The Guardian's got an interesting
The Guardian's got an interesting piece today on how the fearsome Republican Guard has fared. Here are some excerpts:
"God only knows what I'll do now," said one of the guardsmen, a corporal, Dawi Hussein Mohamed. "I wish I was a bird and I could fly to my family." [...]Pause and think about that one for a second. All you've grown up with is this man who is almost exactly like the omnipresent, omnipotent Big Brother from 1984. You've had to live your whole life, every action according to the script. These days ahead are going to be hard for those guys.They were still in uniform, but were already making their transition to civilian life. "It's a relief," said Mahdi, of his capture, of the collapse of the guard, of the end of the regime. "It's like a weight off my chest."
Yet Mohamed spoke of how difficult it would be for Iraqis of his generation - they are all in their early 20s - to think themselves out of the tyranny inside their heads. Asked what he thought about Saddam, he said: "He's my father, he's my president. We didn't understand him properly. We grew up with him around so we don't know anyone else but him."
Posted by Matt at April 5, 2003 4:18 PM
