Testimonies recently heard by Al Bawaba from homebound Jordanians who fought in Iraq as volunteers [Mujahideen] revealed some aspects of a possible ‘deal’ that may have been concluded by the Iraqi commander of the Republican Guard General Maher Al Tikriti, and the US forces. The alleged agreement led to the staged ‘defeat’ of Baghdad by coalition forces in return for the commander’s safety, after he was ‘sure’ that his cousin - Saddam Hussein - had concluded a much larger one guaranteeing his safety as well.
The same eyewitnesses told Al Bawaba about the fierce fighting they were engaged in [against US forces] on April 9, while the Iraqi forces were retreating from their positions in and around the city [of Baghdad] after they had received orders to stop fighting and hand over any remaining Arab volunteer fighters to American forces.
“We were shocked by the sudden fall [of Baghdad]…which we never imagined,” one Jordanian volunteer said, while another added, “all the Arab fighters - which the former regime claimed to have been in the thousands - had no clue about what was happening around them, and in the end, every one of them [the volunteers] was trying to save himself…by avoiding getting captured by American soldiers.”
“Later on”, one volunteer said, “things started to become clearer, and it was apparent that an agreement was reached between the Americans and Saddam’s cousin, General Maher al Tikriti, commander of the Republican Guard unit in Baghdad.” The General was given the responsibility of protecting Baghdad by blowing its bridges and blocking possible routes that the invading US forces may use.
Volunteers fought alone
According to one account, the Iraqi forces left Baghdad early the morning of April 9. “There were no Republican Guards, no Fedayeen Saddam or any other Iraqi official for that matter. No armed men were available to face the invading US forces except what remained of the Arab volunteers…who were deserted,” said one of the men, adding “they left us exposed…we were exposed and even attacked by the retreating Iraqi forces.”
“I woke up at dawn on April 9 to discover that the Iraqi armed forces have withdrawn from their positions without notifying the Arab volunteers - who were left on the frontlines of the battlefield…most of us were from Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon,” a Jordanian volunteer said.
He went on by saying that “the Arab fighters’ main objective became one of saving themselves, especially after discovering that the Iraqi forces have also agreed [in their alleged ‘deal’] to open fire at them …which is perhaps due to American fear that such ‘unorganized’ resistance could be faced elsewhere in Iraq.”
Another volunteer said he saw Fedayeen Saddam “running while retreating from their positions”. He added that “he could not believe himself when he saw Iraqi soldiers shooting at a group of Arab volunteers who were taking positions near one of the bridges, killing many of them.” “The overall assessment,” he said, “was that most of the Arab volunteers were killed either by Iraqi or American bullets. The remaining survivors were left to fall as victims in the hands of some Iraqis [civilians] who viewed them as supporters of a dead regime.”
Al Tikriti’s deal
The stories of most of these witnesses seem very similar and equally stunning, as was the fall of Baghdad on April 9.
According to some diplomatic sources, there have been reports about communication between the Americans and both leaders of the Republican Guard as well as the Commanders of Saddam’s Fedayeen at top levels, prior to the war and unbeknownst to the Iraqi leader and his sons – Uday and Qusay, who were put in charge of this large military outfit. The reports detailed that initial American communication with General Tikriti failed, however when the general had not heard from his cousin (Saddam Hussein) following the announcement of a US aerial bombardment of a Baghdad building (that purportedly claimed the lives of Saddam, his two sons and other aides) he came to his own conclusion about Saddam’s whereabouts. According to the reports, al-Tikriti did not believe the American account and suspected that Saddam might have left Iraq for another country. The report added that al-Tikriti perceived this a result of a ‘deal’ concluded between the Russians and the US, and that Saddam left Iraq (possibly with the Russian ambassador to Syria and then to Moscow). Al-Tikriti’s fear of being the scapegoat was what eventually drove him to talking to the Americans, which resulted in a ‘ceasefire’ between the two sides and a release from military duty for the Republican Guard troops fighting under him. (Albawaba.com)
