Shaffer
03-20-03, 06:53 AM
LIVING SUPPORT AREA 7, Kuwait -- With an authoritative thrust, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Rosenthal planted his knee into the back of a fellow Marine from Charlie Company who was lying face down and spread-eagle on a warm patch of desert.
With his thumb and forefinger, Rosenthal, 21, found pressure points at the base of his captive's nose and behind his ear and twisted his head to face the pounding midday sun. Calmly, Rosenthal wrenched the Marine's right arm behind his back and dragged him to his feet. "Get up! Get up, now!" Rosenthal, of Bakersfield, Calif., shouted.
Then he barked a command in Arabic and led his prisoner away to a separate holding area to be interrogated by linguists who spoke Arabic and Farsi.
After months of preparing to fight the Iraqi army, Marines from the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment have been learning how to deal with soldiers who don't fight back.
In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, approximately 65,000 Iraqis surrendered in the field. This time around, U.S. troops pushing all the way to Baghdad could encounter even greater numbers. Many experts are predicting high desertion rates among Iraqi army regulars, many of whom are young conscripts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A57506-2003Mar19?language=printer
With his thumb and forefinger, Rosenthal, 21, found pressure points at the base of his captive's nose and behind his ear and twisted his head to face the pounding midday sun. Calmly, Rosenthal wrenched the Marine's right arm behind his back and dragged him to his feet. "Get up! Get up, now!" Rosenthal, of Bakersfield, Calif., shouted.
Then he barked a command in Arabic and led his prisoner away to a separate holding area to be interrogated by linguists who spoke Arabic and Farsi.
After months of preparing to fight the Iraqi army, Marines from the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment have been learning how to deal with soldiers who don't fight back.
In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, approximately 65,000 Iraqis surrendered in the field. This time around, U.S. troops pushing all the way to Baghdad could encounter even greater numbers. Many experts are predicting high desertion rates among Iraqi army regulars, many of whom are young conscripts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A57506-2003Mar19?language=printer