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Last Words
U.S. wooing Iraqi leaders, generals to defect
By Jack Kelley, USA TODAY
24/03/2003
KUWAIT CITY — Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abdul Qassab receives a telephone call each day in Baghdad. His daughter says an anonymous voice tells him, "Give yourself up. You cannot win. You will be saved if you defect."
He has gotten the same message — defect now — from a relative in Jordan, from an Iraqi opposition member in London and in a letter that was hand-delivered to his house by someone claiming to be a family friend, according to Milad Qassab, 23, who was interviewed by telephone Sunday.
Dozens of other Iraqi generals and other officials have received similar messages and, to avoid retribution, reported them to their superiors, she added.
U.S. intelligence officials have been contacting Iraq's generals and leaders of Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party with promises of safety, asylum and a role in Iraq's new government if they defect, mount a coup or agree not to use biological or chemical weapons.
The communications, directed by the CIA, began three months ago during the buildup of U.S. and coalition forces on Iraq's borders. Initially, U.S. officials were so confident that they could persuade Iraqi leaders to surrender that they delayed the start of the war. And although those early efforts were largely unsuccessful, the communications have resumed even as U.S. forces carry out air and ground assaults inside Iraq, according to three intelligence and two military officials directly involved in the communications efforts.
The Iraqi leaders are being contacted by telephone, e-mail and intermediaries. Some have had face-to-face talks with CIA operatives in Baghdad, the sources say. Telephone appeals are even being made to the leaders' wives and children.
U.S. intelligence officials say they have intercepted telephone calls between Iraqi generals that indicate they are not as loyal to Saddam as previously thought.
U.S. officials say Jordanians, Saudis and Iraqi opposition leaders have provided the CIA with the telephone numbers of Iraq's leadership and have acted as intermediaries in some cases.
Read the full press release
Links:
Saloon report
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