Published: Apr 16, 2008 Iraqi soldiers attempting to retake parts of Sadr City deserted their positions, ignoring pleas from their U.S. advisers, military officials said.
U.S. Army Capt. Logan Veath of the 25th Infantry Division said he begged his Iraqi counterpart to hold his ground. But, he said, about 50 Iraqi troops left in the middle of a firefight and the scene turned chaotic, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
"If you turn around and go back up the street those soldiers will follow you," Veath told the Iraqi commander. "If you tuck tail and cowardly run away they will follow up that way, too."
The pleas failed and another Iraqi unit was called in to support U.S. forces as they made their way into Sadr City to take on fighters loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.
With more than 1,000 Iraqi security forces abandoning their positions in the Basra conflict, Sgt. George Lewis, Veath's commander, said of the Iraqi soldiers, "We don't see any progress being made at all."
Lewis said by the time he arrived at the position held by U.S. forces in the battle Tuesday, most of the Iraqi soldiers had removed their uniforms and fled the scene, leaving the remaining forces in a gunfight that lasted several hours. (c) UPI
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