In general, I’ve found the in-depth articles in the LA Times to be pretty balanced. The headline stuff is pretty shrill, but the analysis is OK. Read the whole thing. (registration required)
BAGHDAD — Saddam Hussein and his son Qusai crippled the Iraqi military through a multitude of erratic orders and strategic miscalculations, while its fighting units barely communicated with one another and were paralyzed from lack of direction, according to detailed interviews with more than a dozen former Iraqi commanders and servicemen. These woes — compounded by incompetence, poor preparation, craven leadership and wholesale desertions of thousands of soldiers unwilling to die for Saddam Hussein — contributed to the Iraqi military’s quick and stunning collapse against invading U.S. forces in early April, the former fighters said. Typical of the erratic orders were those imposed by Qusai upon a Republican Guard unit outside Baghdad. As American forces approached the city in late March, the unit received a new order every morning to reposition its tanks. Each order contradicted the one before, infuriating local commanders, Col. Raaed Faik recalled. But the orders had to be obeyed. They arrived by courier on slips of paper signed by Qusai, Saddam’s younger son and commander of the Republican Guard. Every time the tanks were moved from their bunkers, Faik said, a few more were exposed and destroyed by coalition air power. Meanwhile, he said, another commander was ordered to disable all three dozen of his tanks for fear they would be captured and used by Kurdish militias hundreds of miles north. |