Memoirs of Nejatali Eskandari

Faezeh Sasanikhah
Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

2021-12-21

I was spending the last year of my mission on the borders of Khuzestan when Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait and engaged the Iraqi people in a devastating war. This was exactly the reflection of the actions and behaviors of the Kuwaiti rulers, who gave the Bubiyan Island to Saddam to use against us in the war. In addition to foreign aids and weapons, which were paid for by Kuwait and spent by Baghdad. Now they saw the result of their actions; and the Emir of Kuwait had just an opportunity to board the helicopter in slippers and pajamas and escape from his palace, so as not to appear in the intelligence of Baghdad.

As the UN deadline was over, NATO airstrikes began, and all Iraqi military and infrastructure facilities were bombed. After the initial shattering bombardment, the Allied forces deployed in Kuwait and advanced into southern Iraq. It was asymmetric warfare, and we could vaguely hear heavy explosions in the silence of the night.

One early morning when I came out of the trench and was drinking tea in the cold winter weather, the sound of gunfire came from a short distance away. The firing of some single shot and a continuous barrage was resonated in the silence of the desert. I picked up a combat patrol troop and headed for the spot where the sound of gunfire came from. It was feasible that the Americans pursue the Iraqi forces and cross our border by mistake. In the way, the sound of a few short barrages was heard. At the border, our patrol troop, which consisted of a sergeant and two soldiers, was watching out and several Iraqi soldiers had lain down on the ground. The two jeeps were left a hundred meters behind. I asked what was going on and why they are here. "They came to the border with a white flag and stopped," the sergeant said, "We disarmed them and waited for you to come from the battalion. We could not call you, our wireless radio is broken down."

There was a soldier in my troop, who was from Shadegan and spoke Arabic. I went with him next to the Iraqi officer, who seemed to be the commander. In a stylish military uniform, polished boot, and his face was shaved that day; he had lain on his stomach with his fingers clasped behind his neck. Their white flag was a shirt that was attached to the long antenna of a jeep. I asked him who are you and why did you pass the border? He replied: "I am second lieutenant such and such, the son of such and such, and we intend to seek refuge in the Islamic Republic of Iran with my comrades." I asked, "Why? What did you do? Are you ‘wanted’?" he said, "No, no, we did nothing. We just want not to be killed. The Americans bombed and destroyed all the armored divisions. We are infantry and defenseless force. We haven’t had any air support for two days." I said, "Why didn’t you go to our border checkpoint?" he said, "We didn’t choose our path. We just headed toward Iran. Around the border, the checkpoint was mined. We preferred not to go there."

They were eight people carrying weapons, ammunition, and war identification documents. When they felt my hesitancy, they started swearing, "I swear to Imam Hussein ...” they kept swearing and begging.

I called the battalion through wireless radio and talked to the battalion commander. Then we tied their hands and took them by their vehicles to Aqaba. I saw Abbas, an Arabic-speaking soldier, warmed up to one of them, asking questions and offering him a cigarette. As if he has found his old people and relatives. I shouted that Khezri doesn’t warm up with them in this situation! Be quiet. He fell silent with annoyance until we reached the battalion, and he resumed his unfinished talk out of my sight. In the following days, other groups of Iraqi soldiers went to the borders of Khuzestan with weapons and equipment and demanded to be captured. With the decisive defeat of Saddam Hussein in the war, the number of these fugitive soldiers reached several thousand. A year had passed since the exchange of prisoners between Iran and Iraq, and the news of Iran's humane and honorable behavior toward prisoners of war had undoubtedly reached the Iraqi military. For this reason, troops came and surrendered.[1]