POWs in Iraq: The "Official" Account of the POWs "serving in Baghdad."

[Matt Wiser]

The POW story in Iraq during the War:


POWs in Iraq: A Study of the 2005 POW Experience
By the Staff of the Pacific Fleet SERE School
NAS North Island, CA
15 June 2006

(Researcher's Note: This document was originally classified TOP SECRET, until its successful release via a FOIA Request by CDR Lisa Eichhorn-Wiser USN, a former POW in Iraq in 2005, for a paper at the Naval War College in 2008. A declassified version of this study was later published with assistance from historians at the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2010, and the original document is now available at the Naval Historical Center, Washington, DC)

While the lion's share of attention in the media was focused on the campaigns in NATO Europe, those who fought in the Iraq-Kuwait Theater were the subject of their fair share of media attention during and after the end of the Third World War. From the history-making exploits of the first female fighter aces in U.S. History, to the low-level raid known as BAGHDAD THUNDER, and the “tank girls” who fought in the 40th Infantry Division (Mechanized) during its defense of Kuwait and offensive into Iraq, there was ample media attention given to those who were fighting in the Persian Gulf region. However, there was one group of American and Allied (mainly British) service members who had to wait until the end of hostilities to tell their stories; the Prisoners of War held by Iraq during the conflict. Their war was not flying combat missions daily over enemy territory, or conducting raids on high-value targets behind enemy lines, or even delivering supplies to forward units under fire, but was a daily fight to survive in the midst of torture, terror, and torment at the hands of an enemy that had previously demonstrated its brutality towards American Prisoners of War during the Gulf War in 1991.

During and after the Allied offensive to the Euphrates River, a large number of Iraqi documents were seized from a number of military headquarters, Baath Party offices, and facilities belonging to the various Iraqi Security Agencies. These included instructions on dealing with American, British, and other Allied Prisoners, both during capture and their transportation up the chain of command to Baghdad. These documents gave detailed instructions on handling of prisoners, how initial interrogations were to be conducted, when medical treatment (if needed) was to be given, and how the prisoners were to be transported to Baghdad. Generally, the procedure was to question the prisoner or prisoners at the capturing unit, and then take them to a brigade or equivalent headquarters, or the nearest military facility, where they were to be detained until transportation was made available. Once transportation was ready, the prisoners were to be taken to a holding area, such as the one at Kut, and after interrogations there, they were to be taken to Baghdad. There, initial processing and interrogation was conducted at the Al-Rashid Military Intelligence Center, on the grounds of Al-Rashid Air Base in Southeast Baghdad, and once that was completed, prisoners were taken to the Al-Rashid Military Prison, also on the Air Base, which served as the initial long-term incarcaration site. Later on, other prisons were used for POWs, but Al-Rashid remained in use for the duration of the war. While the prisoner was at the brigade or local headquarters, any needed medical treatment was to be made available, and if necessary, the prisoner was to be taken to a military hospital for more adequate care if the prisoner's injuries required it, with a ward set aside at the Al-Rashid Military Medical Center for POWs once they arrived in Baghdad. In addition, TV crews and interpreters were attached to Corps-level headquarters and local Baath Party offices to interview prisoners, as Saddam had placed great emphasis on prisoners for their propaganda value, and their videotapes were given priority for courier delivery to Iraqi State TV in Baghdad for airing over the air and via Satellite TV.

While examining some of these documents, the G-2 at X Corps noted that there was no distinction in the documents between male and female prisoners. The Iraqis in 1991 had captured two female U.S. Army personnel, with one prisoner, Army Specialist Melissa Rathbun-Nealy, a truck driver, being held for 33 days, and the other female, Army Major Rhonda Cornum, a flight surgeon, being held for eight days. While both female prisoners in 1991 had been subject to mistreatment, that mistreatment did not last the whole captivity, and both had reported that some of their captors had been curious, decent, and kind. Both female prisoners also reported to their debriefers that that they had had experienced sexual assault in captivity, which boded ill for female POWs in any future hostilities with Iraq. The experience of the female POWs in 2005, unfortunately, confirmed that the Iraqis made no distinction between male and female prisoners: all were subjected to mistreatment and abuse, regardless of gender.

The first American POWs taken in the Third World War by Iraq were members of the U.S. Army's 557th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss, Texas. The unit was attached to CENTCOM's 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, and had been transporting supplies and equipment between Kuwaiti and U.S. Patriot missile sites and their associated supply depots. A column from the 557th was leaving the border area on the morning of D-Day when they were attacked, first by Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunships, and then by elements of the Republican Guard's 2nd “Medina” Armored Division. The maintenance soldiers lacked anti-armor weapons, and many of their small arms jammed, but the convoy was able to fight back to some degree, and a number of vehicles and personnel did manage to escape the attack. However, all of the convoy's heavy trucks and several Humvees were disabled or destroyed by enemy fire, and the senior surviving NCO, a Sergeant, was forced to order the survivors to surrender. The Iraqis came in to collect the prisoners, and noted that two of the soldiers were female. After stripping the prisoners of their helmets and gear, five of the male prisoners were chosen at random, taken to a nearby shell crater, and shot in front of their fellow Americans. The prisoners were then marched north of the border to a brigade headquarters, where they were initially interrogated, and then put on a truck for the II Guards Corps HQ at al-Busayyah. There they were filmed, and three prisoners who were wounded received medical attention. The prisoners were then bound and blindfolded before being put on a truck for the POW processing center at Kut. The eight POWs were:

S Sgt. James Kiley
Sgt. Paul Bartlett
Sgt. Jennifer Collingsworth
Spec. Eduard Hernandez
Cpl. Joesph Hudson
Pfc. Jessica Lynch
Pfc. Patrick Miller
Pvt. Dale Hansen

Bartlett, Hudson, and Hernandez were all wounded, though their injuries were not life-threatening. After the war, all three did say that whenever they were treated by Iraqi medical personnel, the conduct of the Iraqis was more of doctor-to-patient than guard-to-prisoner. This went so far as to the fact that the Iraqis at al-Rashid Military Hospital had all POWs who were treated there sign consent forms before any surgery was done. In fact, their being wounded and in the hospital meant that of the eight from the 557th, they wound up being receiving the best treatment. Their five colleagues were not as fortunate, however.

Almost simultaneously, a joint Australian/British SAS patrol near Safwan was attacked, also by Hinds, and by elements of the 4th RGFC Motorized Infantry Division. Of the eight soldiers, two Australians and two British were able to escape and evade capture, managing to slip through a gap in Iraqi lines and were found by the Kuwaiti 61st Armored Cavalry Squadron, two Australians were killed in action, and two British SAS troopers, who had been covering the withdrawal of their comrades, were captured by the Iraqis. The two were Sgts. Richard Blake and Paul McAlister. Both were taken up the line to brigade, then divisional HQs, then to the Kut POW Processing Center later that day. To their surprise, the interrogations were mild, as the Iraqis knew that there were Allied SOF on the border, to give early warning of an attack and to call down air and artillery strikes. As their commo gear and crypto documents had been blown up when their Land Rover was destroyed by a Hind, the Iraqis were unable to ask the pair about the teams and how their communications worked. They did ask, though, about the Allied defense plan, but the two were able to successfully dodge those questions, saying that information was classified beyond their level. (As it turned out, they did know much more, as they were working ahead of the Kuwaiti 6th Armored Cavalry Brigade, and knew how the Kuwaitis and British would be working together, but they were able to conceal this from their captors.)

As things went on the afternoon of D-Day, the first USAF aircraft to go down in the area was an F-15E from the 9th TFS, out of Al-Udaid AB in Qatar. Lt. Col. Larry Fleming (pilot) and Capt. Bruce Evans (WSO) were shot down by SA-10 while attacking a SCUD launch site east of Karbala, and upon ejection and landing, saw that they had no real chance to evade, as Colonel Fleming said later, “it seemed like every Iraqi for 10 miles saw us and converged on our chutes.” An angry crowd proceeded to beat and kick the two aviators, but Iraqi soldiers quickly restored order and seized the pair from the crowd. They were taken to the local Baath Party office in Karbala, where they were initially questioned
and filmed, and were taken straight to Baghdad then and there. Upon arrival at Al-Rashid MI Center, both were put through the wringer almost right away, as the Iraqis had a long list of questions and wanted answers.

A brief discussion should be made at this point as to the methods used by the Iraqis. Disregarding the advice they received from their Soviet advisors, the Iraqi interrogators resorted to their usual tried, true, and brutal methods of interrogation. The Iraqis would usually warm up with a beating, either with a rubber hose, a truncheon, or simply bamboo sticks, and if answers were not forthcoming, went on to use techniques that were a combination of those used in 1991 and learned from the Vietnamese after an Iraqi Military Mission visited Hanoi in 1995, ironically just as the Clinton Administration restored diplomatic ties with Hanoi. The Iraqis would suspend a prisoner by his or her arms from a meat hook hanging from the ceiling, all the while the prisoner was being beaten, or they would hook the prisoner up to a car battery after tying the captive to a bed frame. Several prisoners said afterwards that they were forced to sit astride a wooden sawhorse with their hands bound behind them and raised for several hours, while Captain Evans and several others wound up getting hung upside down from the meat hook as well. The Iraqis also employed what the POWs in Hanoi called “the rope trick”, where one's arms were tied behind the back at the wrists and elbows, so tightly that the elbows touched, and then raised the tied arms, forcing the prisoner's head between the legs and nearly dislocating the shoulders. In nearly all instances, the POW was usually blindfolded, to disorient the prisoner, preventing him or her from knowing what might be coming next, and to prevent the prisoner from identifying their inquisitors later on.

When it came to the female POWs, the Iraqis modified their procedures, falling back on what had been initially used in 1991 with Specialist Rathbun-Nealy. In her case, the Iraqis had never expected to capture a female soldier, and the Iraqis simply used on her the same techniques used on their own female political prisoners. During her interrogations, Rathbun-Nealy was kept nude as a means of humiliating her, and always blindfolded, for the reasons above. However, if the Iraqis expected her to cooperate, they were wrong, and she didn't disclose anything at first without it being beaten out of her. Having had no SERE training, she simply fell back on common sense, and whenever possible, she replied “I don't know” to various questions, It worked in her case, and her treatment improved after the first two weeks in Baghdad.

In 2005, the Iraqis would begin on female POWs the same way they did with Specialist Rathbun-Nealy, and if a “cooperative attitude” was not forthcoming, things went, as LCDR Lisa Eichhorn would say after the war, “physical in a hurry.” As with Rathbun-Nealy, if cooperation was not forthcoming, the Iraqis went to the beating process, and if that didn't work, would go to the ropes and other torture methods. Sadly, all but one of the female POWs in 2005, as with the two in 1991, were sexually assaulted during their captivity. All of the 2005 incidents occurred during torture sessions, and the POWs said later that the assaults were another form of torture, and to their credit, none of them broke following the assaults. Their SERE training emphasized that if one was assaulted, and didn't break afterwards, the enemy was less likely to use it later. Unfortunately, for some, this advice didn't work.

Colonel Fleming and Captain Evans held out for a couple of days, but in the end, gave the Iraqis some misleading information, other scraps of information that the Iraqis could have found in Jane's or another reference book, and some out-and-out lies. The Iraqis also demanded and got a propaganda statement from the pair, something that they would demand from all of their prisoners. After the two were filmed reading the statements extracted from them, they were taken to al-Rashid Military Prison, and tossed into solitary cells. Before the war ended, they would see each other only once, during the POW parade on 28 April.

Other than the two female prisoners from the maintenance unit, the first female to experience the Iraqis' new techniques was USAF 1st Lt. Sharon Park, an A-10 pilot and wingmate to Lt. Col. Martha McSally, the first female A-10 squadron CO. Both were attacking armor and mechanized infantry moving south from Safwan on the afternoon of D-Day, when Park's A-10 took an SA-13 hit and she was forced to eject. Colonel McSally tried to provide cover to her wingmate and direct in a rescue helo, but when her own Warthog took a near-miss from another SA-13, she reluctantly had to break off and return to base.
Lt. Park was captured almost immediately by troops from the RGFC's 6th Armored Division, and only when the Iraqis pulled off her helmet did they stop beating and kicking her, realizing that they had a female. Park was taken up the line to brigade, division, and then on to the POW center at Kut, and was questioned at all three locations. Her treatment prior to Kut was relatively good, but at Kut, “things got ugly”, as she said later. The Iraqis at Kut were after immediate military information, and didn't care how they got it. While she didn't receive the full “Baghdad Treatment”, the Iraqis didn't hesitate to put her in the ropes and make her ride the sawhorse. The interrogators were after information on the Allied air units at Al-Jaber AB in Kuwait, locations of the Patriot batteries defending the base, and about Colonel McSally. Lieutenant Park was able to give the interrogators some misinformation, but didn't reveal anything about her squadron commander. The Iraqi interrogators, though, were at least satisfied with having gotten something, and she was taken and put in the compound adjacent to the interrogation building.

The Kut compound was about the size of a tennis court, surrounded by a barbed-wire fence topped with razor wire, with a single gate in and out. No shelter of any kind, other than some plastic tarpaulins, was provided to the prisoners, who simply laid the tarps out on the ground to sleep on at night, and used them during the day as sun shades. The prisoners were given several buckets of water for the group's use for drinking and washing each day while there, and were fed twice a day, morning and evening. The morning meal was a pair of small rolls and a cup of very thin tea, while in the evening the fare was a thin soup with some greens and “mystery meat”, a bowl of rice, a roll, and the tea. A pair of latrine holes were the extent of the sanitary facilities, and privacy was nonexistent. Lieutenant Park was the first POW to enter the compound, being joined later that evening by the two SAS troopers and then the Army maintenance people. Park immediately assumed command of the prisoners as she was the only officer present, and would relinquish command when a higher-ranking prisoner joined them.


For Air Force Captains Rick Thurman and Kristen Moore, D+1 was not a good day, as the two F-16 pilots from the 17th TFS were prowling over the Zubayr-Shoiabah area, moving ahead of an F-15E flight aimed at Shoiabah AB when both were hit by SA-11s from a RGFC Corps-level air defense brigade. Both ejected from their disintegrating aircraft, or, as Captain Thurman said later, “the plane ejected me.” Both landed near a AAA battery, and had no chance to evade, being caught right there and then. Both experienced the now-usual post-capture beating, this time by soldiers, before an officer arrived and ordered the two aviators taken away. The pair were taken to the Intelligence Office at Shoiabah AB, where they were initially interrogated. Neither one gave anything other than name, rank, and number, but had to admit they were F-16 pilots when an Iraqi officer brought in Captain Moore's kneeboard, which had somehow been blown out of her aircraft and found by the Iraqis. The pair were then filmed by a TV crew, and as both were (relatively) uninjured, promptly taken to Kut. There, things got a “little rough”, as Captain Moore remarked afterwards, as the interrogators there wanted to know their target, squadron call signs, base, weapons load, and other tactical information. Both of them were able to avoid serious trouble, giving the truth about their target, but misleading information about the other questions, though Captain Thurman was strung upside down for several hours to “encourage” him to answer questions. The two aviators were then put in the compound, where Captain Thurman, who had six months' more time in grade than Moore, became the Senior Ranking Officer.

On the evening of D+1, an MH-60L from the Army's 160th Aviation Regiment, the “Night Stalkers,” went on a solo mission to insert a Special Forces A-Team in the area north of An Nasiriya. The insertion went off without a hitch, but the helo drew heavy fire after passing the Euphrates River on the return trip, and went down seven miles east of An Nasiriya. The crew chief was killed in the crash, being ejected from the helo, while the two pilots and the gunner were able to get away from the wreck, splitting up and evading on their own. The gunner was able to use his survival radio and before dawn, an Air Force HV-22 was able to extract him successfully. The two pilots, though, were not as fortunate, as CWO-4 Don Anderson and CWO-3 Gary Nichols were both captured. The two were taken separately to the HQ of the 11th Infantry Division and interrogated by the intelligence officers there, and after the now-customary filming by Iraqi TV, were sent to Kut. There, the interrogators there wanted to know what a Blackhawk was doing so far behind the lines, and both Army aviators were able to convince the interrogators that they were on a search-and-rescue mission for a downed pilot. When asked who they were trying to rescue, they replied “They didn't tell us who it was, just go and find the pilot.” Fortunately for the two, their Blackhawk had caught fire after their crash, and any sensitive documents (maps, kneeboards, etc.) had been burned in the fire. The interrogators also wanted to know about Allied dispositions in Kuwait, but the pair were able to avoid those, saying “We're pilots, not ground-pounders.” The two were put in the compound the next morning, joining their fellow prisoners.

On 23 April, D+2, the Iraqis at Kut finally got around to questioning the Army maintenance soldiers from the 557th. The three wounded prisoners were the first to be questioned, with the Iraqis asking about troop concentrations in Kuwait, the locations of the various air-defense batteries such as Patriot and SLAMMRAM, and information about Camp Doha. The three, like the other members of their unit, had no SERE training, fell back on simple common sense. Two of them were mechanics, and they simply said “We don't know that. All we do is that if something's broken, we go and fix it.” As for the third prisoner, he was a cook, and that was enough to convince the interrogators that these three, at least, knew nothing of importance, and summoned a doctor and medics to tend to their injuries.

The remaining maintenance soldiers were then taken at random for their interrogations, and it was a mixed response from the interrogators. They went after the senior NCO, Staff Sergeant Kiley, who was a truck driver by specialty, because the Iraqis believed that as the senior NCO of the group, he was closer to the unit's officers than he was in actuality. He pointed out to his inquisitors that there were only two officers in the unit, the company commander and the executive officer, and he didn't exactly know them that well, as the company commander had been with the unit less than a month. As for the executive officer, Kiley told the Iraqis that he was in the job temporarily, waiting for an assignment in Germany to become available. The Iraqis didn't necessarily believe him, and Kiley got a beating for his trouble, but the Iraqis had four more to question from the unit.

The Iraqis then picked the most junior soldier, Private Dale Hansen. He escaped because the Iraqis soon found out that he was the most junior enlisted soldier in the 557th, and had joined the unit only three months earlier. When asked about his unit's activities in Kuwait, he replied that “I'm just a driver. They tell me where to go and who or what to pick up. Who they are, or what the cargo is, is none of my business.” That was an attitude the Iraqis' own soldiers could understand, and since Hansen was the lowest-ranking prisoner they had, the interrogators chose to believe him. Still, his session with the interrogators lasted for several hours.

While the Iraqis were engaged with the maintenance soldiers, the afternoon of 23 April wasn't a good one for Air Force Capt. Tammy Michaels of the 34th TFS, which had just arrived in-theater and was on the squadron’s first combat mission of the war. The squadron sent several four-ship flights on CAS/BAI missions into Kuwait and Southern Iraq, and Capt. Michaels was leading a four-ship down on a supply convoy north of Safwan when a SA-6 came up and exploded below her F-16C. The plane blew in half, and she quickly ejected. Her fellow aviators tried to provide cover while a CSAR mission was requested. However, the CSAR people considered Safwan a high-threat area in daylight, and would not launch until after dark. By that time it was already well too late, as Capt. Michaels was captured almost immediately upon landing, not even having time to get out of her parachute. She was promptly set upon by enraged soldiers and some locals, and the kicking and beating stopped only when someone pulled off her flight helmet and noticed her short blond hair. Michaels was then taken to a nearby HQ bunker where she was first interrogated, and then was passed up the line, stopping at the Zubayr Baath Party HQ where she was filmed, and then on to Kut. Upon arrival, the interrogators went after her for military information, such as her squadron, operating base, base air and missile defenses, and the like. She did admit to flying an F-16, but said that she was from the 17th TFS, not wanting to divulge that a new squadron had arrived in-theater. That was apparently insufficient, as she got the same treatment as Lieutenant Park had received. It wasn't the full “Baghdad Treatment”, but it was a taste of what was to come later. Capt. Michaels gave some misleading information about her base and its defenses, and despite the pain, gave nothing else. The Iraqis were apparently satisfied, and then placed her in the compound with the other prisoners. She had even less time in grade than any of the two Captains, and thus Rick Thurman remained as senior officer.

24 April brought the first RAF crew to be shot down in Iraq, as a Tornado GR.4 flown by Flight Lts. Peter Johns and Ian Woods was attacking a supply dump east of Jaliabah AB when an SA-16 slammed into their aircraft and both had to punch out. The two were found by some Bedouin tribesmen, and tried to use their blood chits in an attempt to bargain for their freedom. Instead, the tribesmen took the pair to an Iraqi Army outpost and handed them over. The two RAF aircrew got a “good thrashing,” as Johns told LCDR Lisa Eichhorn later, and quickly hauled them to the 11th ID's HQ compound. The pair was initially interrogated, and the now-usual TV filming was conducted. The two aviators refused to go beyond name, rank, and number, and after the filming, were taken to Kut. The interrogators went after Woods more than his pilot, Johns, as a map had been found in the wreckage of the Tornado, and the Iraqis assumed he knew more than his pilot did. That, unfortunately, was his misfortune, for he had a session that both Captain Michaels and Lieutenant Park experienced, and all the Iraqis got for their efforts was an admission that both had been flying out of Al-Salem AB in Kuwait, and had mainly been flying CAS and BAI missions. When it was Johns' turn, he stuck to name, rank, and number, and he, too, got a similar roughing up. After the interrogators were apparently satisfied when Johns confirmed what his navigator had said, both aircrew were thrown into the compound.

That day was also not a good one for Air Force Major Neal Andrews, the executive officer of the 357th TFS in Kuwait. He had been leading a two-ship flight of A-10s against armor south of Safwan when both A-10s began taking SA-11 fire. His wingman, 1st. Lt. Brian Wagner, managed to evade the Gadfly that came his way, but his lead wasn't so lucky, as an SA-11 took the whole tail off Andrews' A-10. He promptly ejected, and was captured immediately, not even having time to get his parachute off. The soldiers from the 4th RFGC Motorized Infantry Division were not happy to see him, and the resulting beating by angry soldiers gave Major Andrews a concussion. After officers restored control, he was taken to a field hospital and checked out, and then was interrogated at I Guards Corps HQ. Despite being dazed from the concussion, Andrews gave nothing beyond the basics, and was put on a truck for Kut. He arrived just after the two RAF aircrew were being put in the compound, and the interrogators saw him right away. Fortunately for him, he gave some incoherent replies to their questions, and when a doctor saw that he had a concussion, that was enough, and the doctor halted the proceedings. The Iraqis left him in the interrogation room overnight, and resumed in the morning after he had a chance to rest and recover. The interrogators asked Andrews about the 357th , their tactics, weapons, and again, were most interested in Colonel McSally. As things turned out postwar, Colonel McSally had been featured in several newspapers in the Gulf States, and though the locals were now accustomed to seeing female service personnel, having a female being in command of a fighter squadron was somewhat new. Major Andrews gave some basic answers about tactics (what one could find in any coffee table book on air combat, for example) and weapons, but didn't say a word about his CO. He only got a mild “roughing up”, and was placed in the compound on the 25th, becoming the new senior officer.

25 April brought the chemical strike on H-2 AB, and Navy LTJG Chris Larson of VA-115 became the only aircrew shot down on that mission to be captured. His A-6 was hit by MANPADS, and both he and his pilot, LT Mark Collings, ejected at only 450 feet at 500+ knots. Larson broke his leg on landing, but Collings was not so lucky, and he died in the ejection. Larson, being unable to escape and evade due to his broken leg, was found after several hours alone in the desert by some Bedouins. He too, tried using his blood chit, but the tribesmen took him to a nearby Iraqi Army post, and apparently the nature of the strike on H-2 was known to the soldiers, who promptly gave Larson a severe beating, breaking his left wrist and cracking a pair of ribs. Only then did they interrogate him, and he played the role of a “dumb airplane driver” to the hilt, saying that the crews on the mission didn't know the bombs were chemical, that they were told what delivery method to use, and that the nature of the bombs carried was none of their business. The Iraqis, to his surprise, believed him, and he was put on a truck to Ramadi, and the local military hospital. There, his broken leg and wrist were set, and he was filmed by a TV crew. Larson only gave his name, rank, and service branch, refusing to answer any other questions. After the crew left, he was put on a truck and taken to Baghdad and the Al-Rashid MI Center. There, the interrogators asked him the same questions he was asked at the Army base, and he gave the same answers. This went on, over and over, for several hours before the interrogators decided they wouldn't get anywhere with him, and sent him to the Al-Rashid Military Medical Center, where he was placed in the POW ward. His injuries were treated, and after the war, Larson said that he had no complaints about the quality of either the medical care or the staff.

Later that afternoon, two VA-185 aviators also found themselves on the ground, as LCDR Lisa Eichhorn and LT Susie Porter-Flinn bailed out of their A-6F after taking hits from 57-mm AAA over An Nasiriya. Both landed in the Euphrates River, and stuck together, as LT Porter-Flinn had lost her radio in the bailout. Their squadron mates overhead did call in a CSAR mission to recover them, and a package was en route when both women saw Iraqis closing in on their position. LCDR Eichhorn called the HC-130 controlling the mission and told them to abort as they were about to be captured, and before destroying her radio, said “Tell them on the carrier we'll see 'em after the war.” The two were found right afterwards, and put their hands up. They were dragged onto the river bank by soldiers and civilians, and beaten and kicked. When an Iraqi solder took off Eichhorn's helmet and saw her blond hair, he let out a yell. Another Iraqi took off Porter-Flinn's helmet, and saw her cropped brown hair. Though guarded, both women saw the soldiers talking amongst themselves, and naturally assumed the worst was about to happen. Instead, they were taken under heavy guard to the nearby Taykar Military Hospital, and their minor injuries were treated. While there, they were filmed by a TV crew, and then were bound, blindfolded, and put on a truck for Kut.

While that was going on, the Iraqi interrogators at Kut finished with the three remaining Army maintenance soldiers. The first was Pfc. Miller, and he was able to convince his captors that a piece of paper was nothing but a price list for truck parts. In reality, that sheet of paper had a list of radio frequencies used by not only the 557th, but by a number of other Allied units in Kuwait. When asked what his role in the 557th was, he told the truth, that he was a truck mechanic, and didn't know the two officers in the unit. He was also asked about any Patriot battery sites, and Miller told the Iraqis that he hadn't worked on Patriot transporters, wouldn't know how they worked, and his job was just to help keep his unit's vehicles in proper running order. That was apparently enough, for nothing happened to him, and he was returned to the compound.

As Miller was going through his interrogation, the two women from the 557th were undergoing a much more serious ordeal. The Iraqis next took Sgt. Jennifer Collingsworth, the 557th's senior supply NCO, and in her words, “put me through the wringer.” Unlike the two male Privates, she knew more that the Iraqis did want to know, as she had helped deliver supplies, including Patriot reloads, to several U.S. and Kuwaiti Patriot batteries, as well as making regular runs to Camp Doha on her unit's behalf to pick up their own unit's supplies. The Iraqis had found a map in a wrecked 557th truck, and though there were no unit symbols on the map, the Iraqis demanded to know where the Patriot batteries were located. When she replied that they moved around with some frequency, and since she wasn't in a Patriot unit, couldn't tell them how often they moved, the interrogators were not pleased. Collingsworth got a thrashing with a rubber hose, and wound up “riding the horse” for a few hours. The Iraqis relented when she indicated several locations on the map where she had helped deliver supplies to Patriot units. This apparently satisfied the interrogators, and she was put back in the compound.

The other female, Pfc. Jessica Lynch, was also going through an ordeal. The Iraqis had found on her two letters written by her boyfriend, and they were on a battalion's letterhead. The young 19-year old soldier tried to explain that they were just love letters from a soldier in a different unit, but the interrogators refused to believe her. They also demanded to know Patriot battery sites, Allied troop dispositions in Kuwait, and information about Camp Doha. When she replied that “I'm just a supply clerk. I don't know any of that”, the interrogator said she was lying, and she was forced to strip before being beaten with bamboo sticks and then trussed into the ropes. Lynch then had the unfortunate distinction of being the only POW at Kut to be assaulted while there, as the Iraqis were not pleased with her continued insistence on not knowing what they wanted. After several hours of being in the ropes, and having been battered in several beatings, she finally convinced the interrogators that she didn't know what they wanted, and after simply admitting that she'd helped Sgt. Collingsworth deliver supplies to other units, she was returned to the compound, battered, bruised, and crying.

The two naval aviators arrived at Kut just after Pfc. Lynch was returned to the compound, and were taken straight into the interrogation rooms. Both were asked about their carrier, Kitty Hawk, and their squadron, air wing, and potential targets. The two VA-185 aircrew were surprised at hearing the name of their ship and squadron, but since the Iraqis had likely recovered wreckage with the ship's name painted on the side, keeping that secret was out of the question. The two admitted that they flew from Kitty Hawk, and were in VA-185. Both were asked about their squadron CO and other officers, but the Iraqis got only a cover story, that the two were on their first combat mission, having been helicoptered out to the carrier that morning. The two were also asked if they knew anyone who had flown the H-2 mission, and that was important to both of them. LCDR Eichhorn's boyfriend and later fiancée was the VA-115 Operations Officer, and she had watched him launch on the strike. In addition, both Eichhorn and Porter-Flinn had many friends in VA-115 who also flew the mission. They simply told their captors that they hadn't had a chance to get to know the other fliers on the ship before going on the mission, and the Iraqis believed them. The two were then placed in the compound with the other POWs.

Since Major Andrews was still not fully recovered from his concussion, LCDR Eichhorn became the new senior officer. She noticed how frightened the Army maintenance soldiers were, and asked CWO Anderson what had happened. He told her what had been done to the two women, and Commander Eichhorn and LT Porter-Flinn came and sat down next to the two. After a few kind words to break the ice, the four women shared their experiences, and talked about what their families must be going through, and what was coming next. Commander Eichhorn felt like a big sister to Pfc. Lynch, who was the youngest of the prisoners, and both she and LT Porter-Flinn helped the young woman, to use a phrase POWs in Hanoi had used, “bounce back.” The aviator from California and the PFC from the hills of West Virginia formed a bond that lasted the rest of the war and afterwards.

What came next was the sight of two trucks rolling up to the compound, and the Iraqis split the prisoners into two groups and loaded each group on a truck. The prisoners were not restrained or blindfolded, but the trucks had their tops covered with tarps, and two guards with AK-47s rode in back with the prisoners. Most of the POWs were tired, and fell asleep as soon as the trucks began to roll, but some were unable to sleep and were able to talk, as long as the guards didn't seem to care. None knew where they were going at first, but when Capt. Thurman heard a guard say “Baghdad”, his heart stopped, and he passed the word to everyone in his truck. The prisoners in the second truck heard the driver also say “Baghdad”, and they too, were quite frightened.

[Matt Wiser]

Part II:


Before the trucks arrived in Baghdad, they stopped at a checkpoint and all of the POWs were then bound and blindfolded. They were then driven to the Al-Rashid Air Base and the Military Intelligence Center in the Southeastern section of the base, in close proximity to the Military Medical Center. The trucks stopped at the hospital, and the three injured Army POWs were unloaded and taken right into the ER. The remainder of the prisoners were taken to the MI Center and taken to the center's interrogation facility. The Iraqis decided to put some of the POWs in holding cells, while others were chained in pairs to benches outside the interrogation rooms, and the unlucky ones taken right into interrogation.

The interrogators in Baghdad were much more professional and refined than those in Kut, but were still nasty to the full. One RAF Intelligence Officer who served at CENTCOM during the war and helped debrief the POWs after their return, said that “The interrogators in Kut were thugs first, thugs last, and didn't care what they got as long as they got something. The ones in Baghdad had a list of requirements to extract from the prisoners, and they went about getting what they wanted.” Nearly everyone at the MI Center got the full treatment, and those who didn't counted themselves very lucky indeed. However, as everyone eventually discovered, neither rank nor gender was a barrier to the Iraqis. If one had information that they felt one should share with them, then the Iraqis went about getting it. While the Iraqis had no qualms about their methods, a GRU liaison officer passed on to the Commander of the Soviet Military Assistance and Advisory Group Iraq, Major General Mikhail Kurchatov, an ex-Guards Airborne officer, details of what was being done to the prisoners, and the General was appalled. Kurchatov was disgusted at the Iraqis' methods, and he felt that as a professional soldier, such measures were the product of barbarians, and many of his subordinates shared his views. He knew full well that no self-respecting GRU officer would hang a prisoner by his or her heels from a meathook, truss someone in ropes to the point of nearly dislocating the shoulders, or turn someone's buttocks into hamburger with a rubber hose. Kurchatov's disgust with the Iraqis was magnified when he read a report on what had been done to the female POWs, and he felt that if the Soviet Union was to gain in the battle for world opinion, it would have to disassociate itself from such conduct. In this, he had the full backing of not only the Ambassador at the Baghdad Embassy, but also his superiors in the GRU and at STAVKA.

When the POWs arrived, one of the first to go into an interrogation room was Commander Eichhorn. She was very evasive when asked about the AEGIS system, saying that was a surface warfare specialty, not an aviator's, and refused to identify anyone who had flown the H-2 mission or to make a propaganda statement. The interrogators were not pleased, and kept her standing at attention, blindfolded and being swatted with a rubber hose at random, for a couple of hours, before being placed on a bench next to PFC Lynch. The two were able to talk quietly, keeping an eye out for guards, and watched and listened as Flight Lieutenant Johns took Eichhorn's place in the room. The two had an unwilling seat as the Iraqis deliberately left the door of the room open to make the pair listen to the proceedings.

The RAF pilot's first session was not as bad as it could have been, but as he told Commander Eichhorn post-release, “they were just warming up.” The Iraqis seemed to believe that every Allied aviator in the Gulf knew about AEGIS, and were desperate for any information on the system. Unknown to Johns, or the Air Force aviators, but not to the three Navy aircrew, the Iraqi Air Force had taken serious losses to AEGIS-equipped ships, and the Iraqis were urgently seeking any information that would enable them to get past the ships. After he was slapped and kicked around, Johns' interrogator believed him when he protested that he didn't know any AEGIS-related information, other than the fact that he was advised to avoid the ships whenever possible. However, Johns drew the line when asked about the Sky Shadow ECM pod, or general information about the RAF in Kuwait. The interrogator told him that he didn't need to eat that night, and that they would talk again in the morning.

The two A-10 pilots, Major Andrews and Lieutenant Park, were singled out because the Iraqis wanted to know about the USAF strength at Al-Salem and Al-Jaber Air Bases in Kuwait, and because they were in Colonel McSally's squadron. The Iraqis couldn't believe that a woman was in command of a fighter squadron, and thought that Major Andrews was the de facto squadron CO. He told them that Colonel McSally was the real squadron commander, and that she gave the orders in the squadron, period. Lieutenant Park was also asked about Colonel McSally, and were shocked to find that she wanted to command an A-10 squadron, just like her CO and mentor. Both were also asked about Al-Salem AB's air and ground defenses, such as Patriot, SLAMMRAM, and antiaircraft guns, and their protestrations that they didn't know the ground defense layout did not go well with their respective interrogators, and neither did their refusal to make a propaganda statement. Both of them then got the full treatment as a result of their stubbornness, and after several hours, gave their captors a mix of half-truths, “little white lies”, and tactics information that one could get from the internet, let alone any coffee table book on air combat. And both of them each made a propaganda video, before being taken to Al-Rashid Military Prison, where Lieutenant Park became the “plankowner” of what became the women's cellblock, while Major Andrews joined Colonel Fleming and Captain Evans in an adjacent cellblock.

The two Army MH-60 pilots, CWOs Anderson and Nichols, followed the two A-10 pilots, having been forced to listen to the sessions the two Air Force aviators endured. Nichols went first, following Major Andrews into that room, and his interrogator wanted to know about the 40th ID's positions, how many army helicopters were in Kuwait, and what kind of mission he had been on when shot down. He stuck to his cover story about being on an SAR mission for a pilot reported down, saying that he didn't know anything about 40th ID, as he wasn't in that division. The interrogator also wanted to know where he had taken off from, and Nichols indicated a stretch of highway in Southern Kuwait, when his real base was Kuwait IAP. However, CWO Nichols drew the line at a propaganda video, and got a session in the ropes and a stretch on the horse for his intransigence. After a few hours on the horse, he agreed to make the video, and after doing so was taken to the prison.

His pilot-in-command, CWO Anderson, had a nearly identical opening, with virtually the same line of questioning. He too managed to conceal that he had been flying out of Kuwait IAP, pointing out a different length of highway as his base. Anderson's interrogators checked with Nichols', came back and said “That's not what your copilot said”, and gave him a thrashing with a rubber truncheon. Anderson then gave another location, which was the wrong one, and the Iraqis didn't waste any more time, hanging him by his arms and when that failed, put him into the ropes. It took about an hour, but eventually he gave in, and by chance indicated the same location his copilot had. The Iraqis then had Anderson make a video, and he was then put in the same truck to the prison as several other POWs.

While Commander Eichhorn was in her initial session, her B/N, LT Porter-Flinn, was undergoing her bout with the Iraqis. The questions were the same as that posed to her pilot, and her answers were virtually identical. The Iraqis insisted on information about AEGIS, and would not accept her answer that AEGIS was not an aviator's “need to know.”, along with information on the A-6F. In addition, they wanted further details on her air wing, wanting the know the name of the CAG, her squadron commander, and various types of weapons used by Carrier Air Wing 5, as well as the usual propaganda statement. She refused to go along with any of it, and got, as she said after the war, “a full and intense session.” Two stints in the ropes, being hung by her heels, an assault, and a stint on the sawhorse forced her to break, sooner than she thought. She gave some bits and pieces on AEGIS and the A-6F, basically what one could easily find in Jane's, but she did identify CAG-5 and her squadron CO, but named several members of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team as members of her squadron. She was also asked about the H-2 mission, but repeated her cover story about not knowing anyone on that strike, and whether or not any further such strikes were possible. “Use your imagination,” was her reply. After making a video, she was stashed in a holding cell before being sent over to join Park at the POW prison.

The Iraqis then went after several of the Army maintenance unit, singling out the two Sergeants for special attention. Both Kiley and Collingsworth were pressed for information on the Patriot batteries in Kuwait, and on Allied ground-force dispositions in Kuwait. They tried to impress on their inquisitors that they were just support troops; mechanics, supply clerks, cooks, and so on. Kiley's interrogator initially didn't believe him, but as he repeated his story, the interrogator then changed his demand from information to a videotaped statement. Kiley refused to make a statement, and was tossed into the holding cell next to Peter Johns so that he could “think about it.” His fellow NCO, Collingsworth, did the same, but had to admit what she had said back in Kut. She, too, refused to make a videotaped statement, and after being forced to kneel with a length of bamboo behind her knees and randomly smacked on the back with a rubber hose, still refused to give a statement. The interrogator apparently had more pressing subjects for his attention, and Collingsworth, too, was taken to a holding cell, being told to “reconsider your attitude.”

When LT Porter-Flinn was taken to her holding cell, she found Capt. Tammy Michaels waiting in the cell. Michaels hadn't yet had her turn, and was shocked at the Navy flier's appearance. The AF officer helped her Navy colleague clean up, and Porter-Flinn told her what had happened in the interrogation room, and what was likely coming her way. It didn't take long for the AF pilot to find out, as only a few minutes had passed before guards came and took Michaels to one of the interrogation rooms. There, the Iraqis wanted to know about the USAF in Kuwait, her squadron and squadron CO, where her squadron had flown from, and other tactical details. She refused, saying only that she was in the 17th TFS, and had flown her first mission of the war, having been on non-flying duty until the day she had been shot down. Unfortunately for Michaels, she apparently had the same interrogator that Sgt. Collingsworth had, and he was in a foul mood. As Michaels said after the war to a debriefer, “The female sergeant got him pissed off, and he was ready to vent his anger. I just happened to be the one that he vented on.”
The guards practically tore her flight suit off, and in no time she was hanging by her arms. That was only the beginning, as Michaels experienced in full an identical session to what Porter-Flinn had gone through. She, too, broke sooner than she thought she would, though she only gave some half-truths mixed in with a few lies. However, she did admit to being in a different squadron than she had previously said, and when asked for names of squadron mates, she gave the names of a few members of the Detroit Lions football team, a female character from the TV show JAG, and two friends who had died in prewar F-16 crashes. As for her squadron CO, she named the then-coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Barry Switzer, as her CO. The interrogator also got a statement on video, and Michaels was then taken back to the holding cell, where Porter-Flinn was still waiting. Her navy colleague helped Michaels clean up, and shortly thereafter, both were taken over to Al-Rashid Prison with a number of other prisoners, joining Park in the women's cellblock.

The two male privates from the maintenance unit, Miller and Hansen, had somewhat of an easier time than most of their fellow prisoners. They got across to the Iraqis that both were very low-ranking, and knew very little of importance. Miller, though, was still asked about the sheet of paper, and he repeated his story that the numbers were price lists for truck parts from a private contractor. Hansen, for his part, stuck to his story that he was the most junior member of the 557th, and had hardly gotten to know anyone before deploying to Kuwait. The two privates, however, drew the line at a videotaped statement, and each drew a beating by several guards with bamboo sticks before giving in. The duo was then taken and put in a truck, where they found the two Army aviators waiting to be taken to the prison, and the four POWs were then trucked over to Al-Rashid Prison.

As interrogation rooms emptied of their initial occupants, they became available for other subjects of the Iraqis' attention. The two SAS troopers, Sergeants Blake and McAlister, wound up in separate rooms as they became vacant. Both were pressed for information on the Allied ground forces and their dispositions in Kuwait, as well as radio frequencies, FAC procedures, and where their operating base was located. The two troopers managed to evade some questions, saying that being a FAC was not one of their job descriptions, and neither was trained as one (as it turned out, McAlister had FAC training). The Iraqis, though, wanted the ground-force information, even though it was days out of date,
and gave the pair a full-court press, to use a basketball phrase. After several hours of the full treatment, both prisoners gave some general answers on where they had been operating, their recon on the Kuwaiti side of the border, and the Allied preinvasion dispositions, as by now those were out of date. The usual statements were also extracted from the pair, and both were then taken over to the Al-Rashid prison after a stint in a holding cell.

As another room became available, Capt. Rick Thurman had his turn come up. He was asked where his squadron had flown from, what types of targets were on the Allied target list, and how AEGIS worked, among other questions. He tried to stick to a cover story he and Capt. Moore had worked out while at Kut, saying Sheikh Isa in Bahrain when they had been flying out of Al-Udaid AB in Qatar. The Iraqis also asked about the HTS pods carried by some F-16s, and he tried to explain that he didn't know how it worked, only what it did in identifying radars before taking them out. Thurman was also asked about how his squadron reacted to Iraqi aircraft, and the Iraqis were not pleased to know that his fellow F-16 pilots didn't react, leaving the job of fighting MiGs to the F-15Cs and the Navy. His interrogator didn't believe him when Thurman denied any knowledge of how AEGIS worked, saying that “The Navy doesn't share that with the Air Force.” That denial earned him a beating with a rubber hose, and when he refused to give a statement, that brought the full treatment on him. After a few hours, including three stints in the ropes, and being the first to be given the bedframe and car battery treatment, he relented, giving the names of several Seattle Mariners' baseball players as members of his squadron, some basic information on AEGIS (again, what one found in Jane's), and similar information on the HTS pod. He also gave in on the statement, and after doing so, was tossed into a holding cell before later being moved over to the POW facility.

His fellow F-16 pilot, Captain Moore, had waited for her turn chained to a bench next to one of the Army maintenance soldiers, Pfc. Miller. After Miller had gone through his session, it was Moore's turn, and she was asked many of the same questions that her squadron mate had been. She repeated the cover story about Sheikh Isa, as well as saying “MiGs? The F-15s take care of them for us.” Moore was also asked about the HTS pod, as well as to explain the contents of her kneeboard, along with AEGIS information. She refused, and “Things got ugly fast,” as she remarked later. Moore, too, got the car battery and bedframe treatment, as well as a pair of stints in the ropes and on the sawhorse, Like the other female officers before her, she too, was assaulted, but what broke her was a lengthy stretch hanging by her wrists and getting smacked with a truncheon. Moore's answers were nearly identical to that of her squadron mate, but she added to his list of pilots, giving several NASCAR drivers' names as members of the squadron. She also made a videotaped statement, before being tossed into a holding cell before being transferred over to the POW facility.

Flight Lieutenant Woods, Peter Johns' navigator, had waited his turn next to the most junior POW, Pvt. Hansen. After Hansen finished, the RAF officer was dragged into the room, and many of the same questions asked him at Kut were repeated. He too, was pressured for information on AEGIS, and explained that the U.S. Navy didn't share AEGIS specifications with everyone. The Iraqis were also after information on the Sky Shadow ECM pod, and the Storm Shadow missile. He tried to explain that although he used the systems, he just knew how to use the systems, not how they worked. The interrogators didn't believe that, and they were less patient than those who had questioned his pilot. They put Woods in the ropes almost immediately, and gave him the full treatment. It took a few hours, lasting until nearly noon on the 27th, but he too broke, and gave some answers that one could have again found in any reference book on aircraft, aircraft systems, or weapons. Woods also gave a propaganda statement, and was then taken over to the POW prison.

After Woods' pilot, Peter Johns, had been dragged out of his interrogation room in front of Commander Eichhorn and PFC Lynch, it was once again the Commander's turn. She told her boyfriend after the war that “Telling off the interrogator wasn't the good idea it seemed to be at the moment.” Commander Eichhorn was knocked unconscious after doing so, and woke up in the interrogation room, having been doused with a bucket of water. Like her B/N, she was asked for information on the A-6F, her squadron, and the carrier, as well as the names of anyone who had flown the H-2 chemical strike. The Iraqis were also very interested in AEGIS, and whether or not there would be any additional chemical strikes. She told the Iraqis that “You should have thought of that (chemical strikes) when you used your stuff on Kuwait and Saudi”, which didn't please the interrogators, and neither did her insistence that AEGIS was something that, as a pilot, she knew very little of how it worked. She also refused to make a propaganda tape, and the patience of the interrogators was at an end. Almost immediately, she was trussed up in the ropes, and that was the beginning of several hours of torment. Commander Eichhorn got the same “program” of torture as the other female officers, and as it turned out, was the first woman to experience the bedframe and car battery. Despite an assault and a pair of stretches in the ropes, it wasn't until midmorning on the 27th that she finally broke, having ridden the sawhorse for four hours, all the time being swatted with a rubber hose and bamboo sticks. After she relented, Commander Eichhorn gave a few names of football players (this time the San Diego Chargers) as squadron mates, and gave some basic information about AEGIS and the A-6F. After she made a propaganda video, she was taken to a holding cell, where she found PFC Lynch waiting, huddled under a blanket.

The young PFC had already had her unfortunate share of brutality in Kut, and had confided to Commander Eichhorn that she didn't think she could take another round so soon. Commander Eichhorn told her to “Try and stall them, keep saying that you're just a supply clerk and don't know anything they want. Keep at it until you convince them. But don't volunteer a statement or video, make them work for it, but don't make them overreact.” The young supply clerk had a little time to compose herself, and heard the Iraqis working on Commander Eichhorn when she taken into an adjacent room and got a session similar to what Specialist Rathbun-Nealy had on several occasions in 1991. The interrogators there wanted to about where she had driven supplies in Kuwait, which units she had encountered, and also, about the two letters. Lynch replied that she was just a supply clerk, and that if told to drive a supply truck to make a delivery or pick up cargo, she just said “Yes, sir,” and went ahead and did it. She also said that if there was supplies or soldiers waiting at Camp Doha, and she was on the duty roster to make a supply run, she drove a truck or Humvee to make the pickup. When asked about making supply runs with Sgt. Collingsworth, she said that been her codriver a few times, nothing more. Then the questioning turned to the two letters. Sitting on a stool, nude and blindfolded, her heart began to race. Lynch quickly explained that her boyfriend, a soldier in another unit, had written her a pair of love letters, and it was just that he only had paper with the unit's letterhead to use, nothing else. She didn't know where the unit was located before the war, and certainly wouldn't be able to tell them where it was now. One of the interrogators said she was lying, and smacked her on the back with a rubber hose, but stopped when the senior interrogator, who she saw while peeping under the blindfold, and appeared to be reading the letters, said that she was telling the truth. When Lynch was told to read a statement on video, she remembered Commander Eichhorn's advice, and refused. That made the senior interrogator angry, and she wound up sitting astride a sawhorse for several hours, occasionally getting swatted with a rubber hose for her trouble. It was dawn on the 27th when she finally agreed to make the tape, and after she did so, she was taken to the holding cell, where about a couple of hours later, Commander Eichhorn was tossed in, much the worse for wear, and as Lynch told a debriefer after the war, “She was the one who needed help to bounce back, and I got to return the favor she did for me when I was down.” The young PFC helped her SRO clean herself up, and gave Commander Eichhorn a shoulder to cry on, just as Eichhorn had done for her in Kut. Around noon, the cell door opened, guards gave them yellow POW pajamas, and they were taken in a truck with four other POWs to the prison.

That left two POWs who had not yet been broken, but before returning to their stories, a new arrival filled out the first group of Allied POWs to arrive in Baghdad prior to the parade on 28 April. Marine Captain Catherine MacKenzie, from VMA(AW)-121, was a B/N in an A-6F flown by Capt. Paul Corwin when they were shot down south of Najaf by an SA-3 before midnight on 25/26 April. Corwin ordered her to eject, and MacKenzie ejected at 350 feet and 500+ knots. As her parachute opened, she saw the A-6 crash into a grove of Palm Trees and explode in a fireball. She never saw Corwin again, and his remains were returned by the Iraqis postwar. MacKenzie radioed in, and an Air Force CSAR package was soon en route to her location when she was discovered by a farmer and his sons, and they quickly summoned nearby Fedayeen Saddam fighters, who immediately surrounded her and she was quickly captured. The captain got a thrashing from the Fedayeen, and she was then taken to the Baath Party HQ in Najaf, where she was filmed, and put on display in the back of a truck to an angry crowd, before being turned over to the Army. MacKenzie was taken to a nearby Army base, where her post-shootdown injuries were treated, and she was also interrogated. Sticking to name, rank, and number, she refused to answer any more questions, and was soon lying in the back of a truck, bound for Baghdad. She arrived at Al-Rashid MI Center on the afternoon of the 26th, and was tossed into a holding cell as the interrogators were otherwise engaged. It wasn't until midnight when her turn came, and as the first Marine to be captured by the Iraqis, and the first female Marine POW, the Iraqis went after her right away. The interrogators wanted to know where her squadron had been based, what types of targets, her own mission, and other tactical details. MacKenzie displeased her interrogators almost right away, simply saying that she had been on an armed recon, and hadn't found anything worth attacking when the SAM came up. Her inquisitors refused to believe her answer, and she too, got what the POWs called “The Full Baghdad Treatment.” It was nearly noon before she decided to talk, with a final spell in the ropes being what made her decide to give in. MacKenzie gave some misleading answers about her squadron, giving the New England Patriots' offensive line as some of her squadron mates, and saying she had been based at Dhahran in Saudi when in reality she had been flying from Sheikh Isa in Bahrain. After making a video, she was taken to a truck, where four other POWs were sitting in the back, and all four were then taken to Al-Rashid Prison.

There were still three POWs from the Kut group who hadn't yet been broken, and the Iraqis wasted no time in getting them to do so. Flight Lieutenant Johns was taken from his holding cell in the early morning hours of the 27th and hustled right into the same room he had been questioned in earlier. Though blindfolded, he recognized the voices of the interrogators, and steeled himself for what was to come, as he had peeped under the cell door during the night and seen several prisoners dragged out of interrogation rooms, battered and bruised, and their arms covered in rope burns. The interrogators asked him if he was ready to pick up their discussion from the night before, and he said that he had no reason to. That was clearly not what the Iraqis were interested in hearing, and it wasn't long before he was hanging by his heels. He said later that “This is what it's like to be a punching bag”, as several guards took turns beating on him with rubber hoses or bamboo sticks. That was the warm-up, as things went rapidly downhill from there. Two sessions in the ropes, a further stretch hanging by his tied arms, and some time “riding the horse” were what made him decide to talk. After giving some reference book-type answers, and making a videotaped statement, he was taken and put in the truck with the other remaining POWs, and then taken to Al-Rashid Prison.

The final POW to hold out was Sgt. Jennifer Collingsworth, and she made her captors work for what they wanted. She was taken from her holding cell just as PFC Lynch was being taken out of an interrogation room, and managed to smile to her friend and fellow soldier. She saw Lynch manage a weak smile in return, and was taken into the same room Lynch had been in. Collingsworth was asked again if she would reconsider about her not making a statement on videotape, and she said that the answer was still the same. The interrogator was not pleased, and things went bad from there. Before noon, Collingsworth had been in the ropes three times, spent an hour or so hanging by her arms, was assaulted once, and spent some time on the horse. Though she had had no intensive SERE training, she remembered what Commander Eichhorn and CWO Anderson had told her and Lynch back in Kut, to save one's strength and remember that “You're not Rambo. Everyone has a breaking point.” It was just after noon when Collingsworth decided she'd had enough, and agreed to make the video. After doing so, she was taken to the same truck where the other four were sitting, hands bound behind their backs and blindfolded, where she was similarly restrained, and put in the truck, and then all were taken to Al-Rashid Military Prison, on the other side of the air base.

The male POWs were taken to one block, as previously mentioned, and the female prisoners put in another. All were tossed into solitary confinement, and there were sufficient cells to have one or two empty cells between occupied ones. Each cell was 8 X 10 feet, with cement walls, a metal roof, and a door that had a solid metal center with bars at the top and bottom. A single barred window was the only other source of light, as there were no lights in their cells. Each prisoner received an issue of two sets of yellow POW pajamas, a pair of boxer shorts, a pair of slippers, toilet articles (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, and washrag), a sleeping mat, two blankets, a honey bucket (already in the cell), and a bucket used to get drinking water each day. The male prisoners were allowed to shave after arrival, and were told that they would be allowed to shave once a week. As far as bathing was concerned, each POW was allowed to fill their bucket with warm water and use their washrag for a sponge bath.

The Commandant of the Prison never identified himself to the prisoners, and his name remains unknown to this day, although various Allied Intelligence Agencies have tried to ascertain who he was. He made himself known to the two groups of prisoners on the afternoon of 27 April, and his speech was the same for both, as each group was gathered in their respective cellblock yards: “I am the commandant of this prison, and you are all prisoners under my command. You will obey all rules and regulations, and any command given you by guards is to be obeyed instantly. If you obey the rules, and show proper respect to officers and guards, you will be treated well. If you do not, then you will be punished. You will not communicate in any way, and anyone who tries to escape will be severely punished.”

Naturally, the prisoners refused to heed his advice about communicating, and set about using the tap code, flashing hand signals under cell doors, and when they could get away with it, talking under the doors. Colonel Fleming was the overall Senior Ranking Officer, and he managed to flash a message to the women's block through his window asking who the senior ranking female was. That turned out to be Commander Eichhorn, and she managed to get a message back to him. Colonel Fleming was able to send her a message telling her that after him, she was the next highest-ranking prisoner, as Neal Andrews was her equal in rank, but he had less time in grade than she did. “If anything happens to me, if I'm unable to exercise command, or I get moved, it's yours, Commander.” She sent back “Let's hope not”, because at that moment, that was the last thing she wanted.

While the rest of the prisoners were getting used to their new surroundings, Sgt. James Kiley was still sitting in a holding cell at the MI Center, until one of the guards discovered him. He was quickly hustled back into an interrogation room, and the same interrogator who had seen him earlier came in. Kiley was again asked if he would make a videotaped statement, and again, he declined. That was enough to get him trussed in the ropes and hung by his heels “like a punching bag,” as he said later. He was hooked up on the bedframe and car battery rig, and that was enough to get him to agree to the statement. After he did so, Kiley was taken over to join the other prisoners at the POW facility later that night.

While their fellow prisoners were suffering through their ordeals, the four prisoners who were injured were experiencing a quite different captivity at the Al-Rashid Military Hospital. A POW ward had been set up, and it had been used in 1991, for that was where Major Rhonda Cornum and several other prisoners from the Gulf War had been held, due to their injuries. LTJG Chris Larson was the first to arrive, from a “rigorous, but non-physical” interrogation at the MI Center, and he was taken straight to the ER. He was treated more as a patient than as a prisoner, and he found the doctors, nurses, and staff to be courteous, professional, and kind. X-Rays were taken of his broken leg and wrist, and he was asked to sign a consent form, as his broken leg needed surgery to ensure it had been properly set. Larson signed, but insisted on meeting the surgeon. Col. Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi Army surgeon, came to his room and introduced himself. Colonel Hassani spoke excellent English, and he had gone to medical school in the U.S., at UC Irvine, before returning to Iraq in 1989. He told Larson that he had treated several American POWs in 1991, including Major Cornum, and assured him that as long as he was in the hospital, he would be safe from “those goons” at the MI Center. After the meeting, Larson was prepped for surgery, and he woke up several hours later, the only patient (so far) in a room for two, but with bars on the windows and a locked door. His leg was in a brand-new cast, and his left wrist and hand were also in a new cast.

The three wounded prisoners from the 557th were the next to arrive, and all three were seen by the ER staff immediately upon admission. The three, Sgt. Bartlett, Cpl. Hudson, and Specialist Hernandez, all had either gunshot or shrapnel wounds, but none of the wounds were very serious, but all three needed surgery. Bartlett had bullet wounds to his left shoulder and arm, while Hudson had shrapnel in his back and buttocks, and Hernandez had a through-and-through wound to his ankles, where one round had gone through both. After they were evaluated by the ER staff, all three were put in rooms in the POW section and given the consent forms to sign. They did so, and the three prisoners were prepped and operated on, while at the same time, their fellow prisoners were going through hell just a couple hundred yards away. All three came through their surgeries without any problems, and two of them, Bartlett and Hudson, found themselves in the same room, while Hernandez woke up to find LTJG Larson looking at him from his bed. The two prisoners got along well as roommates, despite their differences in rank and service. All four, as it turned out, were the only POWs not to make the parade on 28 April, and they had the doctors to thank for it. When asked if any of the POWs in the prison ward could make the parade, the doctors at the hospital refused to clear them medically, and as it turned out after the war, it was the doctors' own small way of protesting how the POWs in general were being treated. All four, though, had a ringside seat to the Al-Rashid Air Base strike portion of BAGHDAD THUNDER, and Larson spoke for all of them after the war, when he said “That raid made every POW's day.”

After the war, when the POWs were debriefed, Allied Intelligence experts were left wondering why the Iraqis had rushed the POWs through their initial interrogation and torture sessions. Analysts compared the 1991 and 2005 experiences, and noted that in 1991, the Iraqis had been more patient in their handling of POWs once they arrived in Baghdad. It took Gen. Hossein al-Sammari, the former head of the Iraqi Directorate of Military Intelligence, or DMI, who had defected in February, 2005, and was being debriefed in Amman when the war broke out, to help. He still had many of his sources in the DMI, and gladly assisted Allied Intelligence during the war and after. Sammari's sources indicated that the reason for the rush to get propaganda statements out of the prisoners was Saddam's desire to use the statements as propaganda tools, and to air the statements on Iraqi TV before the now-famous parade on 28 April.

While the spies were slinking about, and the four lucky ones were safely tucked away in the POW ward at the military hospital, the rest of the POWs were settling in for what they feared might be a long stay in Baghdad, longer than the six weeks the longest-held POWs in 1991 had endured. While the aircrew members and SAS troopers had had extensive SERE training, which prepared them to cope with captivity, the Army enlisted soldiers had had no such training, other than a two-hour classroom course in boot camp. At Kut, several of the officer aircrew gave the enlisted soldiers tips they had been taught in SERE, and not only Commander Eichhorn and CWO Anderson had done so, but Captain Thurman and the two SAS troopers had also given some impromptu SERE lessons to the enlistees, such as teaching them the tap code. Their efforts, though rudimentary, were successful, and the Army soldiers were able to endure and survive a situation that they had never expected, let alone trained for.

One thing all of the American POWs had on their minds was the now-famous case of CAPT Scott Speicher USN, who had been the first pilot shot down in the Gulf War in 1991 and never accounted for. There had been rumors coming out of Iraq that he had survived and had been held by Saddam's regime since 1991, and one of the first orders Colonel Fleming gave was for each prisoner to check his or her cell for any signs of him, such as Speicher's name or initials scratched into a cell wall. No sign of him was found at Al-Rashid, and he remains unaccounted for to this day. But there were other signs of the POWs from 1991, for several prisoners found names from DESERT STORM scratched on their cell walls. Commander Eichhorn, for example, found a name she immediately recognized from both the news media back then, and from SERE. While looking for any sign of CAPT Speicher, she found scratched into the wall of her cell the following: “Sp4 Melissa Rathbun-Nealy USA. POW 1/31/91.” Eichhorn added her own name, with the date 25 Apr 2005. Other POWs found calendars etched on their walls showing February and March, 1991.

Apart from the days of BAGHDAD THUNDER and its aftermath, the daily routine was very much the same for the whole captivity while at Al-Rashid Prison. The prisoners were awakened at 0700, and were allowed out one at a time to dump their honey buckets and fill their water buckets, before being fed. The morning meal, such as it was, was a pair of rolls, a bowl of very wet beans, and a cup of thin tea. After the meal, the guards would pick a prisoner from each cellblock to go and collect the dishes and wash them. Other than that, outside time for the prisoners was rare indeed. There would also be periodic interrogations, or what the prisoners called “attitude checks”, in an interrogation room adjacent to each cellblock. There, the Iraqis would ask more mundane and routine questions, such as “How is your health?” or “How are you sleeping?” However, there was always the very real probability that more intense sessions could be in the offing, and as it turned out, they were. The evening meal was usually brought around about 1700, and it was essentially the same as what had been the fare in Kut, only there was more of it. It didn't take the prisoners long to realize that they would be on what one called “Saddam's Baghdad Diet.” The guards would then tell the prisoners to go to sleep just after dark, and unless someone was taken in the middle of the night for an interrogation session, that would be it until the next morning, when the whole routine started all over again.

[Matt Wiser]

Part III: The POW Parade gets crashed, and the POWs get "Punished" for it...

The next day, 28 April, as it turned out, was one of two “good days” the prisoners experienced in Baghdad, with the second being release day. The guards woke and fed the prisoners, and this time, took each one individually to where the bucket dump and water spigot was, where buckets of warm water were waiting. The prisoners were told to bathe and “be neat”, and the prisoners were left wondering why. Some thought that maybe a TV crew was coming to the prison for a propaganda stunt, while others thought some VIP was coming to inspect the prisoners. A parade through the Government District, or “the Green Zone” as it was called after the war, was the last thing any of the POWs had in mind, but that was exactly what their captors were planning.

The Baghdad Parade was the idea of only one man: Saddam. The Iraqi dictator/president-for-life wanted to impress the people of Iraq with his latest “triumph”, notwithstanding the fact that the Iraqi Army had not yet even overrun Kuwait, and the Iraqi leader wanted to have a propaganda event that would rally Arab opinion to his side, despite the antipathy many in the Arab and Muslim world felt towards his chief ally, the Soviet Union. Saddam's Foreign Ministry sent invitations to various Embassies for their Ambassadors and Military Attaches to attend, but found only a few responses, namely the Syrians, Libyans, Yemenis, and North Koreans. Markedly absent were the Soviets and the other Warsaw Pact states, their personnel having been ordered not to attend. The Russians felt that if any Soviet or Non-Soviet Warsaw Pact personnel attended the parade, the USSR would be seen as approving of Iraq's treatment of the prisoners, and that was something the Soviet leadership wanted to avoid. General Kurchatov himself said after the war that even if there had been no directive from Moscow forbidding attendance, he would have issued an order on his own authority putting the parade off limits to Soviet military personnel. Also absent from the grandstand were the Cubans and Vietnamese, both of whom were anxious to avoid further angering the Americans than had been done so already.

The Russians, though, expected something to happen during the parade, but just what, they were not sure. While the KGB and GRU sent agents posing as reporters for TASS and Novosti, to the Palestine Hotel, where the Western Press Corps was staying, General Kurchatov and some of his senior staff members set up shop on the rooftop of the Embassy building. Several English-speaking GRU officers were also busy watching Western Satellite News, trying to see what the news media was reporting, and trying to pick up any hints of future Allied action by what the embedded reporters with Task Force 77 were saying.

It was about 1000 when the POWs were collected from their cellblocks, and each was blindfolded and handcuffed to another prisoner. The prisoners were then loaded onto trucks and taken to a park in the Green Zone, which was being used as a staging area for the parade. When the blindfolds were removed, the prisoners found that all of the handcuffed pairs were unisex; male POWs cuffed to one another, and the same for the women. Commander Eichhorn found herself cuffed to PFC Lynch, and she looked around for her B/N, and saw LT Porter-Flinn cuffed to Captain Moore. Colonel Fleming, cuffed to CWO Anderson, looked for his WSO, and saw Captain Evans cuffed to Sgt. Blake. The guards allowed the prisoners to sit in the shade, and brought water and some fruit (the only fruit the POWs had the entire captivity), and although warned not to talk, the prisoners found that as long as they spoke in a low voice, the guards didn't seem to mind. The prisoners were able to share experiences, and wondered what was going on. It was shortly before 1300 when an Iraqi officer came and addressed the prisoners, saying that “The Iraqi people wish to show their attitude towards you, and they also wish to show their fealty to their leader.” He gave an order in Arabic, and the guards organized the eleven pairs of prisoners into a column, and the parade began.

As the prisoners marched down a street, they noticed there were quite a few civilians shouting and waving signs, mostly, but not all, in Arabic at them. Many of the crowd were also waving the soles of their shoes at the POWs, a common insult in the Arab world, and a number of the prisoners had to dodge rotten fruit tossed their way, but by and large, the crowd, while noisy, was pretty well behaved. It was a mob, but an organized and controlled one, as the Iraqis did not want anything to get out of hand. The guard force on the parade route, believed to be from the Special Republican Guard, were very numerous, and had their AK assault rifles at the ready for the least sign of trouble. The prisoners were directed to make a right turn, and they saw that they were headed for the Victory Arch, and to the right, a large reviewing stand that was filled to capacity. As the first pairs of prisoners went under the arch, Commander Eichhorn stole a glance at a guard's watch and saw the time: 1305.

Unknown to either the prisoners or the VIPs in the reviewing stand, three large strike packages had moved into position to make runs on the three airfields in the Baghdad area, and at precisely 1305, all three strike element leaders called in hot, beginning the actual strike phase of what was BAGHDAD THUNDER.

Just after Commander Eichhorn had seen the guard's watch, explosions began to rumble across Baghdad, coming from the southeast, northwest, and southwest. The guards froze, and halted the parade, leaving the prisoners wondering what was going on. Woods and Hansen, the first pair in line, looked at each other and wondered what was going on, when Woods saw an aircraft approaching and yelled “Incoming!” and most of the prisoners dropped to the ground, and many of the guards did so as well. Everyone looked up and saw a pair each of A-6Fs and F/A-18Es fly over the reviewing stand and parade ground, and saw the planes waggling their wings. More explosions followed, and everyone dropped to the ground as the second group came over, and Commander Eichhorn not only saw one A-6 “aggressively waving its wings”, but she looked over at the reviewing stand and noticed Saddam. The Iraqi dictator had an evil look on his face, and he was tearing into some Iraqi AF general as the planes continued to come overhead. PFC Lynch asked her SRO, “What's happening, Commander?” and Eichhorn replied, “I think my shipmates just spoiled Saddam's party, Jessica.” Commander Eichhorn remembered that second group of A-6s and Hornets, and had a gut feeling that it was her boyfriend leading that flight. As it turned out, she was right.

The first wave had left, and as the prisoners began to pick themselves up, a second wave of aircraft was spotted heading in from the Northwest, and again, everyone dropped to the ground. LT Porter-Flinn looked at her AF colleague, Captain Moore, and then at the reviewing stand. She too noticed the Iraqi dictator, and his face was red with fury, along with many of the Iraqi VIPs. It was obvious that the parade was not going the way that Saddam had scripted, and he appeared to be nearly apoplectic with rage. The second wave of Intruders, Hornets, and Prowlers came screaming in, headed to the southeast, and as one POW later remarked, “That was the sweetest sound we heard that day.” Just as suddenly as it had started, the second flyby was over and done, but as the POWs picked themselves up, a guard pointed to the southwest.

The third wave was all Air Force, with F-15Es, F-15F Wild Weasels, and F-16Cs coming in from the direction of Saddam International Airport. As the strike planes came overhead, the prisoners looked around and noticed the guards had their weapons pointed not at them, but in the direction of the civilian spectators. Captain Thurman looked at Flight Lt. Johns, his partner in the parade, and both of them looked at the reviewing stand, and saw that the Iraqi VIPs were just standing there in anger, many with their mouths open, as the USAF package made its flyby. The AF aircraft were also waggling their wings, showing their support to their fellow aviators and comrades-in-arms, and quickly thereafter, they too, were gone. Only then did the prisoners hear and see AAA fire start to come up, signaling that the strikes had been a complete surprise to the defenders.

While the POWs on the parade ground had a ringside seat to the flyby, the four prisoners who had missed the parade were quite safe in their rooms in the POW ward at Al-Rashid Hospital. LTJG Larson and Spec. Hernandez were sitting in their beds and joking around, when they first heard explosions nearby, and then the roar of aircraft overhead. Larson was able to use a pair of crutches to hobble over to the barred window, just in time to see A-6s and Hornets coming over the Al-Rashid complex. Hernandez asked,“What's happening?” and Larson replied, “The Navy's just paid old Saddam a visit.” Bartlett and Hudson, in an adjacent room, also saw the aircraft, and though they didn't recognize the type, knew they had to be American, and they just looked at each other and grinned. All four watched as the Al-Rashid strike wave came over, then they saw the strike aircraft that had hit Al-Muthena AB come in over Al-Rashid, and finally, the Air Force planes made their appearance. Bartlett looked at his roommate and fellow 557th soldier and said, “I take back everything I've ever said about the Navy and Air Force.” Hudson looked out the window and seeing smoke rising up close by, looked at his sergeant and replied “You and me both.” Only after the aircraft had left did the four hear and see antiaircraft fire. All four expected some fallout from the raid, and wondered if they would be taken over to the POW prison. To their surprise, nothing happened, and Colonel Hassani came by to assure the four that again, as long as they were in the hospital and under his authority, they would be okay.

Back at the parade ground, the guards began to hustle the prisoners out of the area. Commander Eichhorn, along with a number of other prisoners, looked back at the reviewing stand and saw Saddam's face full of fury. Just before she and PFC Lynch were out of sight of the stand, the pair saw two Iraqi AF generals seized by the Iraqi dictator's bodyguards and hauled away. The prisoners were quickly hustled back to the park, blindfolded again, and put back on the trucks for the ride back to prison. When they returned to the prison and were back in their respective cellblocks, many of them had a feeling that things were about to get bad, and they were right. Though the prisoners were allowed to eat, after the meal, all were then blindfolded and had their hands cuffed behind them, and were forced to kneel or sit cross-legged on the floors of their cells with their ankles bound. In addition, guards strictly enforced the ban on communicating, and anyone caught talking got a repeated smacking with either a truncheon or a rubber hose. Eventually, the prisoners managed to doze off, and though some guards woke people up, most of the prisoners were able to get some sleep.

The prisoners were allowed in the morning to use their latrine buckets, and drink some water, before being restrained again, but were let out again for fifteen minutes to be fed in the afternoon, being recuffed and blindfolded again when finished. The same treatment went through the 29th and 30th, and only on the morning of 1 May did the prison authorities order the cuffs and blindfolds removed, and a more “normal” routine fell back into place. Most of the prisoners expected a lot worse to happen, and were mildly surprised that what they went through for the two and a half days after the parade was the extent of the misery. And it was for the group as a whole, but the Iraqis refocused their ire on certain individual prisoners.

While the original prisoners were going through their ordeals, several new arrivals would enter the picture on 29 and 30 April. First to arrive was Marine Capt. Donna Unger of VMA(AW)-121, shot down between Az-Zubayr and Umm Qasr while on a BAI mission against a RGFC brigade moving down to the front line in Kuwait. Unger and her B/N, 1st Lt. Nadine Walsh, ejected after their A-6 took fire from a ZSU-23-4, and while Walsh was able to land in the Umm Qasr waterway and get to the marshes on the east bank, Unger wasn't so lucky, landing on the west bank and being quickly found by soldiers from a nearby local-defense unit. Before she was captured, Unger was able to tell her squadron mates that she would “see you guys when the war's over”, and then she was able to destroy her radio before being found. Her B/N, Walsh, was found and rescued by an HH-60H two hours later in a classic CSAR operation.

Capt. Unger got the usual reception on capture, being kicked and beaten by irate soldiers and some civilians, before an officer restored control and had her taken away. She was marched around the area, essentially being displayed to the local civilians, before being put on a truck and taken to the Baath Party HQ in Zubayr for initial interrogation. She stuck to the “big four” (name, rank, number,and date of birth), but did acknowledge that she was flying an A-6, and claimed that she was on an armed recon before being shot down. When asked what had happened to the plane's navigator, Unger was able to reply, quite truthfully, “No idea.” She was then filmed by an Iraqi TV crew, but refused to answer any additional questions while on camera. After the filming, Unger was bound and blindfolded, put on a truck, and taken north to Al-Rashid MI Center for interrogation.

When Unger arrived early the next morning, the Iraqis were in a foul mood following the events of the previous day, and she sensed that a rough time was in the works. She was right, and after refusing to give military information, and to read a statement denouncing “the terror bombing of the Iraqi Capital”, the interrogators lost what patience they had, and put her into the ropes right then and there. She got the full treatment for the next several hours, similar to what the other female prisoners had endured, and was assaulted as well. But the assault didn't break her, but a four-hour period riding the horse and being smacked with a rubber hose at regular intervals was what did. Unger admitted she was in VMA(AW-121, and was promptly asked if she knew Capt. Catherine McKenzie. Knowing that McKenzie had been shot down a few days earlier, she said no, “but I was in the replacement crew.” Unger also admitted to flying the BAGHDAD THUNDER mission, being in on the Kut decoy strike, but didn't fly into the Baghdad area. She did give a few NASCAR drivers' names as members of the squadron, and said that Green Bay Packers Quarterback Brett Farve was her squadron CO. After she was videotaped reading the statement about the raid on Baghdad, she was taken over to Al-Rashid Prison, and tossed into a cell in the women's block. Since she was captured after the parade, Unger was the only prisoner in the cell block not cuffed or blindfolded, but given how constantly guards were patrolling the compound, she wasn't able to communicate with the other prisoners.

The morning of the 29th also wasn't a good one for Air Force Capts. Kyle Rutman and Mark Gaither of the 34th TFS. Their F-16D was shot down near Al-Busayyah by SA-11 just after dawn on the 29th, and despite a valiant effort by Air Force CSAR forces to extract the pair, both aviators were captured. Rutman was uninjured, but Gaither had a broken leg on landing, and the post-capture beating didn't help it at all. Both were quickly taken to II Guards Corps HQ in Busayyah, and initally questioned. Both stuck to the “big four”, but had to admit that they were in an F-16, as the Iraqis had quickly found the wreckage of the aircraft. The Iraqis gave Gaither medical attention, putting a splint on his leg, with a TV crew filming it, before putting them on a truck for Baghdad.

Upon arrival at Al-Rashid that evening, the two were separated, with Rutman being taken to the MI Center, while Gaither was taken right into the Al-Rashid Military Hospital's ER. His leg did require surgery, and after being asked to sign a consent form, Gaither was prepped and sent into the OR, where his leg was properly set and cast. After he woke up, he found that he had a room all to himself in the POW ward, and shortly thereafter, Gaither got a visit from Colonel Hassani. The Colonel assured the young captain that as long as he was in the hospital and under Hassini's care and authority, he “wouldn't have to worry about those thugs at the MI Center.”

While his friend was having his leg tended to, Capt. Rutman was going through hell just a couple hundred yards away at the MI Center. Rutman was asked about the Baghdad raid, and whether or not he had flown it. The interrogators also wanted to know his unit and its base, and demanded a statement about the Baghdad raid. Capt. Rutman stuck to what he'd said in Busayyah, and the interrogators lost what temper they had, and put him into the wringer. Several hours of torment, with the ropes, riding the horse, and being strung up by his heels, soon followed. It was nearly dawn on the 30th when he broke, and after giving some misleading information on his squadron, telling the interrogators he had been flying from Dhahran when Sheikh Isa was the 34th's actual base, and reading the preprepared statement, he was allowed to clean up before being taken over to Al-Rashid Prison, being tossed into a cell separate from those having other male prisoners being “punished” for the events of 28 April.

The Busayyah shootdown had also cost the AF an A-10. 1st Lt. Chris Porter of the 303rd TFS, a US Air 737 first officer in civilian life, was hit by an SA-11 during the rescue attempt, and tried to make it to friendly lines in Kuwait, but had to eject near the Iraq-Kuwait border. Another CSAR package lifted off after him, but before the package arrived in the area, they were told to wave off as Porter had been captured. He fell into the hands of soldiers from the Iraqi V Corps, and was quickly hauled off to Corps HQ. There he was interrogated and filmed, before being sent north via Samawa to Baghdad. As he was relatively uninjured, he was taken straight to the MI Center, and being hauled into an interrogation room. The interrogators were anxious to know about the A-10 squadrons in Kuwait, and asked Porter if he'd had any contact with the CO of the 357th TFS, Lt. Col. Martha McSally. He said no, “That's not my squadron. I've seen her, but she's not my CO.” Porter refused to give any information about the Allied ground defenses in Kuwait, as prewar, his squadron had been stationed at Ali Al-Salem AB, and the defensive layout was very familiar to the A-10 drivers. He also drew the line at a propaganda statement, and that was that. The interrogators were not pleased, and trussed him up by his heels to show their displeasure.

That was just the beginning, and the full treatment quickly followed. A couple of stints in the ropes, being trussed up by his arms, and two beatings with rubber hoses and bamboo sticks were enough to cause Porter to break. He did admit that he was flying cover for a rescue mission, but when asked who it was he was trying to rescue, he replied, “I don't know. All I know was that there was a downed F-16, and someone was calling for help.” Porter also gave some out-of-date information on Patriots, as anyone on al-Salem AB had been able to see the U.S. and Kuwaiti Patriot batteries guarding the base. A propaganda statement for the cameras followed, and then he too, was allowed to clean up before being taken to the POW prison. He was tossed into a cell next to Capt. Rutman's and the two quickly were able to communicate via the tap code. They were able to get away with it as the guards were more concerned with monitoring the other prisoners.

The Air Force had another loss on the night of 29/30 April that increased the prison population at Al-Rashid. An HH-60G of the 306th Rescue Squadron was shot down by heavy AAA fire near Samawah while on a no-notice mission to extract an Australian SAS Team. The two crew members who were rescued said that they came under “heavy, sustained, and accurate flak” and they were convinced that it was a 2S6 Tunguska, due to the volume of fire and their EW gear picking up 2S6 signals just before the shootdown. Maj. Dale Reed (pilot), Capt. Joel Whaley (copilot), Staff Sgt. Michael Perry (left gunner), and Sgt. Amy Verell (right gunner), all survived the shootdown and crash, and all were able to get away before the Sikorsky caught fire. Maj. Reed and Sgt. Perry were able to call in rescue forces, and just after dawn on 30 April, both were retrieved by a pair of HV-22s with heavy escort from A-10s and F-16CJs. However, Capt. Whaley and Sgt. Verell were not so fortunate, as within an hour of the shootdown, Whaley was found by Baath Party Militia and captured. He got what most described as “the usual roughing-up” before being turned over to the Army. Sgt. Verell was found just after dawn by local Saddam Fedayeen, and she was also captured. Sgt. Verell got a similar roughing-up before the Fedayeen turned her over to the Iraqi Army, and both were taken to the Baath Party HQ in Najaf. The two were initially interrogated, and both stuck to a cover story the crew had worked out before takeoff, that they were on a search-and-rescue mission, but the crew didn't know who it was they were going after. The two refused to answer any additional questions, and they were then filmed before being put on a truck for Baghdad.

When the two arrived at the Al-Rashid MI Center later that day, both of them sensed that things were going to get ugly, and they were right. Both were taken straight into interrogation rooms, and the Iraqis were insistent on answers. Sgt. Verell was asked about Ali Al-Salem AB in Kuwait, a base that she hadn't flown from, and about bases in Saudi Arabia. She didn't say anything about Al Arar, and tried to stick to the “big four”. She also refused to read a statement denouncing the Baghdad raid. The interrogators didn't like that at all, and put her in the ropes “pretty fast” as she said postwar. Three sessions in the ropes, a nasty beating with both a rubber hose and bamboo sticks, and an assault, soon followed. She lasted most of the afternoon and early evening, but broke after a stint hanging from a meathook by her tied arms. Verell gave a statement about the Baghdad raid, and told the interrogators that she was flying from King Khalid Military City, instead of her actual base at Al Arar. After being allowed to clean up, she was taken over to the POW prison and put in a cell next to Capt. Donna Unger. The pair soon were able to communicate via the tap code, and, not knowing how angry the Iraqis were with the other prisoners, were wondering why they were being left alone while the guards kept harassing the others.

Capt. Whaley, meanwhile, was going through his turn, and he said later that the Iraqis “had plenty of reasons to be angry.” In his case, the interrogators were interested in knowing who it was that the helicopter crew had been going after, as well as information about Al-Salem AB in Kuwait, and any additional fields used in Saudi Arabia. The Iraqi interrogators also demanded a propaganda statement about the Baghdad raid, and when Whaley refused, that was it. He was quickly put into the ropes, and was later hung by both his heels and his hands, all the while being beaten with a rubber hose. A session on the horse, and another stint in the ropes finally convinced him that he'd better tell the interrogators something. Whaley said that he didn't know who it was the crew was going after, just that a call had come in requesting a pickup, and they were on their way to recover whoever had made the request when the helicopter was shot down. He did give some out of date information on Al Salem AB, as his crew did fly from there on several occasions, and he also yielded on the statement. He too, was allowed to clean up, before being taken over to Al-Rashid Prison, and he was soon in a cell next to the two other recent male shootdowns. All three, like the two female shootdowns, were wondering why the guards were practically ignoring them, other than bringing them their meals. It would be the next day before they found out.

[Matt Wiser]

Part IV: More new arrivals, including some B-52 aircrew, while the old hands settle in:



The morning of 1 May was the first “normal” morning for the prisoners. For the new arrivals, the other prisoners managed to establish contact, either via tap code, flashing signals by hand, or by voice. Both Colonel Fleming and Commander Eichhorn managed to get in touch by various means with the new arrivals and get their stories. All five new prisoners spread the word through their respective cellblocks about the reaction to the parade, and the fact that all who had made the parade had been identified as POWs, as the parade had been shown on the various news networks. The latter bits of information were a relief to the prisoners, as now their families would know that they were still alive.

The prisoners from the parade had been released from their punishment, though some were left in their position longer than others. Colonel Fleming was one, along with both RAF aircrew, Capt. Thurman, and CWO Anderson. On the women's side, Commander Eichhorn, Capt. MacKenzie, and Sgt. Collingsworth also spent additional time in punishment, apparently because they had been some of the staunchest resisters.

One thing that all of the prisoners began was to develop some kind of routine, as Commander Eichhorn said to her boyfriend after the war, “You had to start some kind of daily routine, otherwise you'd go nuts from having nothing to do or occupy yourself.” Everyone started some kind of exercise program, not only to stay in shape despite the poor diet, but just to kill time. Many of the prisoners began to play mind games, such as recalling as many states and state capitals, recalling old movies or books they had read, and so on. Capt. Bruce Evans, a math major at Georgia Tech, did complicated math problems in his head, and used a homemade crayon made from toothpaste and dust to draw the equations on his cell wall, while Capt. Kyle Rutman, a Physics major at the Air Force Academy, did the same thing. For those whose bent was more on the humanities side of things, recalling history, literature, or poetry helped pass the time. Capt. Catherine MacKenzie recalled courses she had taken at Penn State, where she had been a dual History and English Major, and rediscovered literature or historical events that she had “filed away in her mind.” Others recalled school classmates, as PFC Jessica Lynch would tell her family postwar, “I remembered everyone in every class, from Kindergarten through High School and Boot Camp, backwards and forwards.” When her brother, a helicopter crew chief with the 101st Airborne Division, asked why she'd done that, her response was simple: “It was a way to kill time.”

At the Al-Rashid Military Hospital's POW ward, the five POWs there had suffered no reprisals for the Baghdad raid, although a few of the staff would shoot angry looks towards the prisoners. The hospital staff did shuffle the POWs' room assignments, putting all three Army enlisted in one room, while the two aircrew, Capt. Mark Gaither and LTJG Chris Larson, shared another. The hospital did have a courtyard, and every day for fifteen minutes, the POWs were allowed outside individually to exercise and get some fresh air, a treat denied their fellow prisoners at Al-Rashid Prison. Gaither was technically the SRO there, but with a leg broken in two places, he was more inclined to let Larson handle that responsibility. Colonel Hassani, in charge of the Hospital's POW ward, was more than willing to handle requests from the prisoners, and he allowed the POWs to receive books, copies of the English-language newspaper in Iraq, The Baghdad Observer (owned by Uday Hussein), and even crossword puzzles. The prisoners at the hospital hoped that their fellow prisoners, wherever they were, were being treated similarly, but it wasn't until much later that they found out otherwise, and that those held at the hospital were the lucky ones.

The guards at Al-Rashid were a mixed bunch, as the prisoners there soon found out. Some of the guards in both cell blocks clearly enjoyed their work, finding the slightest excuse to enter a cell and “smack you around”, as Capt. Joel Whaley said later. Others were obviously doing a job that they didn't like, but had to do, as some would look away when a prisoner was being beaten or abused. And a few were sympathetic to the POWs, as several of them found out. Whenever one of the women was allowed to take a bath, they noticed that the same guard was always on duty outside the bath area, and he prevented other guards from watching, as Commander Eichhorn, LT Susie Porter-Flinn, and PFC Lynch had found out the day of the parade, and the others had noticed it as well. In the men's compound, Colonel Fleming remembered one guard, who, when the temperatures started to rise, took it upon himself to give each prisoner a paper fan. Another guard, who apparently rotated between both compounds, would randomly select a prisoner, and give him or her some extra food, usually one or two pieces of chicken, or some rolls, but anything that he could easily conceal from the other guards or officers. The male prisoners called him “Colonel Sanders”, while the women had another name: “Mr. KFC.”

One guard who was the exact opposite was one all the POWs called “The Screamer.” This guard was notorious in both compounds for picking a prisoner at random, forcing him or her to strip and face the wall, and then he would deliver twenty strikes with a bamboo stick or a rubber hose on the back and buttocks, and he would be shouting “Amariyah, Amariyah!” at the top of his lungs. After administering the beating, he would then slam the cell door and leave the compound, still shouting. Capt. Donna Unger asked “Mr. KFC” one time about “The Screamer”, and was told that the man had lost relatives in the bombing of the Amariyah Bunker in 1991, and thus hated Americans or British. One day, though, “The Screamer” simply didn't show up for work, and the POWs breathed a huge sigh of relief, as everyone at Al-Rashid Prison had at least one encounter with him, and several prisoners had multiple meetings with the man. Postwar, Allied investigators never discovered the man's true identity, or what had happened to him, but rumor was that he had been “volunteered” for the front. Who “volunteered” him, or why, no one knew.

Unlike the North Koreans or North Vietnamese, the Iraqis did not attempt to indoctrinate their prisoners, similar to the 1991 POW experience. While the prisoners were asked about their views on the Arab-Israeli Conflict, or on the 1991 Gulf War, during interrogations, the Iraqis made no attempt at forcing Baathist ideology on their prisoners. However, the Iraqis did demand propaganda statements from the prisoners, both during their initial interrogations in Baghdad, and on several occasions afterwards. This was mainly for the Iraqis' own domestic audience, although some videotaped statements were released to the Western and Arab news media, in an attempt at influencing public opinion in the West, and in the “Arab Street.” As far as the West was concerned, such statements were another count in the large indictment against the Iraqi regime, though in such countries as the Sudan, Yemen, and in the Palestinian Territories, there were a few pro-Iraqi demonstrations during the war.
Interestingly enough, none of the POWs' videotaped statements, nor any written statements, were used by the Soviet propaganda effort during the war. But the Soviets did highlight the differences between their POW handling and those of certain “fraternal” allies, of which Iraq and North Korea (itself the subject of a separate study), were the most notorious, in their own propaganda effort, and in their own POW camps, telling NATO prisoners that “We are not barbarians like the Iraqis”, during interrogations.

Medical care for the prisoners, while considered to be excellent at Al-Rashid Military Hospital, was less than stellar at the POW prison. Although each cell block had a medic assigned, both groups of prisoners felt that the Iraqi medics were less than capable, although it did seem that the Iraqi medics did try their best for the POWs. With the heat of summer approaching, the prisoners had no choice but to drink the water provided, despite the risk of parasites and intestinal diseases such as dysentery. The medics did provide some medication to kill worms and to treat dysentery, every POW held at Al-Rashid wound up getting the latter. As one RAF intelligence officer, who debriefed the returned RAF aircrews, put it postwar, “When the choice was between dehydration and dysentery, the prisoners chose the latter.”

Another thing the SROs did was to designate certain POWs as “memory banks.” Colonel Fleming got RAF Flight Lt. Peter Johns and Army CWO Gary Nichols to memorize the names of the prisoners in both cellblocks, and Commander Eichhorn did the same. She decided on PFC Jessica Lynch as the “memory bank” in the women's cell block. Eichhorn figured that the Iraqis wouldn't suspect so junior a prisoner of having an important role in the POWs' chain of command, and she was right. The Iraqis never figured out Lynch's role, and after repatriation at the end of the war, the young woman held in her brain the names of every Allied POW in Baghdad.

The afternoon of 1 May also brought an increase in the POW population at Al-Rashid, as an F-16C from the 34th TFS flown by Capt. Brandon Trent fell victim to an RGFC SA-11 near Safwan. The Safwan area was considered to be a high-threat area by the CSAR people, and no mission was considered possible until nightfall. However, Trent was quickly captured, not even having been able to get out of his parachute, and got “the usual roughing up” by Iraqi soldiers. He was relatively uninjured, other than the post-capture roughing up, and was hauled off to I Guards Corps HQ for interrogation. Trent stuck to “the big four”, but had to acknowledge that he was an F-16 pilot when one of his kneeboards was shown to him. He was soon filmed, and then loaded into a truck and sent off to Baghdad. He arrived at Al-Rashid MI Center early the next morning, and the interrogators soon got to work. Capt. Trent was pestered for information on his unit, base, and mission, and he refused, sticking to what he had already given. When he also refused to make a propaganda video, denouncing the Baghdad raid as a “terror bombing,” the patience of the interrogators was at an end, and as he said to a debriefer, “They gave me the full treatment.” Two stints in the ropes, the “shock treatment” (the battery and bedframe), and several thrashings with rubber hoses or bamboo sticks soon followed. However, what convinced him to give in was a long stint hanging upside down from a meat hook, all the while being occasionally smacked with a rubber hose. He finally gave in late in the afternoon on 2 May, and told his interrogators that he was from Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, rather than his real base at Sheikh Isa. He said that he had been on an armed reconnaissance mission, looking for military convoys or armor columns to shoot up when shot down, and this satisfied the interrogators. When pressed for names of squadron mates, he said that he was brand-new to the squadron, and hadn't had much of a chance to get to know anyone, but gave a few names of players for the NFL's Carolina Panthers as squadron mates. When Trent hesitated on giving the propaganda statement, the interrogator showed him the ropes, and asked “Care to have another session?”, and Trent gave in, giving the Iraqis what they wanted. After being allowed to clean up, he was taken over to Al-Rashid Prison, and tossed into a cell next to Capt. Rick Thurman. Trent soon managed to get in contact with him by tap code, and soon realized that he wasn't alone, that everyone had been broken, and was told “Bounce Back, as soon as you can.” He quickly found out that his two squadron mates shot down on 29 April were alive, and that while Kyle Rutman was in the prison, his roommate at Sheikh Isa, Capt. Gaither, wasn't in the prison, and was believed to be in an Iraqi hospital. Heartened, Capt. Trent took Thurman's advice, and began to bounce back.

The evening of 1 May brought the first RF-16C loss, as Capt. Alison Whitney of the 12th TRS was hit by an SA-8 east of Tallil AB, as she was flying a post-strike recon after an F-15E raid on the base. Her wingmate, Capt. Dan Gordon, was horrified to see her RF-16 blown in half, and watched as she ejected from her aircraft at only 1100 feet. F-15s flying TARCAP called for a CSAR mission, but she landed just east of the base, adjacent to a joint Iraqi Army/Iraqi Air Force munitions storage area, and Whitney was captured within a minute of landing. She was found by soldiers from the Iraqi 11th Infantry Division, and was taken to the intelligence office at the air base. Capt. Whitney managed to keep the fact that she was flying an RF-16 from her captors, who assumed she had been flying a regular F-16. She was filmed receiving treatment for a sprained ankle and facial lacerations sustained in the ejection, before being loaded on a truck and taken to Baghdad that same night. Upon arrival at the MI Center, Whitney was taken into an interrogation room, and promptly asked about the F-16. Not knowing that she had been flying an RF-16, she told the interrogators that her mission was flak suppression and strike escort for the F-15Es. When asked what her unit was, she stuck to her cover story, and said “4th TFS.” But Whitney refused to give a propaganda statement, and read it on videotape. That was not what the interrogators wanted, and as she said postwar, “They didn't waste any time in things getting ugly; tell them no, and that set them off.” Capt. Whitney got the full treatment of torture as the other female prisoners, including an assault, three stretches in the ropes, and some time riding the horse. She yielded after the third time in the ropes, and after being allowed to clean up, wrote and read a statement dictated by her captors, denouncing the Baghdad raid. After that, she was taken over to Al-Rashid Prison, and thrown into a cell next to Commander Eichhorn. The SRO quickly established communications via the tap code, and got Whitney to also “Bounce Back”, and told the young Captain “You're not alone. They have broken all of us. Just bounce back as soon as you can, and if they break you again, bounce back.”

The prison population grew further in the early morning hours of 2 May, as USMC Capt. Darrell Roberts of VMFA-235 became the first Marine F/A-18 pilot shot down in the KTO, when he was shot down by an SA-6 south of Al-Amara, while doing an interdiction strike along Highway 1, while flying cover for a pair of A-6s. His wingmate saw the fireball, and although no chute was seen, the A-6 crews heard Roberts' beeper. Roberts was able to call in and say that he was on the ground, but had a broken leg and a back injury. Unable to evade, he saw Iraqis closing in on his position and told his fellow Marines overhead to call off any rescue, and he was captured right afterwards. These Iraqis were Saddam Fedayeen, and Roberts, despite his broken leg and sore back, got a serious beating, before being taken to Al-Amara and turned over to the Army. He was questioned immediately, and stuck to the “big four.” Roberts was then filmed as a splint was put on his leg, before being put on a truck for Baghdad. Upon arrival, he was briefly interrogated at the MI Center, but was not physically abused, before being taken to the hospital. Colonel Hassani again saw the new arrival, and again, the staff treated Capt. Roberts as a patient, not as a prisoner, and the Marine was surprised to have to sign a consent form before surgery on his leg. He was relieved to find out that his back wasn't broken, but had a serious sprain, and after surgery, woke up in the room shared by Capt. Gaither and LTJG Larson. The Marine was pleased to find out that the treatment so far was good, but that all were dreading the day when they might be taken over to the POW prison. Since Capt. Roberts had his leg in traction, he gladly let Larson keep his acting SRO responsibility for the time being.


The morning of 2 May also brought another first: the first B-52 crew members to be taken prisoner in the Third World War. A three-aircraft cell from the 23rd Bomb Squadron was making a low-level strike on a large Iraqi logistics area west of An Najaf when the B-52s came under SA-2 and SA-3 fire, and the “Tail-end Charlie” aircraft was hit by two SA-3s, and the aircraft began to burn and lose power.. The pilot, Maj. Larry McDaniel, was able to pull the dying aircraft up past 1,000 feet to enable the navigator and radar navigator to bail out in their downward firing ejection seats, and both ejected successfully. Then the pilot gave the other crew the bailout command, as the copilot, electronic-warfare officer, and gunner all managed to eject. However, Major McDaniel did not bail out, as his efforts on behalf of his crew cost him his life, for the aircraft exploded shortly after the copilot, the last ejectee, cleared the dying B-52. Two of the crew, Capt. Kathleen Rogers, the radar navigator, and S/Sgt. Rob Keenan, the tail gunner, were rescued shortly after by HH-53s with A-10 and F-16 cover, but the other three, Capt. Michelle Bauer (copilot), Capt. Boyd McClellan (EWO), and 1st. Lt. Jon Rollins (navigator), were all captured, in the latter two instances, within minutes of landing, although Capt. Bauer managed to evade for an hour before being taken prisoner. McClellan and Rollins fell into the hands of the local Fedayeen Saddam, and they got the usual roughing-up, with the Iraqis showing no mercy for Rollins, who had a dislocated shoulder and a broken ankle from the ejection. Bauer was more fortunate, being captured by Iraqi Army soldiers, and although “slapped around”, was not roughly handled as her two crewmates. The Fedayeen displayed McClellan and Rollins, in the back of a pickup truck, to an angry crowd, before they were turned over to the Army, and all three were soon interrogated. The trio stuck to “the big four”, but did admit they were B-52 crew members, as it was plainly obvious. After being filmed, Rollins received medical care for his shoulder and ankle, before all three were put on a truck for Baghdad. Upon arrival at the MI Center, all three were taken straight into interrogation rooms, and things got rough for all three almost immediately. Rollins' interrogator summoned a medic, who popped his dislocated shoulder back into place, before things “really got rough” to use his phrase.

Before Rollins was taken to the Al-Rashid hospital's POW ward, he got the full treatment, including two sessions in the ropes, and a severe beating while hanging by his heels, before he gave some details on the B-52J (what one could find in Jane's), and a videotaped statement denouncing the Baghdad Raid. Upon arrival at the hospital, he was treated much more properly, his ankle was set, and his injured shoulder was also treated. However, his injuries were not serious enough to warrant being kept in the POW ward, and he was taken to Al-Rashid Prison, and tossed into a cell next to Colonel Fleming, who told the young aviator “Don't worry: they have broken everybody, so you're not alone. Just bounce back as soon as you can.”

Capt. McClellan had more to worry about, as the Electronic-Warfare Officer, he knew much about the classified systems aboard the B-52, and he was sure the Iraqis would want that information to pass on to their Soviet allies. He tried to stave off the inevitable, but the interrogators were insistent on B-52 information, the layout of the base at Diego Garcia, and a propaganda statement about the Baghdad Raid. When he told the interrogators that he only used the EW system, not what made it work, and wasn't cleared to know due to his rank, the interrogators lost what little patience they had, and he was promptly trussed up in the ropes. Two more sessions in the ropes followed, along with the bedframe and car battery treatment, the horse, and a session hanging by his heels made him reach his limit, and he agreed to talk. He repeated the line about the EW equipment, and since the manuals had been likely destroyed in the crash, the Iraqis chose to believe him. McClellan also gave some false information about Diego Garcia, hinting that it was more strongly defended than was the case, and told the interrogators that the aircrew there were upset the swimming pool was out of order, forcing them to swim in the ocean, and that the satellite TV system was out, which meant the base personnel had to rely on the radio for their news and sports. They were lies, but the interrogators chose to believe him, and he was able to savor a small victory. He also gave the demanded statement about the Baghdad Raid on videotape, before being taken over to the POW prison. McClellan was thrown into a cell next to Maj. Andrews, who filled him in on prison routine and told him, too, to bounce back when he could.

Capt. Bauer, in the meantime, was fending off questions about the B-52, the base at Diego Garcia, and a demand for a propaganda statement about the Baghdad Raid. She professed ignorance of the electronic warfare systems or the navigation equipment, saying that she didn't have a “need to know” as the copilot, that she was a new arrival at the base and didn't know about most of the facilities or the people outside her squadron. She also refused to give the propaganda statement, and the interrogator lost what patience he had, and she, too, was promptly trussed in the ropes. Two more sessions in the ropes, some time on the horse, an assault, and two sessions hanging by her heels or by her hands followed, before a beating on the back while kneeling on the floor forced her to yield. Capt. Bauer gave some basic information on the B-52, information that the Iraqis could have consulted Jane's to find, and some lies about the Diego Garcia base. She also told the interrogator that the satellite TV was out, and that the aircrew and base staff weren't happy about that, and that the base swimming pool was out of commission. When it came time to read the statement, she initially hesitated, but the interrogator dangled some ropes in his hand and asked “Would you care to reconsider?” and she gave in. After reading the statement, she was allowed to clean up, before being taken to the women's block at the POW prison, being tossed into a cell next to Capt. Donna Unger, who filled her in on the prison grapevine, Commander Eichhorn's policies as cellblock SRO, and the advice to “bounce back,” which Bauer soon did.

Another 2 May arrival at Al-Rashid was an unusual one: Navy LCDR Michael Shower was serving as an exchange pilot with the Air Force's 9th TFS, flying the F-15E, with Air Force Capt. Robyn Evans as the weapons-systems officer, when their F-15E was shot down attacking the Abu Sukhab/An Najaf Southeast Highway Bridge across the Euphrates. Both aviators ejected after an SA-8 connected with their Eagle, but Evans managed to land in the river, and after eighteen hours in, and next to, the river, he was picked up by an HV-22 in the early morning of 3 May. Shower, though, wasn't as fortunate, landing close to the river, and was promptly set upon by angry civilians, before Iraqi soldiers arrived and claimed the aviator from the mob. Shower was taken to a nearby army base, where he was treated for numerous cuts and bruises, all the while being filmed by a TV crew, before he was interrogated. Shower stuck to the “big four”, and was soon put on a truck for Baghdad. He arrived at the MI Center that afternoon, and was promptly shoved into an interrogation room. The Iraqis were confused, wondering what a Naval Aviator was doing flying an Air Force aircraft, and Shower went along, telling them that the Navy was considering using the F-15E for land-based “naval support” missions, and he was one of the pilots evaluating the aircraft for the Navy. However, that was the limit of his cooperation, refusing to divulge any information about his land base, or a statement about the Baghdad raid, and he was immediately put into the ropes. Three more sessions in the ropes, several hours on the horse, and hanging by his heels twice followed. The final session in the ropes forced him to give in, and Shower gave some answers about Sheikh Isa, instead of his base at Al-Udaid in Qatar, and the now-obligatory statement on videotape condemning the Baghdad raid. After being allowed to clean up, he was taken to Al-Rashid Prison, where he was put in a cell next to Lt. Chris Porter, who filled him in on the lowdown at the prison, Colonel Fleming's policies as overall SRO, and so on. Porter also gave him the advice on bouncing back, since everyone had been broken, “and there's nowhere else to go, but up.”

[Bernard Woolley]

Great to see this back, Matt. Nice work.

[Matt Wiser]

Part V: Additional new arrivals, and the Iraqi interrogators are a bit...unusual in their questioning of several others, then they get nasty again. While one Marine's time in captivity is short...


While the Iraqis were interrogating the new arrivals, the prison authorities didn't neglect the other prisoners, for several were taken out on 2 May for interrogations at their respective cell block interrogation rooms. Among those were Commander Eichhorn, who was asked about her carrier, the Kitty Hawk. Instead of information about the ship's defenses or the sophisticated electronic equipment aboard, the interrogator wanted to know some things, that to her, were “pretty weird.” He wanted to know if the ship could receive satellite TV for the crew, where the ship's swimming pool was (and whether or not officers and enlisted had to share), and did the ship have facilities for handling live cattle or other livestock to provide fresh meat and milk for the ship's crew. Not wanting to get into a torture session over something like this, Commander Eichhorn went along, saying that, yes, the ship could pick up CNN, ESPN, and other sports and entertainment channels. But unfortunately, the carrier didn't have a pool, that only nuclear carriers had such amenities, but yes, officers and enlisted had to share. As for livestock, she simply didn't know. The interrogator was pleased, and after Eichhorn was returned to her cell, she passed the word that the Iraqis were asking “some pretty weird questions.” Fortunately, she was able to pass on to her B/N, LT Porter-Flinn, what the interrogator was asking and her replies, in case Porter-Flinn was called out. That proved to be a wise decision on the SRO's part, for Porter-Flinn was taken to interrogation, and the same interrogator presided, with the same questions, and she was able to mirror her pilot's answers.

Colonel Fleming, also, was called in to, as he put it, “have a chat” with an interrogator. This Iraqi was wearing an Air Force uniform, and claimed to be a MiG-29 pilot. After only a few minutes, though, Fleming read between the lines, and the interrogator was apparently not an aviator, for he was asking about life on Fleming's base, how the Americans were getting along with the locals, and so on. The Colonel knew that the Iraqis were very rank-conscious, and decided to play along, saying that the base commander (a brigadier general) had a suite all to himself, while all the other officers had to settle for trailer accommodations, the NCOs had tents, while the enlisted airmen had a hangar converted to a dormitory. The interrogator also wanted to know if any of the satellite channels rebroadcast Iraqi TV's English-language service, namely the shows directed at Allied servicemembers in the Gulf, but had to settle for the colonel saying that he never saw any, that his interest was mainly CNN and a couple of sports channels. As for contact with the locals, he said no, that the Bahrainis had their side of the base, and “we have ours.” Several of the other male prisoners had similar “chats” during the day, and they were wondering why the Iraqis wanted to know such trivial things.

Two of the enlisted women also had similar sessions, and both were perplexed at what was going on. Sgt. Amy Verell was the only female enlisted who was Air Force, and, unknown to her, the Iraqis had asked several of the male prisoners about their bases. The Iraqis wanted to know if the female airmen had to put up with tents or a dorm setting, and whether anyone paid attention to the Iraqis' radio or TV broadcasts. She replied yes, the enlisted aircrew had tents, regardless of whether or not they were NCOs or airmen, “Because we're aircrew and the others aren't.” As for the satellite or radio broadcasts, she respectfully said no, hardly anyone paid attention, unless one was channel surfing or fiddling with the dial on one's radio. After she was done, and put back in her cell, Sgt. Verell passed on what had happened, saying that the Iraqis were asking “some pretty strange things.”

The other enlisted woman to be questioned was one that Commander Eichhorn feared for: PFC Jessica Lynch was the cell block's “memory bank”, and was also a key communicator in the cell block. Commander Eichhorn need not have worried on this occasion, for when Lynch was taken into the interrogation room, she found the Iraqi interrogator “very polite”, though she felt he could be “slimy if he got the chance.” This time, the interrogator was asking about Camp Doha in Kuwait, a base that she had spent very little time on, and how the officers and NCOs behaved towards the enlisted soldiers. Lynch politely replied that she had spent only a day at Camp Doha, when her unit arrived in-country, and other than a supply run or two, “hardly knew anyone there or my way around the place.” When asked about how the officers and NCOs got along with each other and the enlisted soldiers, she was able to deflect some, saying that the unit's executive officer was only in the job temporarily, since he was supposed to be in Germany, and had to have an assignment until his tour in Germany got started. Lynch added that the officers and sergeants treated their enlisted soldiers “by the book.” Not knowing what the U.S. Army's book was, the interrogator seemed to be pleased, and asked her if she or anyone else in her unit had heard the Iraqis' radio broadcasts. Lynch said no, since she hadn't brought a radio with her when her unit deployed, and didn't know if anyone else in the unit had heard any Iraqi radio at all. The interrogator appeared satisfied with her answers, and after Lynch was returned to her cell, she passed on what had happened. After some tapping and signaling back and forth, her name for that particular interrogator stuck, and thus “Slimy” was so named.

One of Colonel Fleming's directives that he passed on was about escape. He knew that the prison, located on an Iraqi air base, was very secure, and even if someone got over the wall of the base, they were right in the heart of Saddam's capital, and that unless there was outside help available, he felt that any escape attempt, though brave, would be foolhardy. Not only that, but there was the real possibility that there would be retribution against those who remained behind, whether or not they were involved. He advised those who might want to try to bide their time, and wait and see if opportunity presented itself, an opportunity that one could take advantage of on the spur of the moment.

That evening, during an Air Force F-111 strike on the Highway 6 bridges at Kut, brought two more losses, and two more arrivals at Al-Rashid. The first was an F-111G from the 141st TFS of the New Jersey Air National Guard, as Capts. Keith Abbott and Brian Woods were shot down by an SA-3. Abbott, the pilot, ejected the crew capsule from the dying aircraft, and the capsule landed in the Tigris River. Both aviators got away from the capsule, making sure to throw their kneeboards and checklists into the river, before trying to get away. Abbott was the more successful of the two, managing to get several miles downriver before calling in rescue forces, being picked up later that night by an HH-60G. Woods, though, was found by local Baath Party “Al Quds” Militia, and he was quickly captured. He was taken to the local Baath Party HQ, and then to the POW processing center for interrogation. Other than admitting that he flew an F-111, Woods stuck to the “big four”. He was filmed, but said nothing in front of the camera.

Woods was soon joined by Capt. Richard Spencer, an F-16 pilot with the 34th TFS. He was actually attacking the SA-3 site that had brought down the F-111 when his F-16 was hit by 57-mm antiaircraft fire, and he was forced to eject. Spencer had a broken leg on landing, and thus was unable to evade the soldiers who came to his parachute. He called in to his squadron mates circling overhead, saying “I'll see you guys later,” before destroying his radio just before capture. The soldiers who found him saw that he was injured, and actually protected him from angry civilians as they took him to the local hospital. There, his leg was X-Rayed and put in a splint, and all the while he was filmed. Spencer was then taken to the POW processing center, and went through his first interrogation. He admitted that he was an F-16 pilot, but said that he was in the 4th TFS. Other than that, he refused to answer any additional questions, and with that, he joined Woods on a truck for Baghdad.

Upon arrival in Baghdad, the difference between the Iraqi handling of the pair was like night and day. Capt. Spencer was dropped off at the Al-Rashid Military Hospital, and taken right into the ER. There, his leg was X-Rayed again, and he was told that he would need surgery to properly set the leg, and was surprised, like most of those held at the hospital, to have to sign a consent form. He did so, and was wheeled into the OR. Spencer later woke up in a room to himself, but was later joined by his squadron mate, Capt. Mark Gaither. The two aviators were glad to be together, and Gaither was relieved to know that his name had been released as captured, and that his fiancée would know that he was alive. Spencer was equally glad to hear that conditions at the hospital were good, and that as long as they were on a medical list, wouldn't be transferred over to the POW prison.

Capt. Woods, though, was less fortunate. He was taken to the MI Center, and the interrogators wasted little time in getting down to business. The interrogators wanted to know what the target of the strike had been, information about his base, and also demanded the usual propaganda statement. Other than admitting “flak suppression”, he refused to go any further, and declined the offer to videotape a statement. That made the interrogator angry, and Woods was promptly put into the ropes. The full treatment, with two more stints in the ropes, the horse, and a nasty beating while kneeling, followed. It was midmorning on 3 May when he gave in, following a stint hanging by his heels and being smacked around with a rubber hose. After yielding, he admitted that the strike target had been the bridges over the Tigris, and that his role was flak suppression. Some misleading information about his base followed, saying that he had been flying from Dhahran in Saudi Arabia instead of the actual base at Sheikh Isa, and he gave the propaganda statement the interrogator demanded. After being allowed to clean up, Woods was then taken to the POW prison, and placed in a cell next to Capt. Joel Whaley. The two quickly established communications via the tap code, and Whaley was able to fill Woods in on the prison, the SRO's policies, and so on. When Woods asked him if Whaley had broken, the response was “Join the club. They've broken everybody. All you can do is bounce back as soon as you can.”

3 May brought some additional arrivals to Al-Rashid. The most notable of these was RAAF Flight Lt. Nadine Glover, who achieved the dubious honor of being the first Australian POW in Iraq. Glover was serving with VMFA-235 as an exchange officer, when she was shot down by AAA while attacking the small airfield at Qlaib al-Lukays, southeast of Jaliabah AB. While her USMC squadron mates orbited overhead, she was able to call in on her survival radio and told them not to scramble a rescue mission, as she could see Iraqis converging on the parachute as Glover drifted to earth. She was captured right after landing, not having had time to get out of her parachute. After being “smacked around” by the soldiers who captured her, Glover was taken to the base intelligence office at Jaliabah, and after sticking to the Geneva minimum in her initial interrogation, during which she was filmed, she was put on a truck for Baghdad. On the way, she experienced an air raid from the ground, as a southbound military convoy was attacked just south of the Al-Kifil bridge over the Euphrates. Upon arrival at the MI Center, she was taken straight into interrogation, and the Iraqis were still in a foul mood over the Baghdad raid. After refusing to answer any questions beyond the Geneva minimum, things got rough. She was trussed into the ropes, and that was the beginning. Two sessions on the horse, being trussed up twice in the ropes, and an assault, soon followed. Glover refused to break until a beating while on her knees made her decide that enough was enough, and she agreed to talk. She told the Iraqis that she was an exchange officer with the Marines, but no, she had not flown the Baghdad mission. After answering some general questions about the F/A-18, and some false information about VMFA-235's base, she was compelled to read a statement on videotape denouncing the Baghdad raid. Glover was then taken over to the POW prison, and tossed into a cell next to Capt. Allison Whitney, who advised her about the prison, Commander Eichhorn's policies as SRO, and so forth. Capt. Whitney told Glover, “You're not the only one: they have broken all of us. Just bounce back when you can, as soon as you can.”

Another arrival at Al-Rashid that day was Air Force Senior Airman Curt Schneider, a Pararescueman with the 20th Special Operations Squadron. His MH-53J had been launched to rescue Capt. Dennis Lane, an F-16 pilot with the 17th TFS, who had landed in the Euphrates east of Samawah with a broken leg and shoulder. Schnider was one of two Pararescuemen who were inserted in by the helo, and both quickly found the downed pilot. However, the rescue effort attracted a good deal of attention, and soon drew heavy ground fire. Schneider's partner and Capt. Lane rode the rescue hoist, and were successfully retrieved, but as the cable was lowered to pick Schneider up, it was severed by ground fire. He called off the chopper, and as it pulled away, he attempted to evade back to the river, but was soon captured by Al-Quds militia after a firefight and turned over to the Army. The Iraqis were intrigued by the medical equipment he was carrying, and despite some mild slapping around, the young airman refused to answer questions beyond name, rank, number, and date of birth during his interrogation, which was filmed. After the filming, he was put on a truck for Baghdad, and arrived at Al-Rashid in the early afternoon. The interrogators at the MI Center wasted no time, wanting information on where the rescue helicopters were based, who Schneider had been trying to rescue, and additional information on the USAF in Kuwait, along with the now-obligatory propaganda statement. Though the young pararescueman tried to stick to “the big four”, the interrogators soon went after him “full throttle,” as he said post-repatriation. He got the usual treatment meted out to new arrivals, and was soon hoisted by his heels. That was only the beginning, as a session in the ropes, another on the horse, and two beatings soon followed. The young airman lasted until the next morning, when another session in the ropes did him in. When he was asked where the rescue helicopters were based, he replied, “Kuwait International Airport,” instead of his real base at Al Arar, and Schneider also gave some out of date information on the USAF in Kuwait, but played on his low rank, saying that he was a rescue medic, and not privy to much in the way of classified information. A propaganda statement was also extracted from him, and then he was taken over to the POW prison, where he was thrown into a cell next to SAS Sgt. Richard Blake. Blake gave the young airman the lowdown on the prison, Colonel Fleming's policies as SRO, and so on. Schneider asked if Blake had been broken, and was told “The bastards broke everybody. So you're not the only one, and bounce back.” In time, the pararescueman was able to pass medical advice to other prisoners, along with becoming another “memory bank.”

While the Iraqis were interrogating the new arrivals, the other prisoners were not neglected. Someone had apparently decided that since the new arrivals were being made to denounce the Baghdad Raid, the other prisoners should be made to do so as well. In the men's compound, Colonel Fleming, Capt. Rick Thurman, Flight Lt. Peter Johns, and CWO Gary Nichols were among the first to be so asked, and all four firmly, but politely, refused. After being returned to their cells to “think seriously”, Colonel Fleming passed the word: do not write or sign anything unless forced to do so. Though he was unable to pass the word over to Commander Eichhorn in the adjoining compound, he was confident that she would come to the same conclusion, and tell her people the same thing.

Colonel Fleming was quite correct, for in the women's compound, Commander Eichhorn, Capts. Catherine MacKenzie and Sharon Park, and PFC Lynch were also asked. When they, too, were returned to their cells, Lynch flashed a message to her SRO, “What now?” Commander Eichhorn quickly passed the word: No writing, no videotapes. Make them force it out of you. She tapped and flashed the message, and word got around to the women. Everyone in both compounds now braced for another round of torture, and they were soon proven right.

Later that day, the interrogation rooms began to fill in each compound, and the prisoners were asked again, “Will you condemn the 'Terror Bombing of Baghdad?'” The first four in the men's compound all said no, as did the first four women. As both SROs later agreed, “The Iraqis were working out of the North Vietnamese play book, and they weren't fooling around.” Sure enough, all eight that afternoon and evening, received a repeat of the tortures experienced on arrival in Baghdad. Some held out for a few hours, some until the next morning, but all eventually broke, and wrote the statements dictated to them, and then were videotaped reading them. After the first eight were finished, they were allowed to bathe and clean up, before being returned to their cells, and the next group taken. Again, all of those in both compounds said no, and the process was repeated, until all twenty-two who had made the Baghdad Parade were forced to write and videotape the statements.

While the Iraqis at Al-Rashid Prison were busy with this, the prisoners at the Military Hospital remained unaware of the torment being visited upon their fellow prisoners. As things turned out, Colonel Hassani, the Hospital Director, turned away several attempts by Iraqi Intelligence officers to move the POW ward's occupants for “further questioning”, or failing that, to talk to them in their rooms. Colonel Hassani even went so far as to declare the Military Hospital off-limits to Iraqi Intelligence personnel, and indeed, the only non-medical person allowed to talk to the POWs happened to be a GRU officer from the Soviet Military Mission.

While the prisoners at Al-Rashid were going through the wringer, another triplet of arrivals boosted the population at the prison. Maj. Morgan Dennison and Capt. Brian Purcell were in an F-15F engaged in SAM-suppression during an Air Force strike on Shoibah AB, when an SA-11 connected with their “Weasel Eagle”. Both bailed out while the aircraft was inverted, but luckily for them, the duo was relatively uninjured in the ejection. As they descended in their parachutes, both noticed a crowd of Iraqi soldiers and civilians converging on them, and Dennison called in on his radio, telling his wingmate not to call in a rescue mission, as they were certain to be captured. Both aviators were captured almost immediately upon landing, and although some civilians landed a few blows on the pair, Iraqi soldiers quickly restored order, and both were taken away to the intelligence office at Shoibah AB. While both were awaiting their initial questioning, they heard another blast of antiaircraft fire, and several missiles being launched, followed by a great deal of shouting. Iraqi soldiers then brought into the room Capt. Amanda Carter.

Carter was flying as a WSO in an F-15E from the 9th TFS, when an SA-11 also connected with her Strike Eagle. Her pilot, 1st Lt. Michael Shaver, gave the bailout command, but she never saw him again after the bailout, and his body was returned by the Iraqis postwar. She also waved off her squadron mates circling overhead, knowing that she was going to be captured, saying over the radio, “They're waiting for me when I get on the ground. I'll see you guys later.” After being captured by Iraqi soldiers, Carter was “slapped around a bit”, before being taken to Shoibah.

All there Air Force aviators were interrogated briefly, but all three stuck to the “big four.” The trio were filmed receiving medical treatment for minor injuries sustained in their ejections, but said nothing on camera. They were then taken to Kut, and the POW Processing Center, for more interrogation before being sent to Baghdad. At Kut, all three were pressed for information on their aircraft and bases, and though they didn't get the “full treatment”, it was a sign of things to come, for Carter spent a couple hours hanging by her heels, while Dennison spent some time on the horse, and Purcell was trussed up in the ropes for a brief period. All three said that they were flying from Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, instead of their base at Al-Udaid in Qatar, and that satisfied the interrogators, along with some basic information on their planes, information that was easily found in Jane's. All three were taken to Baghdad early the next morning, and were taken immediately to the MI Center. The trio were split up, with the two F-15F crewmen being thrown into holding cells, and Carter being hauled right in front of an interrogator straight away. Refusing to budge from “the big four” and the little bits she had been forced to give in Kut, the interrogator lost whatever patience he may have had, and as Carter said after the war, “They got rough and physical-real fast.” She got the “full treatment”, with two sessions in the ropes, an assault, the car battery and bedframe, some more time hanging by her heels, but what finally forced her to give in was a six-hour period on the horse. Carter gave additional details on her aircraft, and the base, but like several others, balked at the propaganda statement. When her interrogator showed her the ropes, and asked her, “Do you really want some more?”, she gave in. After being allowed to clean up, she was then taken over to Al-Rashid Prison, where she initially thought, “Things have to be better, they have to be.” Hearing screams coming from the women's compound interrogation rooms soon dispelled that notion, and she found herself in a cell next to Capt. Michelle Bauer. Bauer, who had already given a statement after her interrogation about the Baghdad Raid, soon established communications, and tapped out Commander Eichhorn's policies as SRO, and the lowdown on the prison. Carter was crying as she tapped, saying that she had been broken, and Bauer, who was still recovering from her own torture session, tapped back “You're not alone. They've broken me, they've broken everybody. You've got to bounce back as soon as you can.”

While Carter was being taken to the POW prison, her two fellow aviators were in the middle of their own sessions. Both F-15F crewmen were also being pressed for not only additional information on their aircraft, but for the usual propaganda statement. Dennison, the pilot, got less attention as the Iraqis soon recognized that he was the pilot, but less was, as he said post-release, “relatively speaking.” He,too, got the full treatment, being trussed up in the ropes twice, several beatings with a rubber hose, and the horse, before being hung from his heels, which finally did him in. Dennison gave the Iraqis some more basics about the F-15F, and some out-of-date information on Dhahran Air Base, along with the propaganda statement, before being taken to Al-Rashid Prison. He was placed in a cell next to Mike Shower, who filled him in on prison conditions, Colonel Fleming's policies as SRO, and so forth. Shower tapped, “Don't feel like the Lone Ranger: they've broken everyone at least once. Bounce back when you can.”

Capt. Purcell, the WSO, got off worse. The Iraqis knew the F-15F was a SAM-Suppression platform, and they wanted to know about aircraft systems, EW equipment, the HARM missile, and so on. He tried to deflect these, saying that he didn't have clearance to know how the equipment worked, only how to work it. The interrogators refused to believe that, and he was soon “screaming like a banshee” as he was trussed up in the ropes. Purcell, too, got the full treatment, including two tries with the bedframe and car battery, before a prolonged beating while hanging from his heels forced him to submit. Purcell was able to give some unclassified bits about the aircraft, and the HARM missile, and simply nodded when the propaganda statement, already prepared, was put in front of him, as he was in no shape to resist. Like his pilot, he was taken to Al-Rashid, and put in a cell next to CWO Gary Nichols, who told him just before Nichols was hauled off for a session to demand a statement about the Baghdad Raid, “Just hang tough, and bounce back. You're not alone-they broke me, they broke everybody here. Don't look back, just look forward, and you'll get through this.” Purcell, too, began to bounce back, even as he heard his new neighbor taken away.

4 May brought a new arrival to Al-Rashid, while it also marked the first escape from Iraq in either the Gulf War or the Third World War. The new arrival was USMC Capt. Sandra Jensen, from VMA(AW)-121. She was flying a road recon north of Basra on Highway 6 in the early morning of 4 May when a heat-seeking missile, either an SA-9 or SA-13, smashed into her aircraft. Jensen, who was the pilot, gave the eject command, and she and Maj. Larry Simmonds, the Bombardier-Navigator, both ejected. The two were captured almost immediately by Iraqi soldiers, and never had time to get out of their parachutes, let alone call in on their radios. Their wingmates saw the ejection and heard the beepers, but never had radio contact, so no CSAR mission was launched. After being roughed up, the two were taken to a nearby military camp for their initial interrogation, and both Marines gave only “the big four”, and nothing else. The interrogation was filmed, but the two said nothing on camera.

Afterwards, the two were loaded on a truck to be sent north, presumably to Kut and then on to Baghdad. However, the trip ran into trouble, as the truck carrying the two prisoners ran into an air strike along Highway 6, somewhere south of Qurnah. The truck came across a convoy that had just been hit by A-10s, and, as Jensen said later, “there was a bang, and then the truck flipped over on its side.” One of the guards was knocked senseless, while another guard was ejected from the truck and presumed to have been killed, while the driver and officer up front were also killed. Both prisoners were shaken, but unhurt, and helped each other get untied. Looking around, they saw the carnage produced by the A-10s, and the two Marines decided to make a break for it. Splitting up, both headed east, in the general direction of Iran.

Jensen's liberty, though, lasted only a few hours, as search parties began combing the area for the two fugitives. She was found by Saddam Fedayeen and beaten and kicked, before being returned to Army control. After being briefly displayed to the local civilians, she was put back on a truck and sent to Kut. There, she was interrogated much more forcefully, and was pressed for information on her aircraft and base. A brief session in the ropes forced her to yield some basic information on the A-6, but nothing else, before she was put on another truck and sent to Baghdad.

In Baghdad, Jensen was taken straight to the MI Center, and there, “things got ugly.” Although she leveled with interrogators about the escape, saying that it was “a spur of the moment thing,” she refused to provide either additional details on her aircraft or her base at Sheikh Isa, and also refused to give a propaganda statement. The interrogators were not pleased with that, and Capt. Jensen was trussed into the ropes right away. That started her ordeal, which lasted until the next morning, and she received the “full treatment,” just as the others who passed through the MI Center. A pair of sessions in the ropes, an assault, along with hanging both by her heels and by her arms, followed, but, as with several others, a prolonged stretch on the wooden horse forced her to give in. She gave some basic information on the aircraft, things that Jensen knew the Iraqis themselves already had, thanks to either Jane's or the Internet. And she also gave some information on her base-saying that her A-6F was based at NAS Jubyal, Saudi Arabia, instead of Sheikh Isa. Jensen also gave a statement condemning the Baghdad raid, as she was in no shape to say no. The Iraqis then took her to the women's compound at Al-Rashid, where she was allowed to clean up, before being taken to a cell next to Capt. Catherine McKenzie. Jensen was glad to know her squadron mate was still alive, while McKenzie, fresh from a torture session demanding a statement about the Baghdad raid, was able to give her friend the lowdown on the prison, Commander Eichhorn's policies as SRO, and so on. McKenzie also advised her fellow Marine that “You need to bounce back, and so do I. I just got out of the wringer for the second time. Just hang in there, and bounce back when you can.”

Capt. Jensen's B/N, Major Simmonds, was much more fortunate. He managed to get into the swamp adjacent to Highway 6, and kept going east. Hiding in the reeds and brush, he avoided several boat-borne search parties looking for him, and he managed to keep going. Simmonds then stumbled across some refugees from Saddam's wrath, a community of Ma'dan, or Marsh Arabs. These people had supported the Shia uprising after the 1991 war, and Saddam repaid them by draining much of the marsh country where they lived, forcing many to flee to Iran. Simmonds was able to use some basic Arabic and sign language to indicate that he was an American aircrew member, and needed help. The Marsh Arabs, at great risk to themselves, sent him, along with a guide, in a boat that headed east. Several more hours of travel followed, before he arrived at a village near the Iranian border. Remaining there overnight, he was treated as an honored guest, with plenty of food and water, before leaving the next morning with another guide and several of the Marsh People as escorts. The party reached the Iranian Border that afternoon, and it appeared to Major Simmonds that the party was expected, as a number of Iranian Paratroopers were waiting for the group at the border. After crossing, Simmonds was taken to the HQ of the Iranian 55th Airborne Brigade, where he was checked out by the Iranian medics, before being sent to Omidyeh Air Base by an Iranian AF Bell 214. He was warmly received by the Iranian 51sth TFW's pilots, who peppered him with questions, and the aviators talked shop long into the night. The next day, a USAF C-130 arrived from Bahrain, bringing a State Department official, who took care of the bureaucratic necessities, before flying him to Bahrain.

A brief period of “decompression” followed, as medics, intelligence officers, and SERE psychologists debriefed Simmonds on his experience, and what he knew had happened to his pilot. Only following forty-eight hours of decompression was he allowed to be reunited with his squadron. Although offered a trip home to be reunited with his family, Simmonds, after a phone call home, declined. He had left a fellow Marine behind, and would not go home until she was out of Iraq. Since he was no longer allowed to fly combat missions over Iraq, Major Simmonds was retained as a SERE advisor to CENTAF, and after the POW releases at the end of hostilities, was reunited with his pilot.

4 May also brought two additional arrivals at Al-Rashid. First was RAF Flight Lt. Nigel Todd, who was serving as an exchange pilot flying F-16s with the USAF's 34th TFS. He was shot down during a strike hitting supply convoys backed up near the Al Kifl bridge, his F-16 being hit by antiaircraft fire from a nearby 57-mm battery. His squadron mates orbited overhead, and called for a rescue team, but he waved them off, saying that the Iraqis were following his chute, and that he expected to be captured. Todd was quickly proven correct, as local Al-Quds militia found him just as he was getting out of his chute. The Iraqis gave Todd “a good bashing” with rifle butts before Iraqi soldiers arrived to restore order and take custody of the prisoner. He was taken to a nearby Army barracks, where his injuries from the bailout and beating were treated, all the while being filmed. After the filming, during which he said nothing to the camera, he was taken to Baghdad and the MI Center.

Upon arriving in Baghdad, Todd was taken right into interrogation, and things got rough right away. Sticking to the Geneva requirements, Todd resisted giving any additional information, and the interrogators were not pleased with his reluctance to give additional answers. The full treatment soon followed, with a session on the bedframe and car battery, several hours of hanging by his heels, time on the horse, but what finished him was a prolonged session in the ropes. After he broke, the Iraqis asked him for his unit's base, and Todd told them “Dhahran” instead of the squadron's actual base at Sheikh Isa. He was also pressed for information on the base, and asked questions about the F-16 that could have come from Jane's. The Iraqis also extracted a statement condemning the Baghdad raid, and Todd was asked if he had flown the mission. He said no, he had not been on the flight schedule that day, and the Iraqis believed him. After being allowed to clean up, he was taken over to Al-Rashid, and thrown into a cell next to Colonel Fleming, the SRO. Colonel Fleming gave the aviator the lowdown on the prison, his policies as senior officer, and the usual advice about “bouncing back.” When Todd asked the SRO if he had been broken, Colonel Fleming replied, “You're not alone. They have broken everyone.”
With that, the young Englishman began to recover, and indeed, “bounce back.”

The second arrival at Al-Rashid that day was USMC Maj. Alan Lockhart, the operations officer from VMA-214. His AV-8B had been shot down that afternoon during a BAI mission at Safwan, and an SA-16 missile connected with his Harrier. His plane rolled across the sky after being hit before exploding, and his squadron mates never saw him eject, although they did see his chute. Unfortunately, Lockhart lost his radio in the ejection, having left the plane while inverted, and wasn't able to call his squadron mates. A rescue was impossible in any event, as the Safwan area was still regarded as a high-threat area in daylight, and thus Lockhart was initially listed as MIA. However, he was still very much alive, being quickly found by Iraqi soldiers and captured while still in his chute. After being stripped of his chute and gear, he was taken into Safwan's Baath Party office for his initial interrogation, which was videotaped. Saying nothing other than name, rank, number and date of birth, he was then put in a truck, and after being displayed to a crowd of civilians, sent north to Kut.

At Kut, Lockhart arrived just after Capt. Sandra Jensen had left, and the interrogators there went to work on him immediately. A “mild” beating followed his refusal to answer any questions beyond name, rank, and number, and was followed by a brief session in the ropes. Lockhart then admitted he was flying an AV-8B, and his squadron, but said no more. He was then quickly put on another truck for Baghdad, arriving at the MI Center that night.

When Lockhart arrived at the MI Center, things got ugly, as the Interrogators demanded more information about his squadron, what kinds of missions he'd been flying, the unit's base, and so forth. He refused, and the full treatment began at once. The Iraqis started off with a beating, then a session on the sawhorse, and several hours hanging by his tied arms. However, as was becoming common, a lengthy session in the ropes was what brought him to give in. Being the only pilot from his squadron in captivity meant that he could give answers that the Iraqis couldn't check immediately, and he made use of the fact. When asked where his squadron was based, he said “What base? Harriers can land on any stretch of highway. And we move around a lot.” When asked to show on a map where, he pointed to a stretch of the coastal highway near the Saudi-Kuwaiti border, and that seemed to satisfy the interrogators. Major Lockhart also admitted that his squadron was primarily flying close air-support missions, with some interdiction, and when asked when his unit had arrived, he said, “the day Baghdad was raided.” He was also forced to give a statement condemning the Baghdad Raid, before being able to clean up and then was taken over to Al-Rashid Prison. There, he was tossed into a cell next to Capt. Brian Purcell, who filled him in on the prison, Colonel Fleming's policies, and so on. It turned out that Major Lockhart had more time in grade than Maj. Neil Andrews, and the Marine became Colonel Fleming's second-in-command, and was more than ready to take the reins as SRO on the men's side if necessary.

That afternoon, a curious event took place. While the new arrivals were going through their baptism of terror, and many of the old hands were also being tortured for the statements about the Baghdad Raid, the Iraqis pulled something out of the North Vietnamese playbook. Four prisoners, all captured in the early days of the war, were pulled out of their compounds and taken into downtown Baghdad. Capt. Rick Thurman, Pvt. Dale Hansen, Capt. Catherine McKenzie, and PFC Jessica Lynch were all taken from their compounds, put into trucks, bound and blindfolded, and driven into downtown Baghdad. Their destination was the Al-Rashid Hotel, which had served as the base for the international press in the Gulf War, and its conference facilities were used for the Iraqis' daily press conferences. There, all four POWs, still recovering from their torture sessions a day or two earlier, were put in front of the cameras at the afternoon press conference.

There, some reporters, mainly from Arab countries or from pro-Soviet countries, shouted questions at the prisoners, while the Western media were more content to simply photograph the POWs. None of the prisoners answered, much to the disgust of the more pro-Iraqi or pro-Soviet media present. One CNN reporter noticed that all four were tapping their thighs, and he figured it was some kind of code. Several other Western reporters noticed that, along with Capts. McKenzie and Thurman tugging at their pajama sleeves, along with the two enlisted prisoners. None of the Western media asked any questions, and none of the POWs answered any. After a half-hour or so, the Iraqis hustled the prisoners back to the trucks, and all were returned to their respective compounds. After the war, the four said that they had an idea of what was coming when they arrived at the hotel, and had decided not to say a word to the press. The video of the press conference was aired by CNN and by Sky News later in the day, and intelligence officers reviewing the tape picked up the tapping. All four were tapping out the word “torture”, just as a Navy pilot held in Hanoi had blinked the word in Morse Code in a meeting with a reporter, and the message had gotten through. As Capt. McKenzie said postwar, “The first hint the Iraqis had of the tapping was when we were decorated after we got home. Because if they had found out, it was another trip to the torture room.” And decorated they were, for Capt. McKenzie received the Navy Cross, Thurman the Air Force Cross, and the two Army prisoners the Distinguished Service Cross. McKenzie, in fact, was the first female Marine to receive that award, while Lynch was the only Army woman to receive the DSC for actions while a POW, although two Army women in Berlin had been awarded the medal for actions in combat.

While this was going on, the Iraqis decided that the prisoners should have some work details in their respective compounds. Two prisoners in each compound were selected at random each day for the dishwashing detail, while another pair would be assigned to sweep the compound. Unknown to the Iraqis, sweeping in code had been common in Hanoi, and this had been taught at SERE schools in the U.S. and Britain. In Baghdad, the prisoners made use of it, sending messages while they ostensibly swept their compounds clean each day. The two senior officers were among the first so assigned, the Iraqis believing that it would humiliate them in the eyes of the other prisoners. However, both Colonel Fleming and Commander Eichhorn both made the use of the opportunity, sweeping out messages to their colleagues, and right under the noses of guards. And there were a number of others who followed their example.

[Matt Wiser]

Part VI: Post-RAMPART Improvements, but continued brutality...


The morning of 5 May began another “usual day” at Al-Rashid. The prisoners were going about their routine, when they were treated to another “air show,” as Colonel Fleming put it. Four F-111s struck Al-Rashid Air Base just after dawn, with what appeared to be two or four F-16s in support. This time, the prisoners were actually in the prison when the strike aircraft overflew it, and both the F-111s and the F-16s waggled their wings to the prisoners. The POWs were not surprised to see the volume of flak that came up, and several, whose cell windows offered a view, watched as what appeared to be a MiG-29 come in after the departing raiders, only to fall victim to Iraqi AAA fire. While the Iraqi guards boasted of the “F-15” that had been shot down, the prisoners knew better.

None of the Baghdad raiders fell to Iraqi fire, but further south, near An-Najaf, Capt. Ray Sheppard wasn't so fortunate. He was flying an RF-16 from the 12th TRS when heavy 57-mm fire bracketed his plane, and a MANPADS, believed to be an SA-14 or -16, struck almost immediately afterwards. He managed to eject from only 650 feet at over 500 knots. His wingmate called in the shootdown, but waved off a rescue team, as he'd seen Sheppard's parachute land in an area that was relatively densely populated. The wingmate was right, for Sheppard had been captured almost immediately upon landing by Saddam Fedayeen militia, and he got “kicked around a lot”, before Iraqi soldiers arrived to take over. A medic checked him over, and he was filmed by an Iraqi camera crew, but he said nothing to the camera. After a preliminary interrogation, Sheppard was taken to Baghdad and Al-Rashid MI Center.

There, as Captain Sheppard said postwar, “the gloves came off.” The interrogators were anxious for information on what they expected to be an Allied ground offensive in Kuwait, and refused to believe Sheppard when he told them “that's stuff a lowly captain doesn't get told.” They also wanted to know his base, unit, and so forth, along with a statement condemning the “series of criminal raids on Baghdad.” He declined, sticking to “the big four” and the usual round of miseries began.

A series of beatings, time on the horse, and hanging by his heels soon followed, along with two sessions in the ropes. He held out until the evening, but gave in, giving the interrogators nothing on any ground operation, saying that “only the Army knows that.” He also told his captors that he was not flying an RF-16, but was flying a standard F-16C, on an armed reconnaissance mission out of Dhahran. Though he initially balked at the propaganda statement, he was told to sign a prepared statement, or “it will start all over again.” Sheppard did so, and was then taken to Al-Rashid Prison. There, he was thrown into a cell next to RAF Flight Lieutenant Peter Johns, who filled him in on the prison and the goings-on.

Two other arrivals marked the first U.S. Special Forces men to be captured in the Gulf Theater. Staff Sergeant Ben Gilmore and Sergeant Larry Mackey were part of a six-man reconnaissance team checking out the area near Zubayr. Their main mission was to scout out the roads, and determine targets for air attack. Though they felt that this was a job for a UAV, only eyes on the ground could determine if the targets were worthwhile, and so their half of an A-Team was detailed for the mission. Their insertion by helicopter had gone off without incident, but they had been found by a farmer and his children the next morning. The civilians summoned local A-Quds militia, as well as the Iraqi Army, and a vicious fire-fight began. Though the SF team was able to beat back several attacks, their ammunition soon ran low, and with no extraction possible until nightfall, the team split up. Two of the six made it into the same swampy area that Donna Unger's navigator had been rescued from, and they were rescued later that night by an Air Force HV-22. One, Staff Sergeant Joesph Keller, was killed in a fire-fight south of Zubayr by local militia (his body was returned postwar), and the team leader, Warrant Officer Chris Gardner, tried to evade, but his body was found days later, washed ashore on Falayka Island. The two who were captured had tried to hide out, but were found in a ditch on the road to Umm Qasr by the Saddam Fedayeen.

After capture, the two were savagely beaten and kicked, before they were turned over to Iraqi soldiers. This Iraqi unit had a Soviet adviser with them, and the two could tell that the Russian was appalled at their condition, for he was shouting at one of the Iraqi officers, who simply shrugged and walked away. After an Iraqi Army doctor cleaned them up, the two were interrogated before a TV crew, though they only gave “the big four.” An overnight truck ride to Baghdad followed, and both were quickly sent to the MI Center.

The interrogators there could ask these two about any planned ground attack, but the two SF Sergeants were able to deflect that, saying that, as Sergeants, they had “no need to know that stuff.” The interrogators did believe that, and went on to what the duo had been doing at Zubayr. Fortunately, before splitting up, their communications gear, codes, and laser designator had been blown up with a thermite grenade, so they could tell their captors nothing on that score, saying they hadn't seen the communications sergeant since the team split up, and none of them were cross-trained in that specialty. The Iraqis asked about Allied ground dispositions in Kuwait, and where their helicopter insertion had been from, along with the now-required statement about the Baghdad raids. That, the two declined, and things “got physical” as Gilmore said after the war.

Both got the full treatment, with a session in the ropes, beatings, and the car battery/bedframe treatment. The two held out as long as they could, but eventually, both gave in. The pair gave some misleading information about their base in Kuwait, and admitted they had been on a reconnaissance mission. Mackey told his interrogator that an airborne assault was being planned (a lie), and that among their other tasks, were checking out potential drop zones. When confronted with the false information his partner had provided, Gilmore simply said, “If he said that, it's true.” And both, as demanded, signed the statements about the Baghdad strikes.

The two were soon taken to Al-Rashid prison, with Gilmore being thrown into a cell next to SAS Sgt. Richard Blake, and Mackey became a next-door neighbor to Capt. Brian Woods. Soon, word of the two SF arrivals spread, and their neighbors filled them in on the prison, and what had happened so far. Both did spread the news about the progress of the war, and that things might be changing-hopefully for the better-in both Europe and the Gulf. And the two became valued members of the POW chain of command, for both could speak fluent Arabic, and often were able to eavesdrop on passing guards, and listen to the guards' radios while on work details, and pass that information back to Colonel Fleming.

That night, a shootdown east of Al-Diwanayah led to not only an increase in the prison population, but set in motion one of the campaign's most high-profile events. Just after midnight (0025 on 7 May), an Air Force MH-53J from the 20th Special Operations Squadron was inserting SF Teams into the area to handle road recon along Highway 7. After the SF were inserted, the big helicopter turned for home, but had barely gotten away when it drew heavy ground fire. Small-arms, machine-gun, and 23-mm guns sprayed the Pave Low, and though the pilot and copilot tried to get away, an RPG shot took out the tail rotor, and 23-mm fire shredded the starboard engine. Major Keith Schwitzer, the pilot, and Capt. Beverly Lynne, the copilot, managed to put the helo down in a hard landing on a farm, ripping up an outbuilding and one of the farmer's mud-and-brick walls. The six crewmembers grabbed their weapons and escaped the crash, though one, S/Sgt. Terry Black, the flight engineer, had a broken leg, and one of the Pararescuemen, Sgt. Ron Webb, had one broken arm and a dislocated shoulder. The two pilots, and the other two crew members, M/Sgt. Chris Walters and Sgt. David Reese, helped the two injured survivors get away, and both Walters and Reese, Pararescue men, were able to administer first aid. However, a hoped-for rescue turned out not to be forthcoming, as within an hour of the shootdown, the crew noticed numerous armed Iraqis searching for the survivors. Despite an attempted joint evasion, the crew was forced to split up. S/Sgt. Black and Sgt. Reese were found shortly thereafter by either Quds Force or Saddam Fedayeen milita, and in Reese's words, “they kicked the crap out of us.” M/Sgt. Walters and Sgt. Webb managed to get further away, and these two would managed to evade for most of the morning before being captured by Saddam Fedayeen, who showed no mercy for Decker's broken arm. The two pilots, Schwitzer and Lynne, had split up, but both were found before dawn by Iraqi soldiers and captured. All six were taken to a nearby Iraqi Army garrison, where they were briefly interrogated and filmed, before they were taken to the POW Processing Center at Kut. There, the four uninjured crew were given a more intense interrogation, with a taste of what was to come in Baghdad.

All four, despite a beating and a brief spell in the ropes, managed to stick to a prearranged cover story, that they were looking for a downed F-111 crew when they were shot down. Unknown to the six, a UAV had flown over the compound and noted the occupants within. This UAV pass led to CENTCOM ordering the launch of Operation RAMPART, a Delta Force mission to the Kut facility. Unaware of what was happening, not to mention the fact that they themselves were originally tapped to fly on the mission in a support role, the six crew managed to evade their captors' questions, before being put on a truck for Baghdad that afternoon.

Upon arrival, the difference between how the two injured prisoners and the other four soon manifested itself. Black and Webb were taken to the Al-Rashid Military Hospital, where after being examined in the ER, were presented with consent forms to sign before surgery. They did so, and the two had their broken bones set, before waking up in a room in the hospital's POW ward. Colonel Hassani, the Hospital's director, came to visit them later that day and assured the two that as long as they were at the hospital and under his supervision, they had nothing to be afraid of.

The other four, however, were not so fortunate. They were taken to the MI Center, and all four saw interrogators within minutes of arrival. The four stuck to their cover story, saying that they were looking for a downed F-111 crew, and though the Iraqis believed that, the Iraqis did want information about the helicopter, their base, and other military information. And, of course, a statement condemning the Baghdad raids. The four balked at all of that, and as Captain Lynne said after the war, “things got fast and ugly.”

The two enlisted Pararescue men tried to fool their interrogators, saying that since they were NCOs, they had no knowledge of the helicopter's systems. The only part of the helo that they knew about was the door guns, the duo said, and they were able to successfully deflect questions about the rest of the helicopter. Questions about their base, and a statement about the Baghdad raids, they refused, and the full treatment followed. Walters and Reese both got hammered, with a beating, hanging by heels,and the horse, and sessions in the ropes. For Reese, it was a session on the horse before he yielded, and gave some misleading information on their base, which all had agreed as part of their cover story was a highway strip in Kuwait, instead of King Khalid Military City. He also signed a statement on the Baghdad raids, before he was thrown into a holding cell, and later taken to the prison, where he was tossed into a cell next to CWO Gary Nichols, who filled him in on the prison and the routine.

His partner, Walters, was similarly handled, with a pair of sessions in the ropes, several beatings, and a lengthy period hanging by his heels, before a final session in the ropes did him in. He, too, stuck to the cover story, and also yielded a statement on the Baghdad raids, before he joined Reese in a holding cell. He, too, went to Al-Rashid Prison, where he was thrown into a cell next to LCDR Mike Shower, who got in touch with him, and let him know that he wasn't alone in giving in to the Iraqis.

The two pilots, Schwitzer and Lynne, were more roughly handled. The Iraqis wanted to know about the helicopter's systems, even though, unknown to the two prisoners, an F-117 flew in the night after the shootdown and destroyed the crashed helicopter to prevent the Iraqis from exploiting the wreck for intelligence purposes. Both pilots maintained their cover story, saying that they were looking for a downed F-111 crew, but had been unsuccessful. Both went through the wringer, as the Iraqis pressed them for information on the helo's radar, FLIR, and electronic-warfare equipment, as well as information on their base, and the by-now usual propaganda statement on the Baghdad raids.

Of the two pilots, Captain Lynne, the copilot, got the harshest treatment of the two. After refusing to go beyond their cover story, she was immediately trussed up in the ropes, and got the bedframe and car battery treatment. A pair of assaults and time on the horse followed, along with several beatings, but what broke her was a second stint in the ropes. She gave some misleading information on their base, but drew the line on the helo systems, saying that, as pilots, they didn't know how they worked, only that the equipment did work.. A statement on the Baghdad raid followed, and after being allowed to clean up, she was taken straight to Al-Rashid Prison, and the women's compound. There, she was put into a cell next to Capt. Sandra Jensen, who filled her in on the prison, Commander Eichhorn's policies as SRO, and the reminder to “bounce back.” Though shaken up by her experience, Lynne did listen to her new neighbor, and she did “bounce back.”

Her pilot, Schwitzer, had a nearly identical experience. Though he wasn't assaulted, the same program of abuse followed his refusal to give information on the helicopter and its systems, as well as his home base, and a refusal to “sign anything.” He was promptly trussed up in the ropes, beaten severely with a rubber hose, and got the car battery and bedframe treatment. A stint on the horse followed, but as with his copilot, another session in the ropes did him in. The same misleading information on the helo's home base followed, along with similar remarks about the helo's equipment. He, too, gave a statement on the Baghdad raids, before being taken to a holding cell separate from the two sergeants. Schwitzer was then taken over to the POW prison, where he was tossed into a cell next to RAF Flight Lt. Ian Woods, who filled him on on the prison situation and the routine.

That night, as the four helo crewmembers were undergoing their torment in the MI Center's torture rooms, the POW Processing Center at Kut was raided by a combined team of Delta Force and Army Rangers. Though Operation RAMPART failed to free any prisoners, from the point of view of the prisoners, they saw some improvement in their conditions. Commander Eichhorn noted that the first sign of things getting better was a truck pulling up to the gate, and guards unloading mattresses. Each prisoner there, and as she later found out, at the men's compound, received a twin sized mattress, which beat sleeping on the floor. In addition, though the meals were still lacking in quality, the prisoners were getting more of it, and were soon being allowed fifteen minutes of outside time for exercise-though not as a group, but always singly. Another benefit was that though the Red Cross still had no access to the prisoners, the Iraqis gave each prisoner a Red Cross letter form, and they were told they would have one letter a month henceforth. Finally, though the guards didn't let on at first, several very obnoxious guards-the Screamer among them, suddenly stopped showing up for work. Eventually, the prisoners were told that those particular guards had been “volunteered” for the front. However, it wasn't until new prisoners arrived that the word of the raid on Kut reached the prisoners, but when it did, their spirits rose. Somebody had tried to get people out, and though it had failed, they were seeing the benefits of the raid.

The first new shootdown after the Kut Raid didn't know about the mission particulars, but did hear the mission going in. LT Jennifer Stewart was bombardier-navigator for CDR Marc Rowlands, the Executive Officer for VA-165. They were flying a road recon north of Al-Amarah along Highway 6 when they came across a truck park only two hours after the raid. Unfortunately for the pair, the truck park also had a pair of ZSU-23-4s, and their A-6 was caught in a crossfire. Rowlands gave the order to bail out, and she did so, getting out at barely 400 feet. However, CDR Rowlands did not eject, and the A-6 exploded in a fireball on impact. Stewart landed uninjured, and managed to evade capture for several hours, but she was found just after daybreak by Al-Quds militiamen, and after “getting kicked around”, was turned over to the Army. She was interrogated at the local military HQ in Amarah, and despite being filmed by a TV crew, stuck to the “big four.” The Iraqis kept her there the rest of the day, and she did receive treatment for the “kicking around” she received, until two other prisoners joined her that evening.

The other two were LTJG Julie Grant and LCDR Michael Cole of VA-185. They had been flying a strike against the Ar Rumalyah Southwest Airfield, when an SA-11 connected with their A-6. Both were able to eject, but Cole was seriously injured on bailout, while Grant was able to call in to her squadron mates on her survival radio. She noticed a crowd of Iraqi soldiers and civilians converging on her parachute, and called off any rescue, as she knew that the both of them would be captured.

Cole was unconscious on landing, with a concussion, dislocated shoulder, and two broken legs, while Grant was unhurt, but she was also set upon by Iraqi soldiers, who beat and kicked her in her chute, until officers arrived and restored order. She was stripped of her gear, and saw that the Iraqis were taking Cole out of his chute, and they initially thought he was dead, until a doctor saw that he was breathing. While Cole was taken to a first-aid station, Grant was taken to the airfield's operations building, and given a quick interrogation. She tried to stick to the “big four,” but admitted that, yes, she had been flying an A-6 when confronted with her knee boards, which had somehow been blown out of the aircraft after her ejection. After being filmed by a TV crew, she was put in a truck with Cole, who was still unconscious, but having been treated for his injuries. The two prisoners were then driven to Al-Amarah, where Stewart joined them for the ride to Baghdad.

When the trio arrived at Al-Rashid, the difference in treatment between the two women and Cole as like night and day. Cole was taken straight to the Military Hospital, and he woke up in the treatment room. Colonel Hassani, the hospital director, assured Cole that he was in a hospital and that his injuries would be tended to. To Cole's surprise, he was asked to sign a consent form before being operated on for his two broken legs, and after surgery, he woke up in a room in the hospital's POW ward with Capts. Mark Gaither and Richard Spencer. The two AF prisoners were able to tell Cole that treatment at the hospital was relatively good, and that everyone there was better off than the others-about whose treatment they knew very little, but what they did know was bad.

Both Grant and Stewart could have attested to that, for both were taken to the MI Center for interrogation. The Iraqis knew that both came from different carriers, as the pair were told that the wreckage of their respective aircraft had been found, and that Grant came from VA-185, while Stewart was from VA-165. The Iraqis wanted to know if either one had flown support for the Kut raid, and that was the first either one had heard of the mission. The two denied that, with Grant telling her interrogators that, being a junior pilot, she would not have been considered for such a mission, and Stewart said that her unit wasn't trained to support such missions. Unfortunately, the Iraqis soon got rough, demanding information on their respective squadrons, carriers, and future targets, along with a statement from each denouncing the Baghdad raid. Both drew the line, and the Iraqis “got rough,” as Grant said postwar. And for her, she was very concerned, as she had flown the Baghdad raid on the 28th, and wanted to keep that from the Iraqis as long as possible.

Both were trussed up in the ropes, and both also got time on the horse, with the usual beatings in between. The pair also spent time hanging by their heels, while Stewart spent most of the afternoon on her knees, with her arms tied above her head. They were also assaulted, but what broke Grant was another spell in the ropes, while Nicole gave in after more time on the horse. The two gave some military information that the Iraqis could have found in Jane's, along with the propaganda statement demanded. Fortunately for Grant, she wasn't asked if she had flown the Baghdad raid, and managed to keep that from her captors. Once the interrogators were finished, both were taken over to the POW prison.

Stewart was tossed into a cell next to AF Sgt. Amy Verell, and the young helicopter crew member was able to fill her in on the prison, Commander Eichhorn's policies as SRO, and the reminder to “bounce back.” Stewart, though still very shaken by her experience, passed on some news of the war, including the nuclear exchange at sea, but that things in Germany and in Norway were still dicey, and the North Koreans were still being their stubborn usual selves.

Grant, on the other hand, was put in a cell in Commander Eichhorn's building, and she was soon in communications with her squadron mate, via Capt. Allison Whitney. Commander Eichhorn was relieved to know that those on the ship knew she and her B/N were known to be still alive, and that her boyfriend was still flying missions, and he had flown the Baghdad Raid. Grant also passed the word about her own B/N, and the Kut raid, and got back Commander Eichhorn's policies, and the laydown of the prison.

The Post-Kut improvements actually started in the prison prior to the two new prisoners' arrival. Commander Eichhorn was actually outside, dumping her waste bucket, when a truck pulled up to the compound gate and guards began unloading the mattresses and taking them to the cells. She said later that seeing the mattress on the floor of her cell made her want to cry, There was no formal announcement, but the next day, the Iraqis allowed the prisoners in both compounds fifteen minutes of solo outside time, along with the chance to wash their clothes, and all of the prisoners were taken individually into interrogation rooms and given Red Cross letter forms, where they were informed that they would be allowed to write home once a month, and would be allowed one letter a month from home. It wasn't much, but as both Colonel Fleming and Commander Eichhorn said later, “No way was it Geneva, but it was a start.”

[Matt Wiser]

Part VII: More new arrivals, and some...unusual Soviet activity re; the POWs:

For the POWs, 9 May would turn out to be an unusual day. Because for the first time since the original Baghdad Raid on 28 April, they would hear and see Allied aircraft overhead, while the Post-Kut improvements began taking shape.

For Marine Captain David Everson, 9 May was typical for most shootdowns in Iraq. He was flying an F/A-18+, in VMFA-112 on a BAI mission near Safwan when SA-11s came up. His wingman, Captain
John McClaren, was killed when his Hornet took a hit, but Everson managed to bail out when his aircraft took a strike to the tail. As his squadron mates circled overhead, Everson noticed Iraqi soldiers converging on his parachute as he descended, and he waved off a rescue, telling his squadron commander-who was overhead-that he was about to be captured. He had barely touched the ground when Iraqi soldiers reached him, tearing his parachute from him, and beating and kicking him. Several officers were quick to arrive to restore order, and the Marine Captain was quickly taken to a nearby headquarters for interrogation. He stuck to “the big four”, and was soon hustled to Basra, and was interrogated by two general officers, at what he believed to be the Iraqi theater headquarters. Refusing to give more than the 'big four”, he was still filmed, before being sent to Baghdad.

When Everson got to Baghdad and the MI Center, things got rough, and he received the usual initiation for new arrivals, being trussed up in the ropes, and being hung by his heels from a meathook. He also got the bed frame and truck battery treatment, but what finally broke the Marine aviator was another stint in the ropes. After giving some basic information about his aircraft, and his base (claiming Dhahran when he was really flying from Sheikh Isa in Bahrain), as well as the by-now propaganda statement condemning the Baghdad Raid on 28 April, he was taken to Al-Rashid Prison. There, he was thrown into a cell, and unfortunately for him, the two cells adjoining him were empty, but he was able to communicate with a fellow Marine, Maj. Allen Lockhart, who filled him in on the prison, the routine, and Colonel Fleming's policies as SRO.

That day, the post-Kut improvements were being implemented, as prisoners wondered what was going on. For Colonel Fleming and the men, things started when two very obnoxious guards, who had been on the day shift, didn't show up. The prisoners in the men's compound were wondering about that when trucks pulled up, and guards began to unload twin-sized mattresses. To their amazement, the guards opened cell doors, and each prisoner was given a mattress. After the guards left, the tapping began, with prisoners sharing their joy at no longer having to sleep on the floor. Then each prisoner was taken to an interrogation room, where they were given Red Cross message forms, and told that they could write one letter a month, and henceforth would be allowed one letter a month from home. When it was his turn, Colonel Fleming asked the interrogator if the women were being given the same privilege, and he was told, very bluntly, “Yes.”

Commander Eichhorn, if communications between the compounds had been more reliable, would have been able to verify that. With inter-compound communications so spotty at best, she had decided on her own to take full command, treating the women's compound as a separate prison, and she and Colonel Fleming would sort it out later. She had been outside, dumping her waste bucket, when a truck pulled up to the compound, and the guards there began to unload mattresses. When she was returned to her cell, Commander Eichhorn was nearly brought to tears, as she had a for-real mattress. Just as in the men's compound, a frenzy of tapping and hand signals followed, as everyone was either “on the wall”, or otherwise signaling to fellow prisoners. When it was her turn to go to the interrogation room, Commander Eichhorn knew something was different, because this time, she wasn't blindfolded, and the interrogator-an Iraqi she'd never seen before, was actually somewhat polite. He never identified himself, but she, along with several others, believed he was the deputy Commandant.

The Iraqi officer politely informed her that henceforth, each prisoner would be allowed to send one letter a month, and that they would also be allowed to receive one letter a month. Though thrilled at the prospect of contact with her family, when she heard “one a month,” Commander Eichhorn was filled with dread. That signaled to her that the prisoners would be in Iraq for a long while. She eagerly took the pen and Red Cross form, and wrote to her parents, though slipping in a couple of coded messages. When she was returned to her cell, she passed the word, and the prisoners were “jumping for joy.”

In both compounds, prisoners were being allowed fifteen minutes of outside time, though singly, and all took the time for some exercise, and just plain walking around, even if there were a couple of guards following. All prisoners in each compound were given the chance to bathe, and the prisoners were told that from now on, they could bathe every third day. And, as in the men's compound, a couple of the more notorious guards-the Screamer being one of them, stopped showing up for work.

Midafternoon brought some new excitement, as the second low-level raid on Baghdad went in. PFC Jessica Lynch was in the women's compound bath area, when the raid came in, and she had a ringside seat to the A-6s and F/A-18s coming over. She watched two SAMs come up, and Lynch said a silent prayer for the aircrews, but the missiles simply flew over the attacking aircraft, as if the crews hadn't seen the missiles. Other prisoners were able to hear the flak and the sounds of missile launches, while a handful in both compounds were able to catch a glimpse of the attackers as they flew over Baghdad.

At the POW Ward in the Al-Rashid Military Hospital, the injured prisoners could only hear the raid for the most part, but the sound of aircraft, flak, and the occasional missile, was a welcome sound, Though the two injured Air Force enlisted men, Black and Webb, were able to see from their room window aircraft overhead as they streaked south, and they knew what was really going on. So did several other prisoners, and word did pass through the POW ward of what had happened.

Later that night, the POW population increased by two, as Commander Robert Newman and Lieutenant (j.g) Dara Scott of VA-165 from the carrier Nimitz joined the increasing roster of POWs in Baghdad. Their A-6F was shot down by flak during a strike on the Kut Southeast Military Supply Depot, and both aircrew were able to eject successfully from their stricken aircraft, though Commander Newman wrenched his knee on ejection. Due to his bad knee, he was unable to mount much of an evasion, and he was soon captured by Al-Quds militiamen. Transported to a local Baath Party headquarters, he was interrogated and filmed, but stuck to the “big four”.

His B/N, Scott, was able to evade for a while, as she was not injured, but within an hour of her bailout, she was found by local Saddam Fedayeen, who, unknown to her, had taken a beating during the Kut raid two nights earlier, and they were looking for payback. She got “a thrashing,” as she recounted postwar, and only after the roughing-up had been completed was she turned over to the Army. Interrogated at the Kut Army base, she, too, stuck to the “big four”, despite being filmed. After this was done, she was thrown into a truck, and after picking up her pilot, was soon on the way to Baghdad.

Both naval aviators were taken to the MI Center, and as Commander Newman said later, “They played rough.” Commander Newman in particular received some very rough handling, as the Iraqis found out he was the Commanding Officer of VA-165, having found the wreckage of the A-6, and finding his name painted beneath the cockpit. The Iraqis pressed for information on the squadron, his carrier, and information about upcoming bombing targets. When Newman refused, he, too went through the usual initiation for new arrivals, being trussed up in the ropes, being subjected to the horse, and being beaten with a rubber hose. It took a second stint in the ropes before he agreed to talk, and after giving some basic information on the A-6 and his carrier, as well as a videotaped statement about the Baghdad raid, he was taken over to the POW prison, where he was able to establish communications with LCDR Mike Shower, and after several messages between him and Colonel Fleming, it was determined that Commander Newman had more time in grade (both were O-5s) than Fleming did, and thus he became the new SRO, appointing Colonel Fleming as his deputy. It would be a while, though, before word of his becoming the SRO would reach the women, where Commander Eichhorn had taken the reins, and she had very infrequent communication with the men's compound. He also passed word about the raid on Kut, and spirits rose as a result.

Lieutenant Scott, his B/N, was also in for a rough time. The Iraqis also pressed her for information on the A-6, as well as her carrier, and like her pilot, she refused. The interrogators were not pleased, and things got rough right away, for she was in the ropes within a minute of her final “No”, answer.

A stint in the ropes, several beatings, an assault, and time on the wooden horse soon followed, and after several hours on the horse, she broke, and agreed to talk. When asked for information on the A-6, she simply repeated material that the Iraqis could have found in Jane's, and she also did the same for the carrier. Scott, though, was initially reluctant to provide a statement about the Baghdad Raid, but when the interrogator held some rope in his hand and asked, very casually, “Do you want some more?” she consented. After reading the statement on videotape, she was allowed to clean up, before being taken to Al-Rashid Prison.

There, she was thrown into a cell across from Capt. Beverly Lynne, and the two were able to communicate via flashing hand signals underneath their cell doors. Lynne passed the word about the lowdown about the prison, Commander Eichhorn's policies as SRO, and in return, Scott was able to relay word of the Kut Raid, and as in the men's compound, the prisoners' spirits rose as they heard about the raid on the POW processing center. “It had been a good day,” Commander Eichhorn said later, “and hearing about Kut made it better.”

10 May brought a strange development in the POW experience. A development that is still discussed, and debated, for many details are still classified to this day, and the three POWs who were involved in the affair still refuse to discuss details of the incident, along with the respective SROs.

It started with a visit to the MI Center by Major Gen. Mikhail Kurchatov, the Head of the Soviet Military Mission to Iraq. The Soviet general then went to the Military Hospital's POW ward, and actually talked with several of the POWs held there, including the acting SRO, LTJG Chris Larson, who had the responsibility due to the fact that his leg wasn't in traction, and he could get around and not only visit with the other prisoners in the ward, but communicate their concerns and needs with the hospital staff. The General then visited a room with Capts. Mark Gaither and Richard Spencer, and they, too had what Gaither called “a nice talk”, with the Russian. They reported that the General was pleased with conditions at the hospital, while he was disturbed when told about what they knew had happened to them or to crewmates upon capture.

After this visit, the General apparently went over to the POW prison, and when he arrived at the Men's cell block, Kurchatov asked the Prison Commandant for a meeting with the senior officer. Instead of Commander Newman, General Kurchatov met with Colonel Fleming. What, exactly, the General said to Colonel Fleming, has not been released, though Colonel Fleming did communicate his concerns as to how the prisoners were being treated, and that when asked what he wanted, Colonel Fleming simply replied, “Treatment according to Geneva standards, Red Cross visits, and so on.” Several prisoners whose cells were near the interrogation rooms at the cell block did report that the meeting between the two went on for at least an hour, and when Colonel Fleming was returned to his cell, he passed the word to the other prisoners that “I can't explain it, but I have a good feeling about this.” Given the Post-Kut improvements that were happening, the prisoners thought that, perhaps, the Soviets had impressed upon the Iraqis that improving conditions for the prisoners was the smart thing to to do. However, the Russian's visit also had a sign that none of the prisoners thought was good, for CWO Gary Nichols and SAS Sgt. Paul McAlister were pulled from the compound, and Colonel Fleming only told the men that
he wasn't sure where they had been taken.
The General's next stop was the women's compound, and when he arrived, the General saw something that pleased him, for two of the prisoners were either being let out for their newly-found exercise time, or were being locked in afterwards. Though hearing a commotion from one of the interrogation rooms must have turned his mood sour, for he found Capt. Tammy Michaels being trussed up in the ropes and beaten for having been caught communicating. General Kurchatov was in a rage, and when he asked to see the female SRO, he apologized to Commander Eichhorn for not being able to intervene and see to it that the prisoners were treated more in line with international law. Like Colonel Fleming, his talk with Commander Eichhorn lasted over an hour, and, like Colonel Fleming, she told the women that while she couldn't tell them everything, she felt that things might get better, though when, she didn't know. Though she was concerned when Captain Michaels was removed from the compound by the Iraqis, and she, too, wasn't sure where she had been taken.

It wasn't until later that the POWs left behind found out what had happened, and even then, rumors that the full story has not, or will not, be told continue. As of 2010, when the unclassified version of this study was released via the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the three prisoners involved still refuse to go into detail as to what happened, nor have persistent rumors of Soviet involvement gone away.

All three prisoners were removed from their compounds, blindfolded, handcuffed, and put in a truck, and taken out of Baghdad. None of them had any idea as to where they were going, or what, and fears that they were being taken to a new prison did cross their minds. All three had stood up to their captors, and were “bad attitude” cases, and isolating them from the other prisoners would make sense, and Iraq certainly had no shortage of prisons that could hold POWs. However, they never made it to a prison.

Somewhere north of Baghdad, the truck carrying the trio was ambushed, the three prisoners removed, and the guards were all killed. All three prisoners were then taken to what they have described as a safe house, and they found themselves in the hands of pro-Iranian Shia insurgents. An Iranian intelligence officer interviewed all three individually, then talked to them as a group. He assured the trio that they were safe, and after the insurgents moved them to another safe house, they were fed. After two more days, and another safe house, the trio were slipped back into, of all places, Baghdad, and with the help of the insurgents, slipped into the Swiss Embassy, where they asked for asylum.

The Swiss Ambassador, after consulting with Bern, granted their request, and after a couple days of enjoying Swiss hospitality, the three ex-prisoners were provided with clothes, false documents, and were slipped into a party of non-essential Swiss Embassy personnel heading by ground convoy to Jordan. Their trip across the desert was a surprise, as this was the first time they had not been blindfolded when being taken from their points of capture and eventually to Baghdad. When the convoy reached the Jordanian Border, Sgt. McAlister told his two American companions to smile, nod, be polite, and follow his lead. He not only spoke Arabic, but German as well, and he played the part of a Swiss perfectly, while the other two, not knowing German or Italian (Capt. Michaels had taken Spanish at the AF Academy, while CWO Nichols had completely forgotten his high-school French), were able to pass through the customs checkpoints on both sides of the border with a “good enough” acting performance. After clearing Jordanian customs, the trio were taken by their new Swiss friends to their respective embassies in Amman, who were quite surprised to find escaped POWs from Iraq now showing up. The three were quickly outfitted, then put on the regular British Airways flight from Amman to London. Once in London, the three were given full medical checks, and were fully debriefed on their experience in Iraq, from capture to reaching Amman. After the debriefing and medical process was finished, all three wanted to return to the Gulf. Though prohibited from returning to combat, the three joined USMC Major Larry Simmonds at CENTCOM's SERE desk, and were waiting when their friends were repatriated at the end of the war.
None of the POWs who were left behind heard anything more, though it is believed that in coded letters, both SROs did find out that the trio had made it to freedom. For the rest, the first sign that their friends had gotten out was seeing the three in Doha when their repatriation aircraft landed.


10 May also brought another low-level raid on Baghdad, and this raid targeted the MiG maintenance facilities at Al-Rashid Air Base, southeast of the prison. The prisoners were in their cells for the most part, but a number in both compounds and at the Military Hospital's POW ward, were able to see the Navy A-6s as they made their runs. Even those prisoners who weren't able to see the aircraft were able to see the AAA fire, and even a number of SAMs going up, and everyone heard the strike aircraft that flew over the prison as they made their bomb runs. Commander Eichhorn was watching from her cell window as the A-6s came over, and was able to see the insignia of both VA-185, her squadron, and VA-115, which was her boyfriend's. Not knowing that he was leading the mission, she sent a silent prayer for the aircrews, hoping that all would return to the ship safely.

There was also an Air Force strike into the Baghdad area, hitting the Abu Gruhayb Presidential Complex east of Saddam IAP, and this strike took losses among both the strike aircraft and the Wild Weasel SAM suppressors.

The Wild Weasel shootdown was Capt. Danielle Grant, from the 17th TFS, whose F-16CJ took an SA-15 hit near the airport, Her wingmate didn't see her eject, but heard the emergency beeper, and called it in. However, there was no rescue mission launched, as she was well within the 25 mile “No-go” zone around the Iraqi capital. Her squadron mates were forced to watch as she drifted to earth, and was almost immediately surrounded by Iraqi soldiers. With the strike coming in, they had to continue with their mission, knowing one of their own was down.

Grant was able to see the Iraqis converging on her parachute, and she knew right away that she would be captured. She was able to zero the radio frequencies on her survival radio before throwing it away, and as she landed, the Iraqis swarmed her. Grant “got a big roughing-up” as she said postwar, before Iraqi officers arrived and restored order. After stripping her of chute, helmet, and flight gear, Grant was taken to a nearby Army headquarters for interrogation. She was able to stick to “the big four”, both during the interrogation and while being filmed by a TV crew, before being taken across town to the MI Center.

There, things got rough, for the interrogators were in a foul mood over two Baghdad raids on consecutive days, and Grant found that out the hard way. With the interrogators demanding information on her squadron, base, mission, and target, as well as a propaganda statement, she refused to beyond name, rank, number, and date of birth, and things got ugly almost right away.

The Iraqis gave Grant the full treatment, being trussed up in the ropes twice, the usual hanging by her heels and by her arms, an assault, beatings, and time on the sawhorse. However, it was the second stint in the ropes that forced her to submit. She was able to give some false answers, saying that King Khalid Military City was her squadron's base, and giving the identity of a squadron that she knew had likely gone to Europe as her squadron, though she had to admit that she was a Wild Weasel. Grant initially balked at an anti-war statement, but when the interrogator produced some ropes and asked if she was firm on that, Grant said no, and she signed a statement, already prepared. After being allowed to clean up, she was then taken to the POW prison, where she was thrown into the cell vacated by Capt. Tammy Michaels. After getting the lowdown on the prison, and Commander Eichhorn's policies as SRO from Capt. Catherine MacKenzie, Grant was glad to hear that two of her squadron mates were alive, and that one of them, Capt. Kristen Moore, was in the same prison, though she was not happy to hear that she was in the cell of someone who had been removed from the prison and taken who knew where.

Two other Air Force aviators found themselves in Al-Rashid as a result of the day's events. An F-15E flown by Capt. Robert Purcell and his WSO, Maj. Alan McManus went down south of the Palace complex, this time to an SA-11. Their wingmates saw the duo eject, but again, no CSAR mission was launched. Neither of the two were able to call their squadron mates, for the ejection had been at low level, and the two were in their chutes for only a minute before landing, and, as with Captain Grant, the two were able to see right away that they were going to be captured.

Both were swarmed by Iraqi soldiers and civilians upon landing, and the two were literally torn out of their chutes by the mob. Fortunately, Iraqi officers quickly arrived to restore order, and the two aviators were taken to a nearby military building, where their injuries were treated, a brief interrogation conducted where the two refused to go beyond the “big four”, and they were filmed by an Iraqi TV crew. Once that was done, the two were taken to the Al-Rashid MI Center for interrogation.

The two aircrew found out, like Danielle Grant did, that the interrogators were in a foul mood, given the two Baghdad strikes that day and the one that had gone in the previous day. Both had cover stories memorized in case of shootdown, but the Iraqis promptly put the two through the full treatment, with sessions in the ropes, beatings, hanging by their heels, and even being shocked the bedframe and car battery setup.

For Capt. Purcell, a second stint in the ropes forced him to break. He was able to stick to his cover story, saying that he was a replacement pilot with little time in the squadron, and that his unit, the 9th TFS, was now based at Dhahran instead of Al Udaid in Qatar. The interrogators were satisfied with the answers, and when they pressed him for an anti-war statement, Purcell signed a statement that was shoved in front of him. He was then allowed to clean up before being taken to a holding cell, where his WSO joined him.

Major McManus had a similar session, with the Iraqis demanding answers about his squadron, the strike, and an anti-war statement. He refused, and as he said after the war, “they played rough.” He got trussed into the ropes immediately, and also got the usual round of beatings, being hung by his heels, and was given the shock treatment via the bedframe and car battery setup. A second stint in the ropes, followed by time on a sawhorse, forced him to submit. He, too, stuck to the cover story he and Purcell had created, convincing the interrogator that he and his pilot were in a replacement crew, and had hardly had time to know anyone in the squadron before being shot down. McManus was also able to convince the Iraqis that they were flying from Dhahran instead of Qatar, and was also forced to sign an anti-war statement. He, too, was allowed to clean up before joining his pilot in a holding cell, before both were taken to the POW prison.

When they arrived, the men's compound was buzzing with not just the raid that had occurred earlier that day, but also what had happened to the two prisoners removed from the compound by the Russians. The two F-15E crewmen were tossed into the cells newly vacated, and after getting the lowdown on the prison, and Commander Newman's policies as SRO, were able to pass on news of the war, and also find out that some of their squadron mates were in the same compound. The news that conditions were somewhat better than they had been prior to the Kut raid reassured the pair, but the word that things had not changed at all over at the MI Center put a damper on things.

[Matt Wiser]

Part VIII:



11 May turned out to be a bad one from the viewpoint of several Allied aircrews, and a busy one from the Iraqis point of view, for a number of downed aircrew entered the prison system. The first crew downed that day was an RAAF F-111C from No. 6 Squadron, shot down in the early morning hours during a joint USAF/RAAF strike on Shayka Mazar airfield south of Baghdad. Flight Lieutenant Tracy Boyd was able to get several miles clear of the target after being hit by AAA, after which, she managed to fire the ejection pod. After landing, she and her WSO, Squadron Leader Derek Lindsay, split up to evade, for they knew the Iraqis would be out looking for them. They were just inside the Baghdad MEZ's “No-Go” area for CSAR forces, and would have to evade out of that area before a rescue would be attempted. For Boyd, the evasion attempt lasted until dawn, when she was found by a local farmer and his sons while hiding in an irrigation canal. Though unarmed, their shouting attracted the attention of a search party of Iraqi soldiers, who responded and found Boyd trying to swim down the canal. She was quickly captured, and after the usual “roughing up,” was taken to a nearby Army post. There, she was interrogated, and stuck to what Americans called “The Big Four,”: name, rank, serial number, and date of birth. Boyd was also filmed before being put on a truck for Baghdad.

Upon arrival at the MI Center, Boyd was pressed for information on her squadron, base, and ordnance used on the strike, as well as a propaganda statement about the Baghdad Raid on 28 April. She refused, and, as usual by now, things got rough. After a “bashing” Boyd said after repatriation, she was trussed up in the ropes, then subjected to the bedframe and car battery treatment. A stint on the sawhorse, an assault, and another session in the ropes followed, before she finally gave in. Mixing some of the truth with lies (saying she was flying out of Dhahran in Saudi instead of Sheikh Isa, for one) she also gave in on the propaganda statement. After being allowed to clean up, Boyd was taken to the women's cellblock at the POW prison. There, after being tossed into a cell next to PFC Lynch, she was able to get in contact with Commander Eichhorn. After being given the lowdown on the prison, and the mild improvement in treatment that had happened since the Kut raid, Boyd became a valued member of the POW community, serving as a second “Memory Bank,” for the women's cell block.

Her WSO, Lindsay, was much more fortunate. He managed to evade the search parties looking for him, and after dawn, managed to call an AWACS. Lindsay's location on the edge of the MEZ made it a tough call for the Rescue Coordination Center, as arguments went back and forth about the feasiblity of a rescue. It was up to Lt. Gen. Hal Hornburg, Commander, CENTAF, to make the call, and he made the decision to go. A pair of HV-22s with A-10 support from Al Arar would go in for the rescue, while strikes were laid on with virtually no notice for Ubaydah Bin Al Jarrah AB near Kut, and a second strike for Shayka Mazar. Navy aircraft from the carrier Kitty Hawk took Al Jarrah, while Air Force and RAF aircraft went to Shayka Mazar, while additional USAF aircraft went after SAM sites and conducted standoff jamming. The mission went off successfully, and Lindsay was recovered by USAF Pararescue, conducted to a HV-22, and flown to Saudi. After a medical check, he was flown back to his squadron, and rejoined the fight, being reunited with his pilot after her repatriation.

Later that morning, unrelated to the rescue, two A-10s from the 303rd TFS were on a road recon between Basra and Amarrah near Al Qurnah on Highway 6, when they ran into what Capt. Richard North called “A well-sited and placed flak trap.” Both A-10s were sprayed with 23-mm and 57-mm fire, and both took heavy damage. North had to bail out, landing in a canal just west of Highway 6, where he was soon found by local Al-Quds militiamen from the Baath Party. He got a “good roughing-up,” before being turned over to Iraqi soldiers, who treated his injuries, all the while being filmed by a TV crew from Iraqi TV, before putting him on a truck for Baghdad.

When North arrived in Baghdad, he was taken to the MI Center at Al-Rashid, where the interrogators were waiting. They demanded information on his base, his aircraft and ordnance carried, when the CENTCOM ground offensive would start, as well as the usual propaganda statement. He refused, and the interrogators got rough right away. They trussed North up in the ropes, then hung him by his heels from a meathook attached to a ceiling rafter, all the time being beaten with a rubber hose. It took a session of hanging by his arms, and another stint in the ropes, before he gave in. After giving some false answers (saying he was flying from King Khalid Military City instead of Ahmed al Jaber in Kuwait, among several), but coming clean on the road recon, North was also pressed for a propaganda statement. Not willing to go back into the ropes, he yielded on the statement, which was videotaped. After being allowed to clean up, North was taken over to Al-Rashid Prison, where he was thrown into a cell block in the Men's Compound that had not yet been used.

Captain North's wingman, Capt. David Wendell, was much more fortunate. He managed to nurse his crippled A-10 across the Iranian border, and land at the Shadegan Highway Strip east of the border. Local Iranian authorities contacted the Iranian Army, who arranged transportation to an Iranian Army headquarters in Ahvaz, who then sent him on to the Iranian air force base at Omidyeh. After twenty-four hours, a C-130 from Qatar arrived to pick Wendell up, and he was soon back with his squadron.


That afternoon, an Air Force strike on the Diwaniyah area saw more aviators fall into Iraqi hands. The first to go down was Major Ryan Knight from the 34th TFS. He was shot down by an SA-3 while flying flak suppression, and his wingman had caught the shootdown on her gun-camera video. Only a small dot clearing the fireball, and a beeper signal indicated he might have survived, but Knight was quite alive as he came down in his chute. He was set upon by angry civilians and Al-Quds militia, before Iraqi soldiers arrived to claim him and restore order. Knight was taken to a nearby Iraqi Army facility, where he was interrogated briefly, before being treated for his injuries, and all the while, he was filmed by an Iraqi State TV crew.

Knight was soon joined by Capt. Lee Carlson of the 9th TFS. He and his pilot, Capt. Sharon Weber, were attacking the Diwaniyah Military Logistics Center when their F-15E was hit by flak-either 57-mm or 85-mm. Both crew bailed out and were able to call in while in their chutes, but Carlson was quickly found by Iraqi soldiers, who, after giving out the usual thrashing, took him to the Army base. There, he was interrogated, then treated for the post-capture injuries, being filmed the whole time. Carlson then joined Major Knight in a holding cell, before the both of them were put in a truck and taken to Baghdad.

Captain Weber, though, was more fortunate. She managed to get out of her chute on landing, and hid in an irrigation canal. Weber was able to evade search parties looking for her, and that night, after making her way further south, was able to call in her location to rescue forces. An MH-60G, with A-10 support, came in that night, and Weber was successfully recovered. Being uninjured, she was debriefed, then put back on the flight schedule.

Her WSO, along with his companion, was no doubt wishing he had a similar chance. Carlson and Knight, at that time, were on a truck for Baghdad, and after several hours on the road, were soon at the Al-Rashid MI Center. Both were taken straight into interrogation rooms, where the interrogators were not very patient. Carlson had a cover story, and was able to stick with it, giving a false squadron ID, saying he was in the 461st TFS, the “Deadly Jesters,” which, unknown to the Iraqis, had been disbanded, as well as saying the unit was based at Dhahran, when he had been flying from Al-Udaid in Qatar with the 9th TFS. Since he wasn't wearing a squadron patch, the Iraqis believed him. However, Carlson refused to give anything on the squadron, his base, who his pilot was, ordnance carried, and other miltiary information. That didn't please the interrogators, who “got rough”, as Carlson said after the war.

He was soon trussed up in the ropes, and then hung by his heels from a meathook, all the while being beaten with a rubber hose or a bamboo stick. A stint on the sawhorse followed, with the bedframe and car battery following. A second time in the ropes was enough for him to yield, and Carlson gave false names for his pilot, his fictional squadron CO and other senior officers, and so on. A statement about the Baghdad Raid followed, before he was taken to the POW prison and tossed into a cell in the newly-opened cell block. Like North before him, Carlson was out of the loop, but eventually established communications with the other prisoners, and was “plugged in” into the prisoners' communications system.

Major Knight, too, had a similar experience. Unlike Carlson, the Iraqis confronted him with his pilot's kneeboards, and that told them he had been flying an F-16. He refused to give anything more than the “Big Four” when pressed for additional information, and such things were unacceptable to the interrogators. Knight was quickly trussed up in the ropes and beaten, and that led to the usual of sitting on the sawhorse, hanging from the meathook by his heels-and then doing so from his arms,while they were tied behind him. Two more stints in the ropes, and another session on the sawhorse, finally made him yield.

Knight admitted he was flying an F-16, but said he had only recently joined the 34th TFS, and hardly knew anyone-which was a lie, as he knew several of his squadron mates had been shot down and captured-and also gave Dhahran as his unit's base. After giving a statement on the Baghdad Raid, he was taken to the POW prison at Al-Rashid, and promptly tossed into a cell in the new block in the men's compound. Knight was able to establish communications with the other two occupants of the cellblock, and assumed SRO responsibility, as there was no communications with the other block.


Later in the afternoon, a joint Air Force/Marine strike on the Ar Rumaylah Military Logistics Area added to the growing POW population. The first to go down was an A-6F from VMA(AW)-121, with Capt. David Mayall in the pilot's seat and 1st Lt. Terry Rose as the B/N. They were hit by 57-mm flak just after bomb release, and the two crewmen had to bail out almost immediately. The other aircraft overhead heard their beepers and saw the chutes, but a rescue so close to the target area was out of the question. Neither crewman had a chance to evade, for, as Mayall said after repatriation, “Every Iraqi for a dozen miles saw us coming down.” Both aviators were quickly captured on landing, never having had a chance to get out of their parachutes, much less attempt to evade. After a roughing-up from angry Iraqi soldiers, the two were taken to Jaliabah Air Base for interrogation. Sticking to the “Big Four”, the two Marines were filmed by an Iraqi TV crew, and while there, were joined by a third downed aviator.

The third was Capt. Lynda Harbert, an F-16 pilot from the 17th TFS. She had been part of the Flak and SAM-Suppression effort, when an SA-8 missile smashed into the belly of her F-16CJ. Harbert managed to bail out, and as she descended, managed to call in on her survival radio and warn off her squadron mates, two of whom were orbiting overhead. Seeing Iraqis converging on her chute, Harbert waved off any rescue, knowing that she was going to be captured, and she also zeroed her radio frequencies after signing off. On landing Harbert broke an ankle, and had hardly gotten out of her chute when she was set upon by Iraqi soldiers. After getting roughed up, Harbert was also taken to Jaliabah Air Base, where she was interrogated. Refusing to give anything more than the “Big Four,” she was also filmed, and not just during the interrogation, for she was also filmed receiving medical treatment for her ankle and the post-shootdown roughing-up, before joining the two Marines.

That evening, all three were taken by truck to Baghdad, where, on arrival at the MI Center, all three were put in interrogation rooms. There, the Iraqis were after the usual tactical information, such as unit, ordnance carried, base, and so forth, along with a propaganda statement.

Lieutenant Rose, as the youngest, was first, and, sticking to the “Big Four, refused to give anything beyond that. The interrogators were not patient, and went after him immediately. “They weren't fooling around,” he said later, for he was trussed up in the ropes, beaten with a rubber hose, and hung by his heels on a meathook. A session on the sawhorse was next, followed another stint in the ropes, before he gave in. Rose admitted he was a A-6 B/N, and sticking to a cover story agreed with his pilot, said he was flying from Ras Tanajib in Saudi, instead of the squadron's real base at Sheikh Isa, along with saying he was in VMA (AW)-332 instead of -121. When asked if he had flown the Baghdad Raid, he said no, and the interrogators believed him (he had flown in the decoy portion of the raid). After giving a propaganda statement about the Baghdad Raid, he was later taken to the POW Prison at Al Rashid, where he was tossed into the new cell block in the men's compound. There, he established communications with Knight and Carlson, and, eventually, the others.

Captain Harbert was next, and the Iraqis were “not fooling around.” She, too, was pressed for information on her base, squadron, specific weapons-the Iraqis were very interested in the HARM missile, along with the usual propaganda statement. Refusing to give any more, Harbert was promptly trussed up in the ropes and beaten. Not only was she beaten on her back and buttocks, the interrogator also paid attention to her broken ankle, aggravating the injury. Still, she refused to give in, and a stint on the sawhorse, an assault, and hanging from her arms soon followed. Only after getting the bedframe and car battery treatment, along with another stint in the ropes, did she give in. Harbert, too, had a cover story, saying she was in the 19th TFS instead of the 17th, and was flying from Al Dhafra in the UAE-which the Iraqis knew from Western media sources had been an F-16 base in the Gulf War. After giving a propaganda statement, she was then taken to the nearby military hospital for treatment of her broken ankle. However, since Harbert could still get around, she was not admitted, but after her ankle was set and cast, she was taken to the POW prison and the women's compound, being put in a cell next to Capt. Beverly Lynne. She soon established communications, and was soon “plugged in” to the POWs' network, passing on news about the war, and more importantly, what she knew about the Kut raid.

Captain Mayall, meanwhile, was also in an interrogation room, and going through his own ordeal. He was told that he was flying an A-6, and the interrogators wanted to know his squadron, base, and other tactical details. He refused, and, as he said after the war, “they got rough.” The interrogators lost what little patience they had, and Mayall was quickly trussed up in the ropes. He, too, got several beatings, and was hung by his heels, before spending some time on the sawhorse. Another stint in the ropes followed, before he finally gave in. Mayall stuck to the same cover story as his B/N, and the Iraqis believed him. Only after giving a propaganda statement was he allowed to then clean up, before being taken with his B/N to the POW prison and placed in the new cell block in the Men's Compound. There, he was able to get “Plugged in” to the others in the cell block.

12 May brought new additions to the POW population, though not as many as the previous day. The first arrival was from an MH-47D from the 160th SOAR, which went down in Western Iraq in the early morning. The helo had gone in from Al Arar in Saudi Arabia to insert Special Forces teams into Anbar Province to conduct Scud hunts from the ground. After dropping off a Special Forces A-Team that was split in two, and a six-man Australian SAS team, the helo was returning to base when, east of Rutbah, the helo encountered “heavy and vicious” flak, and even two missile launches. Major Boyd Riley, the pilot, tried to evade, but the big Chinook was hit by either 23-mm or 30-mm flak, automatic weapons fire, and a missile, type unknown,sending the helo down. Major Riley was killed in the crash, while one of the two gunners, Staff Sgt. Robert Fischer, had been killed by the blast of gunfire. The three survivors, CWO-4 Kevin O'Grady (copilot), Sergeant First Class Daniel Judd (Crew Chief), and Staff Sgt. Wade Howell (port gunner), all escaped the crash, though Sgt.Howell had a broken left arm and shoulder. All three split up to evade, and two of them, Judd and Howell, were able to successfully evade search parties sent out from Rutbah to look for the downed crew. After dawn, both were able to call in rescue forces, and Air Force HH-60Gs, covered by both A-10s and F-16s, retrieved both crewmen in a major CSAR operation.

The copilot, CWO O'Grady, was less fortunate. Not long after his fellow crewmen had radioed in, he was found by Iraqi soldiers sent out to locate the downed aircrew. Though outnumbered, O'Grady was armed, and he shot it out with the Iraqis, killing several, before he was overpowered. The downed aviator got the usual “roughing-up” from his captors, who were quite angry about losing some of their comrades, before he was taken to Rutbah and put on display for a crowd of civilians. After that, he was interrogated and filmed at the local Baath Party Office, before being put on a truck for Baghdad.

A twelve-hour trip followed, during which O'Grady heard aircraft overhead, and he hoped a single truck wouldn't attract the attention of anyone doing a road recon, even in daylight. Early afternoon found him at the Al-Rashid MI Center, and he was hustled straight into interrogation.

There, the Iraqis confronted him with a map taken from the downed Chinook, and O'Grady recognized the map as one that Major Riley had. When asked the mission of the downed crew, he replied that they were looking for a reported downed aircrew, but hadn't been able to find who they were looking for. Fortunately for him, there were no marks on the map, and when asked to show on the map where the “downed pilots” were, he pointed to an area well to the west of where the Special Forces had been inserted. Then the Iraqis pressed him for other military information, as well as a propaganda statement about the “Illegal bombing of Baghdad,” and when he refused, “Things got ugly,” as O'Grady said later.

O'Grady was put into the ropes, and went through a round of beatings, hanging by the heels from a meathook, and a session with the bedframe and car battery. A second stint in the ropes, though, forced him to give in. With no others from his crew in Iraqi hands that he knew of, O'Grady told the Iraqis that his unit was based at Rafha instead of Al Arar, and that their helo had only stopped there to refuel. He also gave some false answers about his unit, giving the names of several well-known NFL players as senior officers and pilots. After giving the anti-war statement, which was videotaped, he was allowed to clean up, before being taken to the POW prison. There, he was tossed into a cell in the newly-opened cell block in the Men's Compound, where he was eventually able to make contact with Maj. Allen Knight, and get “plugged in” to the POWs' communications.

[Matt Wiser]

Part IX: The First F-14 crew to go down, the POWs at Al-Rashid get moved, and that facility becomes an Interrogation Center:


The next day, 13 May, was an unlucky day for some, but was, in a touch of irony, lucky for most of the prisoners. For after a strike on Al-Rashid Air Base, nearly all of the prisoners were moved to a new location.

The first new arrivals came in the early morning, from a Navy strike into the Fallujah area. An F-14D crew from VF-211 was escorting a TARPS pod-equipped Tomcat on a post-strike reconnaissance when a hitherto undetected SA-11 launch vehicle fired, and a SAM connected with the Tomcat. Both crew, LT Van Fuller, the pilot, and LCDR Laura Black were able to eject, and with the Fallujah area being within the Baghdad MEZ, no rescue was possible. Neither was able to call in, but beeper signals were heard, but in the dark, no chutes could be seen, either by the Recon Tomcat, or by the TARCAP F-14s. With that information, they were both declared MIA when the strike returned to Nimitz.

Both crew, however, were captured several hours later, just after dawn. Fuller was found in a wadi by Iraqi soldiers, who captured him with a great deal of shouting, but not much in terms of abuse. They were surprised, though, that he was black. He was taken to the local military garrison, where he was interrogated and filmed, before being reunited with his RIO.

Commander Black had a rougher time, being found near the Euphrates River by Saddam Fedayeen, and she got the usual “roughing up” before she was taken to a nearby Baath Party office, where she was interrogated by an officer she believed to be secret police and filmed, before being taken to the military garrison, where she and her pilot were reunited, then filmed together. After which, they were bound, blindfolded, and taken to Baghdad.

Upon reaching the MI Center at Al-Rashid, they were separated and taken into interrogation. The Iraqis had found the wreckage of their aircraft, and knew they had an F-14 crew. Both were questioned about the two all-female ace teams in theater, and were asked if they knew Lieutenants Jacqui Patterson, Debbie Bradley, Paula Mobley, and Kara Wade. Fuller replied, quite truthfully, that he did not, and the Iraqis were satisfied with that, but pressed him for information on the aircraft, future targets, and a propaganda statement. He refused, and as a result, “things got rough.”

Fuller was trussed up in the ropes, hung by his heels, and given the bedframe and car battery treatement. All the time, he was being beaten with rubber hoses, before being given another session in the ropes. After several hours, he gave some basic information on the F-14D-what the Iraqis could have picked out from Jane's, several random target locations that had already been hit, and an anti-war statement denouncing the Baghdad raid on 28 April. Fuller was then allowed to clean up, before being taken to Al-Rashid Prison, and tossed into a cell close to Maj. Allen Knight in the new cellblock in the Men's compound. There, he got “plugged in” and got Knight's SRO policies, as communication with the other block with the two senior officers had not been established.

For Commander Black, things got rough early. Unlike her pilot, she did know all four Tomcat aces, for she had been an instructor RIO and two of the four, Bradley and Wade, had been among her students. However, she didn't want to admit that, as she guessed (correctly, as it turned out) that the Iraqis were looking for the quartet. She also refused to give a propaganda statement, nor any information about targets or her aircraft. The Iraqis didn't like that, and made sure she knew it.

Black was trussed up in the ropes and hung from her heels, before being assaulted and given the bedframe and battery treatment. Two more sessions in the ropes, with a stint on the sawhorse in between, followed, with beatings with ruber hoses, before she gave in. Black admitted knowing the four, but only casually. She was pressed for more, but when she maintained only knowing them socially, the interrogators gave up. Like her pilot, Black gave some information on the F-14, and some random targets. She also yielded on the propaganda statement, which, as usual, was videotaped. Then she was allowed to clean up, before being taken to the women's compound at Al-Rashid. There, she was thrown into a cell next to Lt. (j.g.) Dara Scott. Commander Black was soon in communications, and after relaying her arrival to Commander Eichhorn, she found out that she was junior in rank to the SRO in terms of time in grade. She thus became Commander Eichhorn's deputy, and was ready to take over as the SRO if necessary.

Later that morning, during a daylight BAI between Basra and Zubayr-Shoiabah, four A-10s from the 303rd TFS ran into what one of the pilots called a “well sighted and camouflaged flak trap” in the rear of the Iraqi I Guards Corps. Spotting what they believed to be a damaged vehicle collection and repair point, it was instead a collection of wrecks, and adjacent to the wrecks were two batteries of AAA, believed to be 57-mm, at least one SA-8 launcher, possibly more, and numerous soldiers with MANPADS. Two of the A-10s were sprayed with flak, and one, flown by Capt. Kurt Dailey, went in with no ejection, while Dailey's wingman, 1st Lt. Daryl Ayers, managed to bail out. Capt. Dawn Tracy, in the third A-10, took not just flak, but a shoulder-fired missile in the right engine. She managed to get her aircraft out via the Faw Peninsula before reaching the North SAR station and then ejecting, and was picked up by an Australian SH-2G from HMAS Ballarat. Capt. Gary Reid, her wingman, also took flak, but managed to escort Tracy's aircraft clear of the area despite flak damage. It was only after she ejected safely that he returned to Kuwait, where ground crew counted 277 flak holes in the aircraft, which was a write-off.

For Ayers, he would have given anything to have had the same luck the other element had, for he was captured almost immediately on landing, and the Iraqis were not happy to see him. He got what was the usual roughing-up, before an Iraqi officer arrived to restore order and take custody of him. Ayers was taken to a nearby headquarters for his initial interrogation, where he stuck to the “Big Four,” before being taken to the Baath Party Office in Zubayr, where he was interrogated again, this time on camera, before being put on a truck for Baghdad.

Later that evening, as Ayers was on his way to Baghdad, saw another addition to the POW ranks. Lieutenant Drew Hagen of VFA-146 was on an early-evening strike on the Kut Military Logistics Complex when a SAM, possibly an SA-8 launched in optical mode, connected with his F/A-18E. He ejected south of the target, and as he descended, Hagen noticed a crowd following his chute. After calling in to his squadron mates, he advised them that he was going to be captured, before zeroing his radio frequencies and tossing the radio away. Hagen was captured on landing by a crowd of civilians and Baath Party Al-Quds militia, and after a roughing-up, was taken to a Baath Party Office, where he was interrogated and filmed, before being turned over to the Army.

When the truck taking Ayers arrived in Kut, Hagen was put aboard the same truck, and the two aviators made the trip to Baghdad together. Unknown to them, there had been a development that would affect not just them, but the other prisoners as well.

Just after dusk, a cruise missile attack on Baghdad by B-52s struck a number of targets in the Baghdad area. Among the targets hit was both the main DMI complex in the Khadimiya District, as well as the MI Center at Al-Rashid. Though the interrogation center itself was not hit, a number of buildings on the complex were, forcing the Iraqis to move their interrogations elsewhere. Al-Rashid Prison itself was chosen as the new POW interrogation center, while the prisoners held there already would be moved.

The moves began that night, with guards making the rounds of the cellblocks and telling the prisoners to gather their belongings, as they were being moved. In her cell, Commander Eichhorn managed to scratch one more day, before adding “Moved to?” Others did the same, such as Commander Newman and Colonel Fleming.

The prisoners were all handcuffed and blindfolded, before being put in buses with no seats. The women were taken first, then the men, and all wondered where they were going. Iraq had no shortage of prisons, everyone knew, and it was only a question of where. After about an hour of driving through Baghdad, the buses pulled into the sprawling Al-Taji Military Area, which happened to be the normal garrison of the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard. Among its other facilities, which included an Army Airfield, a military logistics and support center, barracks, motor pools, and training areas, there was also a prison, which in the Iran-Iraq War had housed Iranian POWs. As at Al-Rashid, one cellblock was set aside for the men, and another for the women.

The prisoners arrived and were taken to their cells, and when the blindfolds were removed, they found cells that were slightly larger than those at Al-Rashid, with again, a single barred window, but unlike at Rashid, the doors were solid metal. A sign that the post-Kut improvements were continuing was a mattress in each cell, along with another bucket for drinking water. Tired, the respective SROs decided to wait until morning to find out who was where via tap code, for guards came and ordered the prisoners to go to sleep.

After the others had left Al-Rashid, Ayers and Hagen were the first to arrive. They were taken to interrogation rooms in the former Men's block, and the Iraqi interrogators meant business. Ayers was asked where he was flying from, and for information about the A-10C, as well as to provide a propaganda statement. He refused, and the interrogators went after him immediately.

Ayers was trusssed up in the ropes, and hung both by his heels and arms, all the while being beaten. A session with the bedframe and car battery came next, followed by another stint in the ropes, before he gave in. Misleading his interrogators, he said that his squadron (giving a false number-namely his old A-10 Replacement Training Squadron, the 357th TFTS) was flying out of a highway strip in Kuwait, due to missile damage to Al Jaber Air Base. Pleased with that, the interrogators asked about the A-10, and he said he was flying an A model, not a C before yielding on the anti-war statement. Ayers was videotaped reading the statement, before being tossed into a cell, which upon examining the scratched messages on the wall, had held RAF Flight Lt. Peter Johns.

Hagen was taken at the same time, and was pressed for information about his carrier, the F/A-18, future targeting, along with the now-customary propaganda statement. He, too, refused, and things got rough right away, with a stint in the ropes being first on the agenda.

After the first time in the ropes, Hagen, too, was hung by his heels. A session involving the bedframe and car battery followed, before being hung by his arms. Another stint in the ropes followed, all the while being beaten. A stint on the sawhorse was next, and that finally got him to yield. He gave some information on the F/A-18, and admitted he was flying from the Nimitz, but said, “Future targets? We don't get told that.” Hagen was then videotaped reading a prepared anti-war statement, then was taken to the same cellblock as Ayers, and the two did manage to establish communications by flashing in code, as their respective cells were across from each other.


The next morning, at Al-Taji, the prisoners were awakened at the same time as at Al-Rashid, and to their dismay, a number of familiar faces were present. Including the Commandant, all of the other officers, and several senior guards, including the torture guards. Though to the surprise of both Commander Newman and Commander Eichhorn, the Commandant told them in separate interrogations that the same routine as at Al-Rashid would be followed, and that while the improvements such as the mattresses, outside time, and the privilege of writing one letter a month would continue (and in fact, mattresses were delivered to each cell-occupied or not-in each cellblock that very day), discipline would not waver. “Any violations of prison regulations will be punished severely,” they were warned.

The compound was larger than that at Al-Rashid, with several prison buildings per compound, and to the POWs, that meant that the Iraqis were expecting a lot more “Guests” as guards said to several prisoners. To both SROs' dismay, the walls separating compounds were too high to allow compound-to-compound communication, being topped with barbed wire for additional security. Fortunately, the SF Sergeants, Gilmore, McAlister, and Mackey, all spoke Arabic, and were able to overhear guards talking about the women's compound and where it was-right to the east of the men's. It would be some time, though, before both compounds would be able to establish communications.

To the prisoners' relief, the cells were slightly bigger, the bath facilities were improved-with hot water most of the time unless the power was out-and the food was somewhat better. Though no one had a cellmate, things had been jumbled around so that, for example, Commander Eichhorn had on her left, Capt. Beverly Lynne, and on her right, PFC Jessica Lynch. Commander Newman actually had Colonel Fleming as one of his two next-door neighbors, while Airman Curt Schnider was the other. Unlike the North Vietnamese, the Iraqis, though having enough empty cells in each prison building, did not have empty cells between occupied ones, and the POWs took advantage of that, so that by afternoon of the first day in Al-Taji, the occupants of the respective cellblocks were “plugged in” to each other.

[Wolfman]

It’s about time this was posted.

[Matt Wiser]

Some of the Iraqis' measures at the new prison-such as putting them in compounds with high and thick walls-would meet with (North) Vietnamese approval. There are enough empty cells to act as "Circuit Breakers" to prevent tap code communication, and if the NVN were running things, they would do just that. But the Iraqis have not isolated anyone-especially the senior officers. The (North) Vietnamese would certainly raise objections to both of those.

[Matt Wiser]

The next piece:


The next day, 15 May, didn't bring new additions to the POW roster, but it did bring another surprise. For Al-Taji, along with the whole Baghdad area, was hit by a major sandstorm. Both the Al-Taji and Al-Rashid prisons were affected, along with the Al-Rashid hospital. While the POWs at the hospital reported later on that things pretty much went on as normal-though seeing the staff wearing surgical masks, even inside, and the outside view through their barred windows looked like a scene from one of the Mad Max movies, as more than one of them said. To the prisoners at both Al-Taji and Al-Rashid Prisons, the sand got into everything, their bedding, clothes, hair, and most important of all, their food and water. As PFC Jessica Lynch said when tapping to Commander Eichhorn, “I feel like I just walked out of a scene from Dune.” That sentiment was quite universal, with Commander Newman in the Men's Compound saying the same thing to his two neighbors. Only after the sandstorm abated early the next morning did the prisoners try and get some sleep, but all agreed on one other thing: the petty harassment that was the norm stopped, if only for the rest of that day. “Even the guards didn't like being outside in that blizzard of sand,” Commander Eichhorn said later.

16 May passed somewhat for normal at Al-Taji, with the occupants of both compounds settling in, with both groups realizing that they would be in Iraq for a while, and that they had better prepare for the long haul. That, and another reminder to both SROs from the Commandant-who the men nicknamed “Weasel” and the women “Snake” that things would continue as they had been at Al-Rashid. When word circulated through both compounds, some prisoners realized that bets they had made over how long they would be in Iraq were now suspect. That was reinforced when both Fuller and Black, in their respective compounds, relayed an “All Hands” message from the Chief of Naval Operations that had been read aboard Nimitz (and as it turned out, Navy-wide) that the war was shaping up to be a “Marathon, not a sprint.” Both SROs girded their people to get used to the idea that it was going to be a long war, and to prepare themselves for a long captivity.


The early evening of 16 May brought a new addition to the POW ranks during a CVW-9 strike on the Al Numiniyah Logistics Center. Where LCDR Ray Riera, the VFA-147 Operations Officer, went down after his F/A-18E took a hit from an SA-3. His squadron mates saw the Hornet take a hit, then explode in midair, and assumed he had not survived, and no one saw a chute. Despite the violences of the shootdown, Riera did eject successfully, and uninjured, only to be captured immediately by Iraqi soldiers. Though “kicked around” some by angry soldiers, an Iraqi officer was there quickly to impose order, and Riera was taken into a bunker until the all-clear sounded. He was then taken to the nearby air base for interrogation, where he stuck to the “Big four”, and was also filmed by a crew from Iraqi Television being checked over by a doctor, and even being fed a meal of chicken and rice, before being put on a truck for Baghdad.

When he got to Al-Rashid, Riera was taken straight into an interrogation room, and the interrogators wasted little time. This time, the Iraqis were after besides propaganda, immediate military information. With Coalition ground forces and the Iranians now in Iraq-even if it was two or three border towns, the Iraqis wanted to know how far the Coalition was willing to go. Riera balked, citing the Geneva Convention, and the Iraqis were not pleased.

He was immediately trussed up in the ropes before being hung upside down from a meat hook. Still refusing to talk, Commander Riera was forced to kneel for several hours on the bare concrete floor, arms raised, and was beaten with a rubber hose whenever he dropped his arms. A second stint in the ropes and another beating finally convinced him to talk, and though Riera gave the propaganda statement, he hedged on what the Coalition had planned, saying that aircrew weren't privy to such things. When one of the interrogators displayed some ropes, and offered him another stint, he yielded, simply saying that the Euphrates might be the objective. Riera was also pressed for information on his carrier, and future targeting, and the interrogators were satisfied when he gave them unclassified information on the ship, and “guesses” as to future targets.

Commander Riera was then thrown into a cell in the Men's block, where he found Ayers and Hagen. There, he established communications “within a few minutes” and assumed the mantle of SRO. He was surprised to find himself in a cell that had been previously occupied by Colonel Fleming, and though he had nothing immediately available to scratch his own name, Riera resolved to make finding something to do so his first priority. Along with figuring out where the others-including several shipmates from Nimitz-were.

Another CVW-9 strike later that night on Qalat Salih Airfield's storage bunkers proved not to be a good one for one VA-165 A-6 crew. LT Van Easton and LT Carey Robbins were hit by radar-guided flak as they egressed from the target, and though the A-6 was fatally wounded, Easton managed to get several miles before ordering the bailout. The B/N, Robbins, was able to eject, but Easton was too late, for he went in with the aircraft. Though no one overhead saw a chute, a beeper was heard but with no radio contact, and both were reported initially as MIAs.

Robbins, though shaken up by the ejection, was very much alive, and she was able to evade search parties looking for her until daylight, when a group of Baath Party Militiamen found her in a drainage ditch. After getting the usual roughing-up, she was taken to a nearby Army barracks, where she was interrogated and also filmed. Robbins squirmed, but refused to go beyond “the big four”, despite being confronted with her kneeboards and other items from the aircraft. After the filming, she was bound and blindfolded, then put on a truck for Baghdad.

She had the misfortune to arrive in Baghdad just after a raid on the capital's outskirts, and the Iraqi interrogators were anxious to know if further strikes were coming. They were not pleased with Robbins when she told them, honestly, that she didn't know. The interrogators were further displeased when she refused to give a statement condemning the Baghdad raid, and lost their patience soon after.

Robbins was trussed up in the ropes, then given the bedframe and car battery treatment, before being put on her knees for several hours. Like Commander Riera at almost the same time, she was forced to have her arms raised, with a guard ready to apply a rubber hose if she lowered them. After that, she was hung upside down from a meathook, before being assaulted and later forced to sit astride a sawhorse for several hours. A second stint in the ropes finally forced her to give in, and though she produced the anti-war statement and some unclassified information about the aircraft and the ship, she balked at naming targets in Baghdad. When asked why, Robbins replied that aircrew weren't told targets until their mission briefings. That appeared to satisfy the interrogators, and she was then allowed to clean up, before being thrown into a cell in the former Women's Compound. Robbins looked around, and found scratches on the wall that revealed she was in Capt. Catherine McKenzie's former cell. When her taps on the walls got no response, along with the lack of other voices, she realized she was the only prisoner, and Robbins wondered how long that would last.

18 May saw no letup in the air war, with both Air Force and Navy strikes on targets in the Baghdad MEZ. Though there were no Navy losses, an afternoon Air Force strike on the Baghdad South Military Camp, the prewar garrison of the RGFC Hammurabi Armored Division, had two aircraft go down. First was Capt. Bryce Leonard from the 17th TFS. His F-16C took a SAM hit, probably an SA-3, that blew his plane in two. Fortunately, he was able to eject, but due to the defenses in the MEZ, no rescue was possible, and he simply told his his flight over the radio, “I'll see you guys after the war.”

After zeroing the radio frequencies and tossing his radio, Leonard saw a crowd of Iraqi Soldiers converging on him as he descended in his chute, which also took several bullet holes as some of the Iraqis took pot shots at him. He barely had time to get out of his chute on landing, for he was immediately surrounded and captured, and got roughed up as well, before officers arrived and restored order. Leonard was taken to the Garrison HQ, where he was interrogated and also filmed. After that, it wasn't long until he was joined by two other downed aircrew.

The pair were Major Kevin McDaniel and Captain Dale Osborne from the 9th TFS. Their F-15E had gone down from a Roland SAM just after they released their bombs. Both ejected from their crippled aircraft, with McDaniel breaking a leg on the ejection. Both saw crowds of both civilians and military converging on their chutes, and knew right away they were going to be captured. The crowd fell upon both of them, and only when an officer fired several shots from his pistol did the civilians disperse and allow Iraqi soldiers to take the two away.

Both soon found themselves at the Garrison HQ, where they were interrogated. Sticking to the “Big four,” they were able to dodge answering further questions. The two were also filmed, with the camera crew paying close attention as McDaniel's ejection and post-ejection injuries were treated by medics, before they joined Captain Leonard in a nearby room. The trio waited for a few hours before they were loaded into a truck and taken to Al-Rashid.

When the three arrived at Al-Rashid, McDaniel was separated from the two and taken to the Military Hospital, where to his surprise, he was treated more as a patient than a prisoner. Colonel Hassani, the Hospital Director, met him at the ER and assured McDaniel that as long as he was at the hospital and under his authority, nothing bad would happen. And to further McDaniel's surprise, he was asked to sign a consent form before he could be operated on for his broken leg. His other injuries-namely a dislocated elbow and two broken ribs, were also tended to as well, and he later had no complaints about the quality of the care. McDaniel woke up in a room in the POW Ward, where he had LTJG Chris Larson of VA-115 as a roommate. Larson informed him that he was the new SRO, and gave the identities of the prisoners there. McDaniel, though hobbled by his injuries, accepted the responsibility and as one of the others there said, “took charge with confidence and enthusiasm.”

The other two, however, were taken straight into Al-Rashid's interrogation rooms. Both Leonard and Osborne were asked about further targets in the Baghdad area, and were pressed for not just a propaganda statement, but additional information on their squadron and aircraft. The interrogators went after Osborne first, putting him into the ropes, before forcing him onto his knees for several hours, with the occasional smack with a rubber hose to “encourage” him to keep his arms raised. A stint on the bedframe with car battery followed, before a second session in the ropes. That convinced him to give in, for that, combined with the Mid-May heat, meant that holding out would be more difficult for new arrivals than it was for those captured earlier. Osborne gave a statement on the Baghdad Raid, and like a couple of others from his squadron, said the squadron was based at Dhahran instead of Al-Udaid in Qatar. When pressed further, he unknowingly echoed what a squadron mate had said, and that the unit was the 461st TFS instead of the 9th. The Iraqis believed him,and after letting him clean up, was taken into the Men's Compound and thrown into a cell-literally.

The Iraqis then went to Leonard, who knew that at least a couple of his squadron mates had been captured, for their videos had been played on CNN. He hedged, mixing truth and lies, and admitted he was in the 17th TFS, but said they were now at Dhahran. However, he balked at providing any additional military information, such as bombing targets. And Leonard refused to give the demanded propaganda statement on camera. That made the interrogators angry, and as he said later, “they got rough.”

With him, the knee treatment went first, followed by a stint in the ropes. Then, like Robbins had, Leonard was hung from a meathook, before another stretch on his knees, with the usual guard taking smacks at him with a rubber hose. Following that, came one more session in the ropes before he yielded the antiwar statement to the interrogators' satisfaction. As was now usual, Leonard was forced to make a videotaped reading of the statement, before being taken to the Men's block and tossed into a cell. Just as the block's previous occupants had known, it was the comradeship of the others that enabled him to bounce back.

[Matt Wiser]

That night brought a new arrival into the prison system, It came when a Marine A-6F from VMA(AW)-121 went down south of Al Hayy while on a road recon along Highway 7, the road from Kut to An Nasiriya. Two Marine Intruders found a convoy moving south and attacked, and one of the aircraft fell to AAA, probably ZSU-23-4. USAF Maj. Lauren Holloman, flying on exchange duty with the Marines, and Marine Capt. William Thornton, the Bombardier-Navigator, both ejected successfully. Their two fates, however, would be quite different. Holloman landed not far from the aircraft's crash site and was promptly found by Al-Quds militiamen, who gave her what was by now “the usual thrashing.” She was soon turned over to soldiers, who bound and blindfolded her before throwing her on a truck for Kut.

Her B/N, Thornton, was the recipient of better fortunes. He landed near the Gharraf Canal, and managed to slip into the canal unobserved. Thornton watched as search parties went up and down the canal looking for him, but never checked the culvert that was his hiding place. Before dawn, he managed to slip out and go further downstream, where he found a cluster of reeds where another culvert was draining into. There, Thornton spotted some aircraft headed south and called in his situation. He managed to get in touch with a Navy strike package returning to the carrier Nimitz, and the Navy relayed the call to AWACS. A CSAR force was organized, which launched in the late afternoon of 19 May. The rescue force, Navy HH-60H helicopters with both Navy and Air Force assets in support, came in and found Thornton just as he was about to be found himself by searching Iraqis. Air Force A-10s proceeded to bomb and strafe his would-be captors, while Thornton swam to the middle of the canal where one of the helicopters picked him up via rescue hoist. A stopover to be checked out on the destroyer Mustin followed the egress, and after being cleared, the Navy crew returned Thornton to Bahrain, where he rejoined his squadron and after a big welcome-home bash, was soon back in the air.

Major Holloman would've given anything to be at that party, as she said after the war. After being turned over to the Iraqi Army, she was put on a truck and taken to the Military Garrison at Kut, where she was interrogated. Sticking to the “Big Four”, Holloman refused to say what kind of aircraft she had been flying, or where she was based. Only when some of her kneeboards and a map that had blown out of the aircraft during ejection were brought to her did she admit to flying an A-6, which confused the Iraqis, since they knew the USAF didn't fly that particular aircraft. Holloman was able to evade other questions, and all the while she was filmed by a TV crew, which also filmed her being treated for post-ejection and -capture injuries-namely the various bumps and bruises from the thrashing she had after landing. Then she was put on a truck for Baghdad.

After arriving at Al-Rashid, Holloman was put into an interrogation room, and pressed for not just military information about her squadron and base, but also why an Air Force pilot was flying with a Marine unit. She tried to explain that it was a common practice in the U.S. Military, where servicemembers had exchange tours to see how other services operated, as well as a chance to fly a different type of aircraft than one normally flew. Holloman, though, drew the line at military information, and that was enough to get the interrogator in a bad mood.

She was soon put into the ropes, and also had a session with the bedframe and car battery. An assault, and time on the wooden horse then followed, before a beating with rubber hoses and an extended session on her knees. While on her knees, she heard the sounds of antiaircraft fire and missile launches as a Navy strike flew over Baghdad after hitting a target north of the capital. Suitably fortified, she felt she could go another round, but another session in the ropes, where the Iraqis introduced a version also used by the North Vietnamese-namely, being forced to lie prone while her arms were tied until the elbows touched, then the arms were raised, with the long end of the rope being pulled via a hook hanging from the celing. When a torture guard hoisted her just enough so as not to relieve any weight, the pain from this session finally made her agree to talk.

Holloman gave some unclassified information about the A-6, and said that her squadron was flying from Dhahran in Saudi instead of their real base at Sheikh Isa in Bahrain. When asked to provide a propaganda statement, she balked at first, but gave in when the interrogator produced a set of ropes, and asked if she wanted more. After being allowed to clean up, she was then taken to the women's block, where she was tossed into a cell in the same building as Robbins. However, there were several empty cells between the pair, so no communications were feasible.

The night of 18/19 May was not a good one for two more Naval Aviators, who went down during a VA-165 strike on the Diwaniyah Military Logistics Center, southwest of the Military Garrison. LT Don Brewer and LT Riley McLeary were in an A-6 hit by flak just after bomb release, but were able to stay with their crippled aircraft and clear the Hillah River before ejecting. Their squadron mates heard the beepers, but saw no chutes, and there was no voice contact after ejection, so the two were initially listed as MIAs.

McLeary came down in a farmer's field, having seen the aircraft crash, and was able to get out of her chute and get away relatively uninjured, other than bruises from the ejection and landing. However, within an hour, she was found by Al-Quds militiamen and got the usual roughing-up. After that, she was taken to the Military Garrison and handed over to the Army. There, McLeary was interrogated and filmed, where she stuck to the “Big Four.” After the filming, she was taken to what was the base brig, and tossed into a cell for the time being.

Her pilot, Brewer, was on the loose for a while longer, but was found before dawn in an irrigation ditch. He, too, had landed uninjured, and had hoped to hide in the ditch before calling in rescue forces, but was found by a search party of Saddam Fedayeen. After the same roughing-up McLeary got, Brewer was taken to the Garrison and handed over to the Army. He, too, was interrogated and filmed, before joining his B/N at the base lockup.

After a few hours, both were taken to a site in Diwaniyah where a day earlier a stray bomb from an attack on a radio relay facility had killed a number of civilians. There, they were filmed by a TV crew, while a crowd of locals shouted at them and waved their fists. However, the crowed was controlled by soldiers, and after the display, both were put on a truck for Baghdad.

Both were delivered that evening to Al-Rashid's interrogation center, and both were promptly hauled into interrogation rooms. Brewer was the first to be questioned, and was asked about his aircraft, squadron, and ship, as well as future bombing targets. Confronted by an interrogator who produced his kneeboards, he admitted to flying an A-6, but refused to give any further details. He demurred when asked about future targets, and refused to give a propaganda statement. That was enough, for the interrogator lost whatever patience he had.

Two stints in the ropes followed, with a prolonged kneeling-mixed with a beating with a bamboo switch afterwards. A stint on the sawhorse came, then the newer version of the rope treatment, before Brewer agreed to talk.

He gave some unclassified information on the A-6, and gave both his squadron and ship, but said that aircrew weren't told future targets as a security precaution. Brewer also signed a propaganda statement, and was videotaped reading it, before he was taken to the Men's block, allowed to clean up, then was tossed into a cell. There, he discovered he was in what had been Capt. Dave Mayall's old cell, and though he was able to see other prisoners-and they him, due to several empty cells between him and the nearest, Commander Rieria, no one was able to communicate.

While Brewer was undergoing his rough initiation, his B/N, McLeary, was going through a similar ordeal. She, too, was asked similar questions about the aircraft, ship, and targets, and was also asked to give a statement. McLeary was evasive at first, but she eventually drew the line, and the interrogators were not happy with her over that. Then, as she said later, “Things got ugly.”

McLeary was thrust into the ropes, before a stint on the sawhorse. Then came several hours on her knees, arms raised, before another session in the ropes. An assault followed, before another prolonged kneeling. All during this, the windows to the room were opened, so that she could hear the screams coming from an adjacent room, the one where Holloman was being interrogated. Then came a beating while tied to a stool, this time using a fan belt as a whip, before a final session in the ropes made her give in.

McLeary gave the same answers as her pilot-unknown to the Iraqis, the two had managed to talk during the truck ride to Baghdad and had agreed on a cover story. She also gave the statement demanded by the interrogators, before she was taken to the Women's block. After being allowed to clean up, she was thrown into what had been PFC Lynch's old cell. She was able to see both Robbins and Holloman, but was unable to communicate with them. Their stay at Al-Rashid would be brief, for the next day, all three were taken to Al-Taji. There, they were put in cells in the Women's Compound there, and soon were “plugged in” with the other prisoners. There, they got Commander Eichhorn's polices as SRO, a lowdown on the prison, and sent news from the outside in return. The men at Al-Rashid, also, were taken to Al-Taji and put in the Men's Compound, where they too, were soon able to establish communications.

[jemhouston]

Good update

[Wolfman]

Some of the Iraqis' measures at the new prison-such as putting them in compounds with high and thick walls-would meet with (North) Vietnamese approval. There are enough empty cells to act as "Circuit Breakers" to prevent tap code communication, and if the NVN were running things, they would do just that. But the Iraqis have not isolated anyone-especially the senior officers. The (North) Vietnamese would certainly raise objections to both of those.

I get the feeling that the NVN would happily torture someone caught trying to communicate to death, and be damned the international consequences…

[jemhouston]

Some of the Iraqis' measures at the new prison-such as putting them in compounds with high and thick walls-would meet with (North) Vietnamese approval. There are enough empty cells to act as "Circuit Breakers" to prevent tap code communication, and if the NVN were running things, they would do just that. But the Iraqis have not isolated anyone-especially the senior officers. The (North) Vietnamese would certainly raise objections to both of those.

I get the feeling that the NVN would happily torture someone caught trying to communicate to death, and be damned the international consequences…

What international consequences?

[Wolfman]

Don’t know, but I’m sure that there would be consequences for these actions…

[jemhouston]

Don’t know, but I’m sure that there would be consequences for these actions…

NVM got away with it.

[Wolfman]

Because the US let them get away with it…