IRAQ'S ARMY: Iraqi newspapers yesterday published pages of photographs of dead or wounded women and children, and the Iraqi Health Minister, Mr Umid Medhat Mubarak, announced that 350 civilians were killed in the first week of war, and another 3,650 were wounded, writes Lara Marlowe
Thirty-six civilians were killed and 215 were wounded in the 24-hour period from Wednesday to Thursday, he said.
The Iraqis give no figures for military losses, but when I asked the Trade Minister, Mr Mohamed Mehdi Saleh, about Iraqi military casualties at Najaf - where he claimed Iraq yesterday defeated US troops - he implicitly acknowledged that they were high, saying: "Whatever casualties we suffer, we have the right to defend our country. We will give our lives and our blood so the Americans and British will be defeated."
Western defence analysts estimate Iraq's total armed forces at about half a million, while Iraqi officials claim they are seven million - virtually every adult male in the country of 28 million. While they launch thousands of bombs and cruise missiles against the country, the US and Britain express outrage that Iraqis fail to separate civilians from the military. In Nasiriyah this week, US forces said they found uniforms and weapons in a hospital. The British said it was scandalous that the Iraqis laid mines in Umm Qasr port, where they want to unload humanitarian supplies.
Rumour in Baghdad has it that the army is moving missiles into the capital. As I waited for the 3 p.m. Iraqi military briefing yesterday, there was the sudden, very loud whistle of a cruise missile going by, followed by a mad scramble in which cameramen and journalists tripped and fell, while anti-aircraft artillery opened fire on the roof of the building. The missile exploded in a mushroom cloud about a mile away, in what appeared to be a "presidential site". Iraq has been eager to maintain unity since the war started, and officials are reluctant to distinguish between the various groups singled out for praise by President Saddam Hussein.
The regular Iraqi army, with an estimated 375,000 soldiers, is the single largest force.
It includes up to 80,000 Republican Guards, of whom the "red berets" are considered the best fighters. The "Jesh al-Qods" or "Army of Jerusalem", described in the West as a rag-tag volunteer group, was ostensibly formed to be sent to the Israeli-occupied territories, after the second intifada started in September 2000. They too have been praised in presidential speeches.
Then there are the Saddam Fedayeen, formed by the President's eldest son Uday. They wear black uniforms and cover their faces, commando style.
The prominence of Arab tribesmen, sometimes mounted on horses and wearing traditional garb, has been an unexpected development. Every Iraqi belongs to a tribe or clan, but this traditional identity has been largely lost in cities. The government provided new arms to the tribesmen shortly before the war started.
This week, President Saddam sent messages to the tribesmen and the Fedayeen, in which he urged them to adopt guerrilla tactics against the invaders.
The US-British forces "want to profane your land", he told them.
"Attack their advance and rear lines to block . . . their progress," he advised the tribesmen, suggesting they attack at night.
"Don't stay at a single position; attack at different times every day," he said in his address to the Fedayeen.
Finally, there is the Baath militia, the armed wing of the party that has ruled Iraq since 1968.
Baghdad, with a population of five million, is covered by 77 party offices, recognisable by the huge wall portraits of Saddam Hussein over their entrances, and their fresh paint. The omnipresence of the party and militia explain why each time journalists arrive in a neighbourhood, a "spontaneous" demonstration breaks out in favour of the president.
Since before the war started, members of the party and militia have all worn its olive green uniform. Every neighbourhood office has its own military adviser and a senior officer from the intelligence service, who keeps track of the political leanings of each household. Every militiaman has one - or several - Kalashnikovs.
The Baathist militia too has been praised for their "heroic bravery" in battles with US and British forces in the southeast of the country.
Even as they kill each other, the Iraqi authorities and their British enemies are engaged in a surreal competition to provide food to the people of southern Iraq.
Wearing his olive green Baathist uniform, the Trade Minister, Mr Saleh, yesterday held a press conference on the side of the Mohamed al-Qassem motorway, keeping a nervous eye on the black smoke rising from American bombing raids a few miles away. There were a dozen yellow-orange freight lorries parked on the shoulder. A few of the tarpaulins were peeled back to show us sacks of flour.
Mr Saleh acknowledged that Iraqis are not hungry yet, because the government gave everyone six months' supplies before the war started. The daily truck convoys to the south bore a message of political solidarity "to show them we are with them in all aspects of life," the minister said. "We are sending additional quantities, representing the link between Baghdad and the rest of the country."
He said the convoy was headed for Basra, though Adel, a 42 year-old driver I talked to, said he was going to Samawa, about half-way to Iraq's second city. Yes, he admitted, he was a little frightened. The government pays him 60,000 Iraqi dinars about €21 for the two-day journey.
And if he should be killed on the way, he's been promised that the Party will take care of his family.