.

FBIS, “Iraqi Defense Minister Ahmad Holds News Conference 27 March,” 

Dubai Al-Arabiyah Television, 27 March 2003.

FBIS, “Iraq’s Al-Sahhaf Holds News Conference on Military Situation,” 

Doha Al-Jazirah Satellite Channel Television, 31 March 2003. 

FBIS, “Al-Jazirah Correspondent Confi rms No US Forces in Baghdad,” 

Doha Al-Jazirah Satellite Channel Television, 7 April 2003. 

FBIS, Transcripts and News Items from DPRK, Russia, China, Ukraine.

House Committee on Armed Services Hearing, Testimony from Steven 

Biddle, “Operation Iraqi Freedom Outside Perspectives,” 21 October 2003. 

Multiple Classifi ed Intelligence Reports Dated Between December 2002 and 

August 2004 (Declassifi ed Excerpts Only).

Powell, Colin, US Secretary of State, “Statement in the Security Council on 

Iraq,” United Nations Security Council, 5 February 2003.

The White House, Offi ce of the Press Secretary, White House Announcement of Tomahawk Strike (Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker 

of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate), 

June 28, 1993.

United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Report on Oil Allocations 

Granted to the Russian Presidential Council, Report on Oil Allocations Grantted to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and Report on Oil Allocations Granted to Charles 

Pasqua & George Galloway, May 17, 2005.

US Central Command CONPLAN 1003-V (Declassifi ed Excerpts Only). 

Iraqi Perspectives Project Interviews

Abd Al-Karim Jasim Nafus Al-Majid, Commander, Al Nida Armored Division, 21 Nov 2003.
201

References

Abid Hamid Mahmud Al-Khattab, Saddam’s Personal Secretary, 15 Nov, 

2003. 

Al Nida Division Chief of Staff, 28 Nov 2003.

Ali Hasan al-Majid (Chemical Ali), 10 Nov 2003. 

Barzan Abd Al-Ghafur Sulayman Al-Tikriti, Commander, Special Republican Guard, 16 Nov 2003. 

Hamid Isma’aeli Dawish R’baei, Director, RG Staff, 18 Nov 2003. 

Hamid Raja Shalah Al Hadithi Al Tikriti, Commander, Iraqi Air Force, 12 

Nov 2003. 

Kamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan Al-Tikriti, Secretary of the Republican 

Guard and Special Republican Guard, 14 Nov 2003. 

LTG Kenan Mansour Khalil al-Obadi, Senior Military Advisor to RCC 

Member Mizban Khudr Al-Hadi, 30 Nov 2003. 

LTG Raad Hamdani, Commander II Republican Guard Corps, 10 Nov 

2003

Majid Hussein Ali Ibrahim Al Dulaymi, Commander, I Republican Guard 

Corps.

Salih Ibrahim Hammadi Al Salamani, Commander, Baghdad Republican 

Guard Division, 10 Nov 2003.

Staff BG Muhammad Sattam Abdullah Al Hamdani, former Chief of Staff 

Al Nida Division, 19 Nov 2003. 

Sultan Hashim Ahmed Al Hamed Al-Tai, Minister of Defense, 13 Nov 

2003.

Zuhayr Talib Abd al Satar Al Naquib, Director of Military Intelligence, 16 

Nov 2003.

Other (Books, Academic Articles, Media Reports, 

Online Articles, etc.)

Aburish, Said K., Frontline - The Survival of Saddam: Secrets of his Life 

and Leadership. Interview, November 2001. Transcript downloaded 15 March 

2003. (HTTP://WWW.Pbs.Org/Wgbh/Pages/Frontline/Shows/Saddam/Interviews/Arburish.Html) 

Aburish, Said, Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000).

Al-Jabbar, Faceh Abd, “Why the Uprisings,” Middle East Report, May-June 

1992. 
202

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Allison, Graham and Philop Zelikow, Essence of Decision – Explaining the 

Cuban Missile Crisis, 2nd Edition. (New York: Longman Press, 1999).

Al-Marashi, Ibrahim, “Iraq’s Security and Intelligence Network: A Guide 

and Analysis,” Middle East Review of International Affairs, September 2002.

Altaaey, Colonel Jamal, Iraqi Prisoner of War, Camp Bucca, Joint Forces 

Command Lessons Learned Team Interview, 10 July 2003. 

Atkinson, Rick, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War (Boston: 

Houghton Miffl in, 1993).

Beaumont, Roger, War, Chaos, and History (Novato, CA: Praeger, 1994). 

Beeston, Richard, “Saddam Stuck to His Fantasy of ‘Victory’ as Evil Regime 

Collapsed,” New York Post Online Edition, 18 March, 2004. Found online at 

www.nypost.com/news/worldnew/21186.htm. Downloaded 20 April 2004. 

Beeston, Richard, “Secret Files Show Saddam Deluded to the Very End,” 

The London Times, 18 March, 2004. 

Betts, Richard K., “Analysis, War, and Decision: Why Intelligence Failures 

are Inevitable,” World Politics, Vol. 31, No. 1 (October, 1978).

Biddle, Steven, “Victory Misunderstood: What the Gulf War Can Tell US 

About the Future of Confl ict,” International Security, Vol. 21, No. 2, Fall 1996. 

Boyne, Walter, Operation Iraqi Freedom, What Went Right, What Went 

Wrong, and Why, (New York: Forge Books, 2003).

Branigin, William, “A Brief, Bitter War for Iraq’s Military Offi cers,” Washington Post, 27 April, 2003.

Clausewitz, Carl von, On War, ed. and trans. by Michael Howard and Peter 

Paret (Princeton, NJ, 1976).

Coll, Steve, “Hussein Was Sure of Own Survival,” Washington Post, 3 

November, 2003. 

Cordesman, Anthony, Iraqi Armed Forces on the Edge of War, (7 Feb 2003), 

The Lessons of the Iraq War (21 Jul 2003), Iraqi Intelligence and Security Forces 

and Capabilities for Popular Warfare (16 Jan, 2003), and The Iraq War: Iraq’s 

Warfi ghting Strategy (11 Mar, 2003), Center for Strategic and International 

Studies Reports.

Coughlin, Con, Saddam: King of Terror, (New York: Harper Collins, 

2002).

Deutsch, Harold C., “The Matter of Records,” The Journal of Military History, Vol. 59, No.1, January 1995.

Eisenstadt, Michael and Kenneth Pollack, “Armies of Snow, Armies of 

Sand: The Impact of Soviet Military Doctrine on Arab Militaries,” Middle East 

Journal, Vol. 55, No. 4, Autumn 2001.
203

References

Fleishman, Jeffrey, “Ex-Ba’athists Offer U.S. Advice, Await Call to Arms,” 

Los Angeles Times, 27 April, 2004.

Fontenot, Gregory COL (Ret.) and LTC E.J. Degen, and LTC David Tohn, 

On Point: The US Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom, (Fort Leavenworth, KS: 

2004).

Freeman and Karsh, The Gulf Confl ict, 1990-1991: Diplomacy and War in 

the New World Order (Princeton, 1993).

Gerstein, Remy, “Documents Show Urgent Iraqi Push to Recruit and Control 

Troops,” New York Times, 18 April, 2003.

Haldane, Sir Aylmer L., The Insurrection in Mesopotamia, 1920 (Edinburgh 

and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1922).

Hamdani, Lieutenant General Raad, Commander II Republican Guard 

Corps, Unpublished Draft Memoirs, Iraqi Perspectives Project Collection. 

Hashim, Ahmed, “Saddam Husayn and Civil-Military Relations in Iraq: 

The Quest for Legitimacy and Power,” Middle East Journal, Vol. 57, No. 1, 

Winter 2003.

Herodotus, The Histories, trans. by G.C. Macaulay, revised by Donald 

Lateiner. (New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2004) p. 290. 

Heur Jr., Richards J., “Strategic Deception and Counterdeception – A Cognitive Process Approach,” International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 2 (June 

1981).

Hooker, Gregory, Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Role 

of Military Assessments, (Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2005).

Hussein, Saddam, Public Speeches downloaded from http://www.infoimagination.org/ps/iraq/iraq.saddam.html, 17 January 2003.

Hussein, Saddam, Speech Printed in the Iraqi newspaper Al-Jumhouriyya, 

4 February, 2003. Reported in MEMRI - Special Dispatch Series - No. 467 The 

Iraq Crisis (1): Iraq Prepares for War, 11 February, 2003 (http://memri.org/

bin/articles). 

International Crisis Group, Iraq Backgrounder: What Lies Beneath, ICG 

Middle East Report, No. 6, Amman/Brussels, 1 October 2002.

 Jervis, Robert, “Deterrence and Perception,” International Security, Vol. 7, 

No. 3, Winter 1982/1983.

Jervis, Robert, Perception and Misperception in International Politics, 

(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976).

Kagen, Frederick, “War and Aftermath,” Policy Review, No. 120, Aug/Sep 

2003.

Knox, MacGregor, Mussolini Unleashed, 1939-1941: Politics and Strategy in 

Fascist Italy’s Last War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
204

The Iraqi Perspectives Project

Krepinevich, Andrew, OIF: A First Blush Assessment, Center for Strategic 

and Budgetary Assessments, 2003.

Mahnken, Thomas and Barry D. Watts, “What the Gulf War Can [and Cannot] Tell Us about the Future of Warfare,” International Security, Vol. 22, No. 

2, Autumn 1997.

Makiya, Kanan, Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab 

World, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993).

Makiya, Kanan, Republic of Fear, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 

1990). 

Marr, Phebe, The Modern History of Iraq (Boulder: Westview Press, 

2004).

Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), “First Interview with 

Saddam Hussein in 12 Years” (5 November, 2002), “Iraq News Wire No. 14,” 

(6 March 2003), “Iraq Wire No. 7,” (12 August, 2002). Found online at http://

www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iraq&ID=INW702#I. 

Downloaded 17 October, 2003.

Morgenthau, Hans J., “The Limitations of Science and the Problem of Social 

Planning,” Ethics, Vol. 54, No. 3, April 1944.

Mueller, John, “The Perfect Enemy: Assessing the Gulf War,” Security Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, Autumn 1995. 

Murray, Williamson, “The German Response to Victory in Poland: A Case 

Study in Professionalism,” Armed Forces and Society, Winter 1981. 

Natsios, Andrew S., Iraq’s Mass Graves, (United States Agency for International Development, 22 July 2004, http://www.state.gov/s/wci/rm/36198.

htm).

Paret, Peter, “Military Power,” The Journal of Military History, July 1989, 

Vol. 53, No. 3.

Pollack, Kenneth M., Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002).

Project Notes from Iraqi Survey Group, (September – December 2003). 

Sama Abdul Majid, Saddam’s personal interpreter cited in “Saddam May 

Be Using Vietnam Tactics,” USA Today, 13 November, 2003.

Scales, Robert H., Certain Victory: The U.S. Army in the Gulf War (Washington DC, 1993).

Summers, Harry Glenn, On Strategy II: A Critical Analysis of the Gulf War 

(New York: Dell Publishing, 1992).

Taylor, William J., and James Blackwell, “The Ground War in the Gulf,” 

Survival, 33(3) May-June 1991.
205

References

Thompson, Loren. “Lessons of Iraq: Strategic and Joint Implications,” Defense News Force Projection Conference, 22 Sep 2003. 

US Air Force, Central Command (CENTAF), Operation Iraqi Freedom - By 

The Numbers, CENTAF Assessment and Analysis Division, 22 April 2003.

Voice of America Report, 16 May 2003. Found online at www.globalsecurity.

org/wmd/library/news /iraq/2003/05/iraq-030516-3e198477.htm. Downloaded 16 April 2004.

Wohlstetter, Roberta, Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision (Stanford, CA: 

Stanford University Press, 1962).

Woods, Kevin, “Perspectives on OIF from the Former Commander of the 

Iraqi Navy and Assistant Senior Military Advisor to the Central Euphrates 

Region,” v2.02, Unpublished Project Monograph, 17 March 2004.

Woods, Kevin, “Perspectives on OIF from the Former Commander of the 

Iraqi II Republican Guard Corps,” v3.3, Unpublished Project Monograph, 28 

May 2004. 

Zucchino, David, “Iraq’s Swift Defeat Blamed on Leaders,” Los Angeles 

Times, 11 August, 2003.

Abbreviations 

207

ABSP Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party

AFC Air Force Command (Iraqi)

aka also known as

AUS Australia

BBC British Broadcasting Corporation 

BCT Brigade Combat Team

BG Brigadier General

BL Black List

BMP-1 Bronevaya Maschina Piekhota - 1

BMP-2 Bronevaya Maschina Piekhota - 2

C2 command and control

CAN Canada

CAS close air support

CBI Central Bank of Iraq

Cdr commander

CENTAF Central Air Force – United States Air Force Component of 

US Central Command

CENTCOM United States Central Command

CFLCC Combined Forces Land Component Command

CIA Central Intelligence Agency

CJCS Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

CMPC Combined Media Processing Center

CMPC M Combined Media Processing Center Main

CONPLAN Contingency Plan

CPA Coalition Provisional Authority

CSIS Center for Strategic and International Studies

DCI Director, Central Intelligence

DIA Defense Intelligence Agency

DoD Department of Defense

FBIS Foreign Broadcast Information Service

FOUO For Offi cial Use Only

GBR Great Britain
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

208

GEN General

GMID General Military Intelligence Directorate

GMT Greenwich Mean Time

GPS Global Positioning System

HUMINT human intelligence

IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency

IAF Iraqi Air Force

IC Intelligence Community

ID Infantry Division

IDA Institute for Defense Analyses

IED improvised explosive device

IIR Intelligence Information Report

IIS Iraqi Intelligence Service

IMINT Imagery Intelligence

IPP Iraqi Perspectives Project

ISG Iraqi Survey Group

JAWP Joint Advanced Warfi ghting Program

JIDC Joint Interrogation and Debriefi ng Centers

JLLCT USJFCOM Joint Lessons Learned Collection Team

KIA killed in action

LTC Lieutenant Colonel

MCFI Multinational Coalition Forces Iraq

MCO Major Combat Operations

MEF Marine Expeditionary Force

MEMRI Middle East Media Research Institute

MEU Marine Expeditionary Unit

MG Major General

MIC Military Industrial Commission

MOD Ministry/Minster of Defense

NATO North Atlantic Trade Organization

NGA National Geospatial Intelligence Agency

NGIC National Ground Intelligence Center
Abbreviations 

209

NIMA National Imagery and Mapping Agency

NZL New Zealand

OBJ Objective

OIF OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

OKH Ober Kommando Des Heeres – German Army High 

Command from 1936-1945

OPLAN operations plan

OSD Offi ce of the Secretary of Defense

PSYOP psychological operations

RCC Revolutionary Command Council

RCT Regimental Combat Team

RG Republican Guard

RGFC Republican Guard Forces Command

RPG rocket propelled grenade

RUMINT rumor intelligence

SAS Special Air Service (British commando unit)

SCIRI Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq

SEALS Sea, Air, Land (US Navy Special Warfare)

SIGINT signal intelligence

SITREP situation report

SMU Special Mission Units

SOF Special Operations Forces

SRG Special Republican Guard

SSM surface to surface missile

SSO Special Security Organization

UAV unmanned aerial vehicle

UN United Nations

UNMOVIC United Nations Monitoring, Verifi cation, and Inspections 

Commission

UNSC United Nations Security Council

UNSCOM United Nations Special Commission

US United States
The Iraqi Perspectives Project

210

USA United States of America, United States Army

USAF United States Air Force

USD United States dollars

USJFCOM United States Joint Forces Command

VSAT very small aperture terminals

WIA wounded in action

WMD weapons of mass destruction

WWII World War II

X1 Multi-Source Intelligence

Z Zulu time
g

The direct involvement and support from the task sponsor has bee

component of this project. This project benefi ted from the support, fe

encouragement of the senior leadership at US Joint Forces Command. I

Admiral Edmund Giambastiani (US Navy), Brigadier General Rober

Army), and Colonel William Hix (US Army) were essential in framin

design and crafting the initial insights presentation for senior decis

Additionally, a signifi cant portion of the initial research conducted in B

made possible through the skill, insight, and patience of Colonel Ber

Mr. Quinn, and the entire team from the Joint Center for Operational A

Lessons Learned – Baghdad Detachment. 

In addition to the principal authors noted on the cover, the project is ind

review comments, research skill, and patience of many members of 

staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses, especially Ms. Christine 

Ms. Adrienne Janetti, Elizabeth Nathan, Lucy Williams, Kate Price, M

Robertson (US Air Force), Mr. Jim Kurtz, and Major General Waldo F

Army, ret.). Finally, the direct feedback, informal reviews, and prof

changes with many analysts across the intelligence and operational c

have been and continue to be of immeasurable value.