The 4th Infantry – lions led by asses

Reuters 7/18/03 - TIKRIT, Iraq: Saddam Hussein has his head tossed back, his blonde locks flowing and a filter-tipped cigarette dangling coquettishly between his delicate fingers.

Meet "Zsa Zsa Saddam," the U.S. army's latest ploy in the four-month hunt for the dictator.

In a campaign set to start on Monday, U.S. forces plan to put up posters around Saddam's hometown of Tikrit showing his face superimposed on Hollywood heroines and other stars in an attempt to enrage his followers and draw them out.

As well as Saddam dolled up as a slinky Zsa Zsa Gabor, there is a busty Rita Hayworth Saddam, a grooving Elvis Saddam and even Saddam in the guise of British-born rocker Billy Idol. "We're going to do something devious with these," said a chuckling Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Russell last week, as he checked out a range of spoof Saddam pictures taken from the Internet.

"Most of the locals will love 'em and they'll be laughing. But the bad guys are going to be upset, which will just make it easier for us to know who they are."

Russell, whose 1st Battalion, 22nd Regiment is spearheading the 4th Infantry Division's search for the deposed leader, hopes to have the posters slapped up on walls around Tikrit from Monday, although no official decision has yet been taken.

The gambit is part of a game of cat-and-mouse Russell and his unit are playing with Saddam loyalists in the Tikrit area.

Apparently intimidated by the U.S. Army's heavy presence around town, more and more guerrillas are stashing their weapons and keeping a low profile, U.S. commanders say.

U.S. forces are trying to flush them out and hunt them while they can.

One tactic Russell and his team uses is to make themselves the bait. On most nights, Humvees packed with soldiers will drive up and down what has been dubbed "RPG Alley" to try to attract fire from locals armed with rocket-propelled grenades.

While that has had some success in recent weeks, now Russell is turning to the poster campaign to see if he can taunt Saddam loyalists into showing their faces.

Officers from the 4th Infantry's psychological operations unit say it is not necessarily a bad idea, although they tend to favor more subtle leaflet drops.

"It's mostly good for troop morale, but if we can put these posters up in Tikrit and the enemy can't take them down, then at least it shows who owns the streets," said Sergeant David Cade, a psychological operations specialist.

Comment: This is the kind of thing that makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time. Laugh because the idea of using posters to “expose Iraqi resisters” is so stupid (as if they are going to monitor every poster) and cry because dim-wits like Lt. Col. Steve Russell are going to get their men killed with their incompetence.

Driving out into RPG alley at night as bait knowing that your boss is sitting in HQ surfing the internet for stupid pictures of Saddam Hussein has got to suck ass. Especially when he’s the reason that Iraqis who see you driving at night say, “hey it’s those assholes who put a cross on Saddam!”

Lifers like Russell aren’t on the “same team” as the men they command – especially not when they use enlisted people as resistance bait! They are just mini versions of their boss – George W. Bush – whose bright idea was to bomb and invade Iraq, steal its oil, and then expect Iraqis to be smiling as they pumped Halliburton crude out of the ground.

source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030818/od_nm/iraq_posters_dc_1