The Atlanta Journal and Constitution March 25, 2003
Fedayeen militiamen tough, loyal
By George Edmonson
Washington --- When U.S. troops ran into the first heavy resistance in Iraq, they were experiencing the work of some of Saddam Hussein's most loyal and hardened troops, including the paramilitary Saddam Fedayeen.
The handpicked militiamen are said to be widely feared and brutal. The name translates to Saddam's martyrs or men of sacrifice.
"They basically carry out a reign of terror against anyone who doesn't agree with what the regime is about," said Mark Burgess, a research fellow with the Center for Defense Information, a Washington think tank.
Most of the resistance that troops have faced so far comes from Saddam's Special Security Organization and the Saddam Fedayeen, British Maj. Gen. Peter Wall said Sunday. "These are men who know that they will have no role in the building of a new Iraq, and they have no future."
The Fedayeen are only one of several groups of Saddam's special fighters.
The two largest --- the Republican Guard and the Special Republican Guard --- are probably more widely known than is the country's regular army.
U.S. air strikes have targeted the Special Republican Guard headquarters as part of the large-scale assault in Baghdad. U.S. Army attack helicopters also went after Republican Guard forces Monday, officials said, in what they described as a successful operation.
"They have been hit," Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. Central Command overseeing the Iraq operation, said. "They will continue to be hit."
British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said allied troops were seeing activity from "relatively small numbers of desperate men" affiliated with groups such as the Fedayeen.
"The difficulty of dealing with such resistance should not be underestimated," Hoon added.
Charles Heyman, an authority on world armies with Jane's Information Group in London, said estimating the size of Iraq's military is difficult. He put the size of the regular army as between 300,000 and 320,000, the Republican Guard at about 70,000 and the Special Republican Guard at about 20,000.
Estimates for the size of the Fedayeen are particularly difficult, experts say, because of its paramilitary nature. Numbers range from as low as 12,000 to 15,000 to as high as 40,000. It is believed to have been formed in 1995 by Saddam's son, Odai, as an elite protective unit.
The GlobalSecurity.org Web site reports that a special internal Fedayeen unit is known as "the death squadron, whose masked members perform certain executions, including in victims' homes."
Heyman said, however, that he does not believe the Fedayeen members are particularly well- organized or directed.
"Nobody's commanding the Fedayeen from the top and saying this unit will go here and that unit will go there," he said.
Burgess described it as one of many internal security organizations in Iraq. Several others provide direct protection for Saddam and some gather intelligence.
In the current conflict, Burgess said, Fedayeen members are positioned with the troops to keep them fighting and to prevent them from surrendering.
"If the Iraqi regulars or, indeed, some of the Republican Guard don't fight coalition troops, then they'll probably be shot in the neck or worse by these guys," Burgess said.
Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director for operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing that, based on conversations with Iraqi prisoners of war, Fedayeen members were preventing "a number of regular soldiers from surrendering."
Maintaining control and preventing the exercise of any potentially powerful opposition motivates much of the organization of military units in Iraq, several experts said.
Heyman described it this way: The Army is large and powerful, and the Republican Guard, under a separate chain of command, keeps that in check and operates around Baghdad to protect the regime. Then the Special Republican Guard --- chosen from among Saddam Hussein's fellow tribesmen in the area of Tikrit, his hometown --- is focused on protecting him and his inner circle inside Baghdad.
The guard units are thought to be the best-armed in Iraq. The members also receive better food and medical treatment and other privileges.
Franks acknowledged Monday he faces committed enemy forces. "There are people in the Iraqi army, whether Special Republican Guard or Fedayeen," he said, "who have a lot of allegiance to this regime."
Copyright © 2003, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
