- .
TRENDS1
Iraq
Baghdad Uses POW's To Boost Own, Hurt Opponents' Morale
Tacitly admitting an inability to defend stationary targets against allied air attacks, Baghdad's announced decision to use captured allied pilots as human shields appears tosychological lactic intended to undermine its opponents' morale and reassure the Iraqi people lhat if is irying to protect them. President Saddam Husayn's promise to supporters who might be arrested for committingterrorist al tacks against allied interests thai ihey would be released as PO Ws al the end of the war suggests lhat he regards allied POWs as valuable bargaining chips in an ultimate prisoner exchange.
A statement by an Iraqi military spokesman, broadcast by Baghdad radio onanuary, said that Baghdad had decided "to distribute the captured pilots, numbering more thanrisoners, among scientific economic, and other selected targets" in Iraq.erceived need to reassure the Iraqi public of some protection against allied air attacks, the spokesman's statement said that this use of the POW's was "one of the measures" adopted to counter the "unjust" air attacks against Iraqi "civilian, economic, and scientific targets within the cities" that have resulted in civilian "martyrs anday earlier the presentation of captured allied pilots on Iraqi television (Iraqi News Agency0 January) was another evident effort to boost Iraqi morale, demoralize other allied pilots, and unsettle public opinion within the anti-Saddam coalition.
Baghdad's need for morale-boosting propaganda materials was further evidenced by Saddam's order that citizens assist Iraqi media and the Ministry of Culture and Information in photographing and documenting Iraqi successes in the war (INA.anuary) and by the government's offereward0 dinarso Iraqis and non-Iraqis, respectively, for apprehending or reporting the whereabouts of downed foreign pi lots (Baghdad radio.anuary).
Saddam's Promisepeech broadcast by Baghdad radioJanuary. Saddamromise to prospective
pro-Iraq terrorists that suggests that captured pilots would be of far greater value to Iraq alive than dead in any future exchange of prisoners. After urging his "supporters" outside Iraq to "target the interests" of "the assembly of evil, treason, and corruptionunmistakable allusion to terrorist attacks against the interests of members of the anti-Iraqassured those who might be capturedesult of heeding his call that their captors would have no choice but to treat them as de facto war prisoners rather than criminals and that they would "inevitably be released when the war ends in accordance with international laws and agreements that govern the release of
Moreover, an Iraqi presidential spokesman, cited by INA and Baghdad radio onanuary, indicatedilots-for-terrorists exchange is part of Saddam's contingency planning, at leastropaganda ploy to revive the concept of linkage between the Kuwait and Palestine issues. Avoiding earlier euphemisms, the spokesman described the locations to which the pilots were dispersed as "militarynd he said that Iraq "is prepared to deal with the POW's on the basisof the Geneva Conventions provided this is also applied to the Palestinian people in the occupied territories and the Palestinian Arab mujahidin who fell prisoner while fighting for the sake of Palestine and itsailing that, he added, "we will be under no obligation."
initial exploitation of the POW's resembles
Decontrolled six months otter date ot ouWicaiion
its initial treatment of foreigners trapped in Iraq and Kuwait when Kuwait was invadedolicy that Baghdad eventually changed when Iraq concluded it had outlived its usefulness. Although Baghdad may have had some small hope that using POW's as human shields could marginally influence the targeting of the allied forces, its primary purpose in announcing the use of POW's as shields seems to be to boost its own people's morale and to undermine popular support within the coalition, as well as to encourage those of its Palestinian and other allies willing to engage in terrorism. Given Baghdad's past experience with the antagonism thai the concept of human shields arouses in the West, its resort to this tactic nowesperate need to counteract the evident impression among the Iraqi people that they have no adequate defense against allied air attacks. Saddam's representation of terrorists as POW's on the same day that his POW policy was announced also suggests that he may need the POW's as an insurance policy and may thus be motivated to keep at least most of them alive.
Original document.
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: