The Myrtle Beach Sun-News March 29, 2003
Questions & Answers
Q. U.S. TV networks showed video of Iraqi POWs with their hands on their heads or kneeling on the ground. Doesn't that violate the Geneva Conventions?
A. The Swiss-based International Committee of the Red Cross says both Iraqi and Western TV coverage was guilty of breaking convention prohibitions of showing close-ups of captives. The Iraqi video included displays of the captives being questioned. U.S. network cameras ranged over Iraqi POWs, not lingering on individuals. Both countries are in violation, the International Red Cross said.
"The Geneva Convention completely prohibits publishing pictures of prisoners of war, as has been happening," Tamara Al-Rifai and the IRC said.
Q. It's been said that Marines were planning to use pigeons as a warning chemical weapons were in the air. Doesn't the military have better detection devices than pigeons?
A. Yes, it does. While birds dying because of illegal weapons in the air help troops prepare for the worst, the troops do have devices to detect and protect against biological and chemical attack. But they remain untested in battle.
New sensors can distinguish agents from one another, important for those trying to decontaminate exposed people, vehicles and equipment. There are also sensors now that can detect gas clouds at distances of up to three miles, Pentagon experts say.
New protective suits are lighter and more effective than those used during the Gulf War in 1991. They are easier to put on, offer better visibility and are more comfortable than the old ones. Also, troops carry antidotes to nerve gas in injectors they can jab into their thighs if they are exposed.
Q. What makes the Iraqi Republican Guard "elite," as so many news organizations describe it?
A. Military experts say Iraq's Republican Guard is the country's best-trained and best-equipped and gets the best housing and the best pay. But while the Republican Guard gets the best Iraq has, it's believed to be the best of very little.
GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based organization that compiles data on military forces, estimates the Republican Guard has 50,000 men.
Republican Guard recruits receive a monthly salary of about $40, compared with $5 for a newly appointed Iraqi civil servant with a degree. They also get land, extra food, free health care and education for their children.
In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, one of the guard's most battle-hardened units lost 61 tanks and 34 armored personnel carriers in less than an hour of fighting against the U.S. 1st Armored Division near Basra.
Knight Ridder
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