<There surely are a few extreme Saddam loyalists in the armed forces who prefer to destroy the wells & die fighting rather than submit to the Great Satan, but these are a very small minority, I'm sure.>
Unfortunately there are more than a few. Saddam rules Iraq with a carefully constructed group of extremely loyal thugs any of whom would blow up oilfields in a heartbeat. Excepted from Pollack's book "The Threatening Storm":
SSO, or al-Amn al-Khas: 5000 thugs
The Companions (Murafiqin): about 40 of Hussein's personal bodyguards
The Bodyguards (al-Himaya): another ring of about 2000 vicious bodyguards, goons, and mindless robots from Hussein's tribe, al Bu Nasir, totally willing and able to blow up Iraqi oilfields.
Special Republican Guards (elite Rep. Guards): four brigades (30,000 troops), superbly equipped and untouched in the 91 PG War. Mostly likely use: defense (and scorchearth)of oilfields and Baghdad.
Republican Guard (professional soldiers, mostly Sunni): although outgunned by US troops, fought hard, few white flags ever seen. Respected by US units who encountered them , mostly in last ditch stands situations (73 Easting, Madinah Ridge)
Mukhabbarat: basically the Gestopo, size unknown.
al-Amn al-Askiriya (military security): thugs who keep an eye on the loyalty of military units.
Fidayin Saddum: hand picked goon squads of up to 100,000 under command of Hussein's psychopath son, Udayy.
All these loyalists have a lot to lose (their lives) and can be expected to resist bitter and most likely to the end. Further, there is every reason to believe that Saddum will at least attempt to hit, contaminate or destroy both Saudi and Kuwati fields. He might have a good odds especially with the later. |
