A-Infos (en) Mutiny: A Noble Tradition

["Al S" <klasbatalemo@yahoo.ie>]

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In January 1991 the Iraqi army fought well against the
enemy, by refusing to fight the Allies (not one Allied
soldier was killed by Iraqi fire), by deserting the
front line in droves, and by returning home and
turning their guns on their government.  

Soon Iraq was in the grip of revolution, and the
effective authority of the state reduced to the
central region around Baghdad.
The reaction of the U.S. Government and it?s allies: 

* Thousands of deserting troops were massacred on the
road to Basra by the USAF and RAF.
* A ceasefire was then made with the Iraqi regime, all
thoughts of overthrowing Saddam forgotten, and
crucially the elite Republican Guard left intact to
crush the uprising. 
* As part of the truce Iraqi counter-insurgency
helicopters were allowed into the ?no fly zones?
controlled by the American and British airforces.

In 1917 and 1918 the Russian, German and
Austro-Hungarian Empires crumbled and the First World
War was brought to an end as the common soldiers
refused to fight. Also in 1917 massive mutiny made the
French Army unable to take offensive action.

After both the First and Second World Wars mutiny and
demands for demobilisation in the armed forces left
the British Empire unable to effectively combat
internal rebellions.

Following W.W.1 demob. unemployed ex-soldiers rioted
across Britain, after W.W. 2 they forged a powerful
squatting movement in the face of chronic
homelessness.  

During the later stages of the Vietnam war, as a U.S.
Officer wrote at the time, ?By every conceivable
indicator, our army that now remains in Vietnam is in
a state approaching collapse, with individual units
avoiding or having refused combat, murdering their
officers and non commissioned officers, drug-ridden,
and dispirited where not near mutinous.? 

Today, over 500 Israeli soldiers are refusing to serve
in the occupied territories. 

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>From the pages of Resistance, regular monthly bulletin
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