126 Iraqi Officers Executed, Defector Says

An Iraqi army defector said today that President Saddam Hussein executed six generals and 120 other officers--almost all for dissent over the invasion of Kuwait.

“On Aug. 2, 120 officers of various ranks were executed simultaneously. They were machine-gunned because they did not want to go to Kuwait,” a 26-year-old Iraqi captain told reporters in the snow-covered eastern Turkish city of Van.

“Later, six three-star generals were also executed either because of their unwillingness to go to Kuwait or some other mistakes,” said the captain, who refused to give his name.

The captain, a resident of Baghdad, was the most senior officer and the only Arab among a group of 100 military men and 30 civilians who fled into Turkey on foot in September.

Diplomats and Egyptian news reports said in August that 120 Iraqi soldiers were killed for opposing the invasion. Baghdad denied the reports.

The captain, who arrived in Turkey on Sept. 5, told reporters that “I went to Kuwait on Aug. 11. I was in a division near the Saudi Arabian border . . . and I did not want to fight against my Muslim brothers, so I escaped.”

“Saddam is a terrorist,” said the captain, speaking in Arabic through an interpreter. “Kuwait was like a slaughterhouse. Soldiers were told to kill any opponents. I can say hundreds of civilians were killed in Kuwait. Many women were raped by Iraqi soldiers.”

He spoke of low morale among Iraqi troops, ill-supplied with water and food. Daily bread rations were down to two seven-ounce loaves per person.

“When we were fighting Iran our satisfaction and our morale were high, but now we are not satisfied. If war breaks out, I believe at least half of Iraq’s soldiers would lay down their arms and surrender.”