The Coalition Underestimated Iraq's Hardest Fighting Unit | Iraq 2003

[@ryanelliott71698]

Ok the darth Vader part caught me off guard

[@Menaceblue3]

Darth Feda.... ....yeen!

[@ryanelliott71698]

@@Menaceblue3 lol that was good. Tbh I thought they looked like that to provide better head protection, not to larp

[@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895]

Saddam was a fan as well, and actually wrote his own sci fi-love novels 😂

[@Chris-fn4df]

Those helmets are a touch of military genius - nobody can possibly take you seriously while wearing one. I wonder how many troops missed a shot just because they were trying to stifle a chuckle.

[@carlbernard2605]

In the dungeons of the Republican palace in baghdad we found a good amount of those wacky Darth Vader helmets we were like wtf guy must have loved star wars lol

[@1977Yakko]

So, did Gen. Franks essentially fall into the age old trap of being ready to fight the last war?

[@tyvernoverlord5363]

Too ready and being unwilling to respect the reality of the situation at the ground and grunt level due to him being an officer for too long and having a superior view of himself. Too many officers in OIF and OEF had that way of thinking; and it only got WORSE overtime. The Obama period really got bad. Not saying he was a bad president; but for prosecuting Iraq and Afghanistan he wasn't what was needed.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

No.

[@tokyosmash]

Franks was a legendary megalomaniac

[@greygalah]

Well said. This is the great military disease of inflexible thinking. The British generals fought WW1 as if it were the Crimean War; the Navy fought WW2 as if it were WW1 (aircraft carriers with biplanes!); The US fought Vietnam as if it were Korea; and the hits just keep on coming

[@tokyosmash]

@@greygalah that’s the ol’ saying of preparing for the last war

[@iraqigeek8363]

How broken was US intelligence that it missed the role of the fidayeen?!!! Anybody who lived in iraq throgugh the 90s was very familiar with their brutality and loyalty to the regime. To dismiss them as a risk - as others pointed out - strikes of sheer incompetence

[@amogusenjoyer]

Well usually militias like them (that are basically based on loyalty to a regime) are pretty useless when said regime is collapsing. They mostly only exist as long as they have some sort of "monopoly" on violence on the internal population and completely trash at fighting anyone else. But in this case yeah, loyalty to baathism took a different form after the initial collapse

[@bloodybones63]

They lost, they were destroyed, so, there's that.

[@tinyprince]

​@@bloodybones63 That genuinely doesn't matter. Priority #1 should be to make sure you acknowledge any and all mistakes made and learn from them, regardless of the success of the operation. Underestimating guerilla fighters backed by their own government is a mistake. That's the simple truth.

[@MrNicoJac]

Although I share your outrage/frustration, it's not _that_ hard to empathize, either. Like, just _actually_ sit and think for a minute: What assumptions/beliefs would it take for you to have viewed them as "merely a speed bump"? I also think the American leadership made grave errors here, but I can _still_ imagine a set of ideas that makes their stupidity appear logical :)

[@KaDaJxClonE]

The US missed 9/11 because the Intel world couldn't communicate with each other. This was remedied with the creation of NSA and DHS. (TSA has always been theatre and never meant to be effective). Missing one militia group of the hundreds of territorial Defense forces and Republican guard units and tracking the movement of the normal army is hard work.

[@amogusenjoyer]

Funny that the decentralized approach they took to weapon caches/leadership was done to make fighting an insurgency easier but ended up making their own insurgency much more effective. I guess they were right about how an eventual iraqi insurgency against saddam would've turned out haha.

[@Huy-G-Le]

Iraqi Insurgency against Saddam are all US backed extremist.

[@SusCalvin]

The traditional enemy Iraq had been fighting was Iran and different internal uprisings.

[@Huy-G-Le]

@@SusCalvin Iran related made up 2 out 10 of "traditional enemy" of the Iraqi state under Hussein, but ok.

[@amogusenjoyer]

@@SusCalvin I don't think there has been a lot is insurgency in Iraq prior to the early 90s, right?

[@SusCalvin]

@@amogusenjoyer I don't recall exactly when Saddam was putting down different uprisings. But that is a pretty common concern in dictatorships.

[@nowthenzen]

Apparently Franks and his staff had never played a war game going against troops rated as Fearless Militia.

[@mozi3051]

People always underestimate them. Even napoleaone in spain.

[@yu6387t3d]

is that a reference to something

[@thatorangeguy3646]

should have played more Flames of war/Team Yankee

[@nowthenzen]

@@yu6387t3d just a general reference to war gamming where troops are often rated by morale and experience. Untrained but highly motivated troops 'stick to it'.

[@yu6387t3d]

@@nowthenzen i see, thank you

[@Quackerilla]

Darth Vader Division

[@mustavogaia2655]

501st

[@optimusender9774]

Vader's fist

[@inSainTed]

I find your lack of faith disturbing

[@SavageDragon999]

Fucking hypocrite lmao. Publicly acts like he hates the US but is deep down a star wars masturbator.

[@nabilbudiman271]

the "DVD", nice

[@Archangelm127]

Ah yes, the timeless and powerful command/management technique of sticking one's fingers in one's ears and yelling "LA LA LA." Well done, Franks.

[@poweroftorque]

Never underestimate power of volunteers …

[@arwing20]

The sheer incompetence and arrogance of American high command during and after this war just made things much worse for the troops and civilians on the ground

[@bloodybones63]

I think it's called confidence, mate.

[@MM22966]

There wasn't much incompetence. They just vastly underestimated how idiotic the Iraqis were.

[@CubeInspector]

When you don't realize Iraq was always meant to be a forever war like Afghanistan you call it incompetence instead of what it was, sabotage.

[@umbrellashotgunman]

It says something about the sheer tactical level disparity between the Coalition and the Iraqis that the strategic and operational level mistakes made by the former didn’t do much to save the latter.

[@SteveLeCanard]

@@bloodybones63 unwarranted confidence is usually called arrogance. Not recognizing it as such is incompetence. So you're right, but you're missing the point.

[@Jivemike8404]

OIF Veteran here 2007-2008 US Navy Corpsman I really appreciate the vids on OIF! Its been so long but watching these I remember the taste of the god damn dust in the air. It is so wild how a memory can snap you back 17 years in time. I had to pull out a calculator to see if that number was true. It was. Ouch. Love for my brothers and sisters. Keep up the great work!

[@notorio526]

I can't believe KZbin recommended me something good

[@avgjoeavglife]

Once in a while, KZbin recommends good content.

[@curlymcdom]

This whole channel is superb, enjoy the binge!

[@diskopartizan0850]

There's a partner channel called the operations room too. Great stuff.

[@Mr.Haveaword]

Yeah same here, KZbin’s starting to affect my mental health

[@chaimkobylinski1988]

KZbin recommends based on your taste and interests, so it might be just saying something about you

[@rinoz47]

"Then Uday flew into a rage."

[@homoflexual886]

I think the funny thing is he was probably still in a rage up until a TOW missile flew into his house

[@JohnnyRico118]

"This enraged Uday, who punished his subordinates severely."

[@Josh23761]

From my understanding he was prone to his temper tantrums. Problem is these tantrums usually resulted in him using a gun. If he wasn't his Son, Saddam would probably have killed him for being a huge pain in the ass for him. Hard to keep the 'father of the people and heroic commander' image when your Son is torturing and killing people over tiny issues or when he feels he is not shown respect.

[@witzeto150]

@@Josh23761 Saddam almost did kill Uday, because he killed his best friend. Only thing that stopped him was Uday’s mother begging him not to.

[@Kaanfight]

@@Josh23761he was a crazy person, yes

[@s4usea]

My little brother was in an infantry unit at As Samawah with the 82nd, (they called it A$$ $andwich). Frank's problem was as an Artillery officer he had no understanding of the application of infantry and armor below the operational level. To his credit, he generally understood this and gave his commanders, to include the SF guys, a free hand unless civilians were involved, (to limit casualties) which caused problems when the Fedayeen were involved and tactical realities collided with command intent. Lastly, recognizing the Fedayeen as a force to be reckoned with came from Rumsfeld, not Franks, as SecDef didn't want any comparisons to VN. To that end, he forbad the use of "insurgency" and it took him more than two and a half years to even acknowledge what was going on in Iraq. In this context Franks reaction to it was probably due to knowing that Rumsfeld was going to visit consequences on him for his commander not sticking to the script.

[@bananabanana8831]

lot of "underestimating" went on back then .

[@tyvernoverlord5363]

A lot of British style Hubris went on in the Coalition, especially my own US of A.

[@jarredpickle4916]

@@tyvernoverlord5363 Nah just Incompetent American officers

[@tyvernoverlord5363]

@@jarredpickle4916 The incompetence was just the very TIP of the gigantic iceberg... Saying all of our problems was merely JUST incompetence, is incompetent thinking in and of itself.

[@KaoKacique]

Which it's crazy to think about, given how careful coalition forces were during Desert Storm

[@AmonAnon-vw3hr]

@tyvernoverlord5363 quite the opposite. Too many kid glove tactics and cuddle bombs.

[@caseyo6033]

There is a lot that Rumsfeld did not understand but thought he did. Let military leaders lead the military not politicians

[@C.Chandler_May]

Well, it was based on a lie to begin with.

[@noco7243]

Cope​@@C.Chandler_May

[@nolanwhite1971]

Military leaders at that level *are* politicians, though.

[@raysteigerwalt5272]

​@@C.Chandler_Maynothing was found wink wink

[@C.Chandler_May]

@@raysteigerwalt5272 tube's.. yellow cake..

[@LAHFaust]

I had a 1SGT who had one of the Fedayeen helmets with a hole punched through the side of it. He put that thing on the shelf behind his desk and it was right at eye-level when he was smoking you in his office.

[@lilsmoke5999]

Based

[@michaele5173]

I was in 1/325 AIR during the Battle of As Amawah. When we first got close enough to see the enemy (sprinting across the desert in full chemical suits because we were taking mortar fire) I saw these Darth Vader helmets and was like WTF because I'd been there in '91 and knew what the Republican Guard looked like. We had been briefed nothing at all on the Fedayeen, I thought it might have been Iran Quds forces. We slaughtered them but they did fight to the death. The reason they fought to the death is because they were high on meth. We were finding so much on the bodies that word came down to keep an eye on the troops to make sure they weren't taking any haha. I don't know if that was ever reported to the media.

[@westrim]

So you're saying there was a methhead to their madness.

[@bigbison6593]

That must have looked hilarious! Just Darth Vader running into assault rifles like he has. got the force then just dies!

[@MM22966]

I heard they used the main hospital as a primary firing point (since it was the biggest building in town and the surrounding area was fairly flat). Also that they used the ambulances as tactical transports around the city.

[@KaoKacique]

@@westrim Ayyyyyyyyy

[@blksubiesti]

I was at the 64 easting our skirmish too bro. We had no idea what that uniform was. Didn’t matter the didn’t stand a chance

[@shaider1982]

It's a good thing commercial fpv drones weren't a thing then.

[@dannyzero692]

If they were the US military would’ve crash developed countermeasures against them early on and become world leader in that department, the political incentive to protect the troops (and by extension a politician and a general career) would be too big to ignore much like how they developed their own MRAP by studying South African MRAP designs.

[@RobertButterfield-n4m]

Amazing insight, fascinating description, comprehensive understanding- you Intel Report guys are the greatest!! Prester Bob

[@sg51psd04]

Thank you for covering this small yet most important battle during the invasion. We fought 50/50 Republican guard and Sadaam Fedayeen, In As Samawah Iraq in end of Mar. 2003. From 27-30 Mar it was mostly republican guard, then Fedayeen AFTER. Those FADAYEEN dudes were fanatical and threw their lives away constantly in charges against us...I was Aco, 2BDE 1st BN 82nd ABN. we fought in As Samawah from 29 Mar- 8 April 2003. then it was passive mop up after. 3rd ID called us up when they failed to take As Samawah. We (paratroopers took it in a week) minus 3rd IDs Armor...Something about them as LEGS couldn't protect their supply lines and needed us to fix that issue..., Side note, my Plt took 12 republican guard prisoners in a 8hr battle on 31 Mar. 2003. We gleaned much intel on the Fedayeen from them. Enlightening us on the disposition of the rest of the defense of As Samawah.

[@ifv2089]

Legend 🫡

[@luckydawg03]

2nd platoon. What about you?

[@samy7013]

“Samawah”? Do you mean _Samarra_ ?

[@janiss5634]

Thank you for your service Curious who interrogates them. Part of the division you were with or would outside agencies be brought in. Just curious and intrigued by learning this type of stuff?

[@g.b.8836]

Franks was something else....

[@5metoo]

He couldn't retire fast enough after Baghdad fell.

[@gtaddict3666]

In 2003, my father was a colonel in the Iraqi army, and he told us that the Fedayeen had beheaded prisoners of the coalition forces.

[@spacemarine3482]

Based

[@mussyeg]

Good ahaha 🤣

[@fries3187]

And the coalition destroyed them lol

[@MoCan2]

😅 and we should believe you

[@abdulrahmanalsultan2871]

Then lived with ptsd and suicidal thoughts, who really won ​@@fries3187

[@crosbykid97]

they out here rocking earth vader helmets

[@sophiavhoti4548]

i hate when a movie copies something than becomes so famous it overshadows the original thing. Star was litterally used one of these helmets for vader it wasnt an original design they just used mil-surplus.

[@Nedula007]

​@sophiavhoti4548 LOL what. That's a blatant lie. Brian Muir sculpted Vaders mask and armor from inspiration of Samauri. Don't spread falsehoods.

[@comrade_commissar3794]

@@sophiavhoti4548You know Star Wars was 1977, and the Fedayeen were created in 1995, right

[@safariman6710]

It's fuxking sarcasm dumbcunt​@@Nedula007

[@safariman6710]

​@@comrade_commissar3794looks like you never understood sarcasm. I hope noone invites you to parties

[@darkninjacorporation]

It’s like having to fight a cartel after being taught and prepared to fight an army. Completely different ballgames.

[@SusCalvin]

The unit is part of a state armed force. The recruitment and resources of a state militia is hard to compare with non-state actors.

[@YatsarEL-17]

​Fighting a cartel would he easy for any proper standing army ​@@SusCalvin

[@SusCalvin]

@@YatsarEL-17 The army does not investigate crime scenes, canvas neighbours, watch crowds, file evidence, audit records and track social networks as a main job. There are some countries with gendarmerie, internal troops and civilian use of military police. In them it leads to a double organization at best. The police and the second police. If they are heavily set towards this role they start to focus less on their military role.

[@YatsarEL-17]

@@SusCalvin true but the military has many branches, and also all an army would have to do is pinpoint the location of the cartels and start raids on locations , if the usa for example set their armed forces they woukd disable most of Mexico or brazils hardest cartels

[@SusCalvin]

@@YatsarEL-17 I think that would mean keeping the armed forces tracked away from a body meant to fight another nation-state, and even more of the armed forces reorganized to operate in Iraq. France has ran their Operation Sentinel for years now, it is the closest example to me of using regular troops for police and security tasks. French troops move in small patrols around the subway and sit around the Louvre and places. They do no investigation, they don't chat people up.

[@yellowprime8491]

The US not supporting the Shia Uprising should have been a big hint to the Kurds what would come many years later 😞

[@SamerMahroos]

there was no Shia uprising, it was an Iran-supported uprising which happned to be all Shia, actually they killed more Shia than Saddam did, inculding the aftermath. same thing with the Kurds, 13 big tribes only one who would work with anyone other than Iraq (Iran, US, The Mossad, the Soviets, even the Syrian regime who wouldn't recognize its Kurdish minority unitl 2014) this one tribe (Barzani) was put in power by the US, the other 12 tribes were with Saddam all the way until this very moment, this tribe (Barzani) chose anybody other than Iraq despite Saddam helping them in 1996 when the other Kurdish faction ( not a tribe, a marxisit group called the Kurdistan Union Party) run them over. the US had to step in by bombing Iraq to save facevalue. the history isn't what the US is saying.

[@G.A.C_Preserve]

No.

[@nolan1481]

Fine, I'll watch Generation Kill again

[@208flatheads3]

Is that who was in that white small pickup in that first or 2nd episode?

[@AmonAnon-vw3hr]

Lol you may as well go watch Aladdin.

[@armannstraughter3296]

​@@AmonAnon-vw3hr😆?

[@lexussinkhole1202]

A series about people travelling through the desert in HumVees barely seeing any action with soldiers jacking it in the background in random scenes. What a great show...

[@Patop2002]

​@@lexussinkhole1202 Thats literally the most accurate depiction of the Iraq war possible.

[@nickhaynie5980]

I was in the Marines back then, I participated in the invasion in 2003. Before we started we were extensively briefed on Iraqi military capabilities, we were fully aware of the Fedayeen and the Republican Guard divisions, we were told where to expect them and how they would put up a fight. This narrative is wrong for saying that we didn't know about the Fedayeen. We knew and we eagerly sought battle with them, however they chose not to fight us until after the invasion during the insurgency period 2004-2006

[@SusCalvin]

I also thought so. The fedayeen seemed to operate down to cells if necessary. A lot of dictatorial regimes have wonky uprising suppression and coup defence. Standing orders in Cold War Europe was to do similar things. Hold out as partisans in a possible soviet-occupied territory using hidden caches on your own initiative.

[@stardekk1461]

Franks is the stereotype of the average American general

[@AlexRojas-db6yd]

And he has the book title to prove it lmao

[@JabrinkTheStink]

“A black Darth Vader style helmet was also worn by some of the black-uniformed Fedayeen, as Uday Hussein (commander of the Fedayeen and eldest son of Saddam) was reportedly an avid fan of Star Wars.” What the fuck

[@MrShadowtruth]

And the thing is many Fedayeen fighters fought against the US-her allies and the new Iraqi republic until this very day, with many joining or even helping the founding Daesh.

[@tyvernoverlord5363]

Its funny how were are STILL dealing with the global consequences of 2002-2003 to this day.

[@Funko777]

​@@tyvernoverlord5363 yeah... almost like all past historical events impact all future ones 🙄 You think 03 is bad, wait until you learn about the consequences of WW1 that we're still dealing with

[@stardekk1461]

​@@tyvernoverlord5363it's not that funny... It's a disaster

[@tyvernoverlord5363]

@@stardekk1461Not funny as in hahaha, funny is in the irony that everyone thought it was over in 2011, when in fact still in current year 4:48 PM EST we still are dealing with the consequences and the government still can't put 2+2 together.

[@aurele2]

@@stardekk1461 it is funny, many neocons in washington were extremerly confident with their flawed foreign policy which ultimately costed the lives of many innocents. Maybe dont do illegal wars- oh and if USA can get away with an illegall war, Putin will think to himself he can get away with Ukraine- see how US foreign policy backfired?

[@ThatOneRussianTank]

You know you're fucked when an army of Darth Vaders show up

[@ayebing]

I can assure you, within the infantry line units, they were never underestimated. We were briefed on their tenacity many times, and very earnestly by commanders on the ground. The invasion was Franks swan song, as he would retire soon after the initial invasion. His concerns began and ended with his assigned mission, I doubt he ever lost much sleep over what happened to us in the aftermath , only his reputation and political standing with the bush administration kept him up at night.

[@davidtuttle508]

In 2003, I was in Diwaniyah, as an Army Civil Affairs soldier, supporting the 3d Bn, 5th Marines. We were briefed prior to the Marines taking Diwaniyah, that US Special Forces snuck into the city and observed the Fedayeen occupying its' soccer stadium. The Special Forces called in a massive airstrike. They stated that when it was over, all they saw was a red dusty mist. They estimated that 500+ Fedayeen had been vaporized.

[@SavageHenry777]

Gorgeous

[@mackenzieblair8135]

Delta? Or another group?

[@CubeInspector]

​@@mackenzieblair8135 when someone in the US Army says Special Forces we are talking about Green Berets, who have the Special Forces tab. This is in contrast to special operations, which is a generic term for special units

[@helilivesmatter1075]

how long was it until you were issued desert pattern gear?

[@mackenzieblair8135]

@@CubeInspector I’m well aware of the difference between SF and others. I asked because 1. it was a Marine operation and misread the OP also being a Marine and 2. Infiltrating an enemy occupied town seems like a skillset for a more direct action oriented unit.

[@Materialist39]

“Guys in black pyjamas did alright in Vietnam, too. You gotta respect the pyjama.”

[@thefinelement]

The Darth Vader helmets for the Fedayeen are ... interesting.

[@oneshotme]

I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@aceofspades1217]

That uniform screams “creation of dictator’s psychotic son”

[@markbowles2382]

If you study wars, you know, in all times, light armed fast moving troops are always underestimated against heavily armed troops, espeacially when its their own back yard and before air power.

[@shaider1982]

7:18 ok, so there is a connection: Uday was a Star Wars fan boy.🤣

[@outis7080]

4:54 "as a notorious playboy" And infamous serial rapist and murderer. Don't forget about that part.

[@MrNicoJac]

Thanks for that clarification 😲🥲

[@MrNicoJac]

@@sedrfghbn Sounds sorta like the same dynamic that Putin rides on. "Yeah, he makes us die in a pointless ego war, but at least it wasn't as bad as right after the Soviet Union collapsed" I wouldn't say it's "scary" how they consider these options better (both in Iraq and Russia), unless you mean it in a way like "omg, if this is better, than 'that' must have been _even_ worse!" Aka more of a humbling/educational moment, not judgmental

[@aurele2]

@@sedrfghbn Iraq was better then than it is now, that is a fact, have a good day.

[@Mirul-ef3jb]

​@@sedrfghbn have you ever consider that those allegations could be false. Were talking about literal muslism here afterall

[@Vexas345]

​@sedrfghbn Well, for those who say it was, it probably was. A lot of Germans would've said the same thing about pre-WW2 Germany, too, considering how many starved to death after the war. You will find plenty of Kurds who feel much differently than those other Iraqis though.

[@cabooseplays1466]

Darth vader helmets!?

[@stardekk1461]

It fits their evilness

[@RCAvhstape]

@@stardekk1461 And their cartoonishness.

[@imanuelc143]

I do like sand. It's smooth and nice and pleasing and it gets everywhere.

[@evilnet1]

Anakin was indeed a loyal member of the Ba’ath Party

[@khornedmaple]

1:03 "by Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday" Oh no... oh god, no... 4:54 "as a notorious playboy" Yeah, that's one way to describe him 💀

[@Josh23761]

Yeah big man using Daddys power to scare women into spreading their legs for a few minutes to avoid torture then throwing a tantrum and killing people over loosing a sports game. Real fucking Alpha energy right there 😂 Even Saddam thought he was useless and deranged but he could not afford to acknowledge that his successor was just a psychotic megalomaniac. They were two different types of evil, one had purpose and intelligence the other was sadistic selfish hedonism. By today Saddam may have died of age and Ba'athists would likely have gotten rid of Uday and Qussay. Although Qussay was capable of running things, the Ba'athists were very tribal focused. The fate of brothers was tied and any discrace to the Al Mujid dynasty was taken out on the siblings, spouse and children. A way of cleansing the wider family of disgrace. The tribe was always gonna end up as just another inbred dynasty just without using the titles of royal and monarchy.

[@evilnet1]

🤣🤣

[@nathanapplegate5374]

Those guys at 2:49 look like they found the people’s lack of faith disturbing

[@emilioglz.carrillodealborn9175]

Hello! Are you going to do any more videos on the indo-Pakistani wars? Thank you!

[@yousafkhattak5259]

Specifically the Kargil war. Bcz that was tough and most recent

[@karbitgameing6921]

Since the operations room chanel had their last video about iraq i think it would be fitting for this channel to have a 20 years later video to show what has changed in the past 20 years after the invasion

[@Mustafa-nu9tj]

Proud to be Iraqi 🇮🇶

[@Miks-ck1kv]

الله اكبر

[@therealjoebiden5135]

@@Miks-ck1kvAllah is the greatest and just LOVES children. His 9 year old wife would attest to this.

[@Miks-ck1kv]

@@therealjoebiden5135 seethe kaffir

[@Miks-ck1kv]

@@therealjoebiden5135 seethe kaffir

[@Mc.Garnagle]

I endorse this comment lol

[@3rdGearHeroR1]

When "Imperial Guards" doesn't quite send the message...

[@StevenKeery]

Interesting. Sounds familiar that Franks didn't or wouldn't listen to Commanders on the ground, as to what they were encountering.

[@SaanMigwell]

That's not true. Franks let us do what we wanted/needed to do. Rumsfeld, Bremmer, and wolfowitz are the folks who didn't listen to the commanders on the ground, besides Franks was on the ground with us the whole way anyways. He knew what was going on.

[@196cupcake]

The part about how the Fedayeen became accustom to making a living off theft and extortion is the most brilliant and evil part. With the breakdown of rule of law they automatically become a problem for any invading force. I’d imagine that for a lot of them it was sort of all they knew how to do; their only employable skill. I’m not sure how easily they hid their identities, but to the extent that people knew who they were, … would you hire one to work at your Wendy’s? So, you have a decent number of men who are trapped in that sort of lifestyle.

[@MuhammedAL-Chad-nz4jx]

Flase. Fedayeen Worked As Law Enforcers. Why Would They Break Their Own Laws? Saddam Used Them To Enfore Islamic Laws In Order To Win The Support Of The Arab Muslim Iraqis...

[@1joshjosh1]

I'm halfway through the video and I'm dying to know about the storm trooper helmets

[@quinnnewman9538]

Franks seems to have been so preoccupied with the end goal that he forgot the first rule of warfare “never underestimate your enemy”

[@justinhadley2583]

The vader helmets were fitting.

[@MrIraqibeast]

You forgot to mention their most famous battle at the Baghdad airport

[@bassett_green]

Something that isn't mentioned here but was definitely true on the ground is the pervasive use of drugs (especially meth) in the group as a way to increase combat effectiveness

[@MrNicoJac]

Does that actually increase combat effectiveness, or just make your cannon fodder more fanatical? 🤔😅

[@ifv2089]

Not in the uk military it wasn't... lmfao

[@ohnoes3084]

@@MrNicoJac it helps with giving you energy and also allowing you to still function after being shot fatally, also it makes your cannon fodder a lot less likely to care if they die

[@SaanMigwell]

@@MrNicoJac How do you think France was taken in less than a month in WW2? Look up Pervitin. Meth/Dex/Benzies increase effectiviness for about three days, then you have to rotate that unit out and get it to sleep, if you don't they begin to deteriorate rapidly even with more drugs. We had the pills, but they never left Company Command, at least in my company. Others got their orders to munch their "combat pills" Three days you have super soldiers, after that they need to sleep or they start hallucinating and become paranoid. Not a good combo for 100+ men with heavy firepower at their disposal.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

​@@MrNicoJac There's a reason performance enhancing drugs are banned in sports. Tweaking surely can make you more fanatical, but purely being on speed will increase your performance. When sweatshop labor became a talking point in the West, it was reported workers on Asia were doing speed to get through multiple shifts.

[@rickv9180]

Weird ass helmets for a fighting force

[@spartanx9293]

Uday was a star wars fan

[@cap.meruwkateklimana8321]

He watched too much Star Wars original trilogy movies especially Darth Vader.

[@TheWizardGamez]

It’s meant to strike fear. And overwhelming sense of dread in the enemy

[@RCAvhstape]

@@TheWizardGamez Make the enemy laugh himself to death?

[@Artofbars2]

I thought he maybe copied Spaceballs too

[@RangerGucci]

Good content

[@G31M1]

3:17 they be really wearing Darth Vader helmets out here lmao

[@13thravenpurple94]

Excellent video 👍 Thank you 💜

[@RichardGeiszler]

This explains so much of the miniseries "Generation Kill."

[@tetraxis3011]

Very good video. Cpold you do another video on how America attempted to rebuild the Iraqui Army and Air Force?

[@avemariax8181]

who would have thought the hardest Iraqi fighters were Darth Vaders

[@readysetmood9473]

For the Iraqi's to actually held as long as they did against probably the mightiest force ever assembled on all off mankind's history.. gotta hand it to them

[@MuhammedAL-Chad-nz4jx]

And Iraq Only Lost 1500 Soldiers In The Gulf War. According To american Sources...

[@marcusaurelius3487]

and with bribed iraqi soldiers left and right

[@tahaemad5809]

It would have been better but most people hated Saddam so they had no choice just to accept the invasion in hope for removing his regime that's why most of the people didn't fight during 2003 war but them joined the resistance groups after Saddam fell

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

The mightiest force? The invasion force was hilariously understrength thanks to Rumsfeld era cuts. Iraq fought against nerfed America.

[@marcusaurelius3487]

@@ChucksSEADnDEAD America bribed the living shi out of Iraqi officers. 30,000 republican guards in Baghdad were ordered to hang up their uniforms and weapons and just go home

[@abo3abid1]

8:10 How to excuse yourself for slaughtering kids and destroying civil infrastructure? Just say that some random told us that was the secret. "Where is he?"... "Oh sorry he died too"

[@robbabcock_]

Great video!

[@maverickloggins5470]

Goofy ass helmets lol

[@aymenyahyaoui1771]

Shame You don't appreciate art

[@maverickloggins5470]

@@aymenyahyaoui1771 what

[@jeffersonmanchild9271]

Darth Vader troopers! I remember back during the invasion there were a few dead wearing these helmets. Sorta was funny but also wigged out.

[@ZahiraLaouini]

What a lucky coincidence.... A captain saying you need to commit War crimes to Win😂 WTF kind of defence is that

[@StevenKeery]

User-wt: Hamas employing the same tactics, how strange.

[@ZahiraLaouini]

@@StevenKeery keep sugar coating your Crimes all you want.sooner or later you will run away all the same your puppets won't last milking for your Corporations

[@kartoffelschloss6425]

If a religious sight is being used for military operations it is no longer a war crime to destroy it.

[@LinkLegend0]

​@kartoffelschloss6425 and then you create 10,000 more enemies.

[@redline1916]

Imagine getting fucked up by a bunch of guys in darth vader helmets

[@TeSolycMandalor]

"Col. Dan Allen, the commander of the US 3rd Brigade combat team..." Which one??? Nearly ever division in the Army has a 3rd Brigade. But in the photo of Colonel Dan Allen he wears the 173rd Brigade patch which is a highly specialized airborne unit.

[@SaanMigwell]

Yeah that's vicenza, the unit was under 1AD 3rd brigade aviation command nominally at the time.

[@TeSolycMandalor]

@@SaanMigwell yeah, but that's not the issue. He's not specific. He just says "...the US 3rd Brigade Combat team." I was in 4th ID out of Ft. Carson and I was in that divisions 3rd Brigade Combat team. I didn't wear that patch. It seems he forgot the 1 hundred 70th part because I know that airborne unit goes by name, 173rd brigade combar team.

[@SaanMigwell]

@@TeSolycMandalor Yeah I know, I was just pointing out who vicenza belonged to at that time. I mean it was 21 years ago now, perhaps I've mixed it up, but I wasn't like arguing with you or anything. I was in 2bct 1AD 40th engineers.

[@thebashar]

Great work. Will you cover objective Curly? My cousin was there.

[@Zooka208]

In August of 2003 (I think, it's been 20 plus years) we fought the remaining garrisons of fedayeen in haweja Iraq. The battle took 3 days, we assaulted at night, they knew we were coming, they lit up the oil plants to block isr and thermals. We fought through the fields into the city, pushing them across a series of creeks to the sw part of town. We weren't allowed to cross the canals and finish them off, and in 2015 isis was born in the same town.. it's my greatest regret while serving. We invaded from the north at the beginning of the war and fought south. But those 3 days, were hell on earth. The 173rd airborne, 4th infantry div, and task force dragon( b co 2/2 inf and 1/63 ar) and 10th group were apart of the operation.

[@ifv2089]

Wild times... things will never be the same again, I swear the world abandoned their kids to be raised by Google, and we are doomed to forever be educated on what we lived through on operations.

[@MuhammedAL-Chad-nz4jx]

False. That's Not How The Boys In Black Came To Be...

[@AlexRojas-db6yd]

@@MuhammedAL-Chad-nz4jx And you can say for sure it did not at least contribute Muhammed? Seems to me like you might have a bias. BTW if it's idolotry to even have a picture of him then why name people after him too? Your people make no sense.

[@MuhammedAL-Chad-nz4jx]

@@AlexRojas-db6ydBro What Are You Talking About? Prophet Muhammad Doesn't Get Drawn So People Don't Worship Him. Like How You Worship Your False Idols. God Is The Only One To Be Worshipped. No One Else But Him... The Iraqi Fighters Became Soldiers In OBL's War. Then They Declared Independence And Started Their Own Thing But Kept Their Ties In 2006. Their Ties With The OBL Group Was Severed Somewhere Around 2012 In Syria...

[@ifv2089]

@AlexRojas-db6yd you bumped into Baghdad Bob... dude still hard at it! And alive still it seems No one panic we have defeated the Americannns _"The American infidelity is what is deleting them we will never be defective"_ rant rant rant 🤣

[@Cheka__]

I fought many of those guys. A lot of hand to hand combat. It was pretty tough. Even though I always defeated them they had my respect.

[@barcelona9496]

I can guarantee you not facing Iraqi army or republican guard those cannot fought them hand to hand I'm from Iraq bassorah salam 🇮🇶

[@luxeternity]

The fedaykeen?

[@t.mubarakahmed2198]

US Army didn’t underestimate it but it didn’t calculate the aftermath Consequences. After the U.S. invasion of Iraq the sectarian conflict inflicted through out Iraq between Shias and Sunnis , ( which only happened in Iraq from 1983-1987 during Iran- Iraq war . Is this is American freedom and democracy ????

[@alpinegoat2054]

thank you

[@TXnine7nine]

Those helmets looked more "Lord Dark Helmet" than "Darth Vader" on some of those guys 🤣

[@furiousgeorge4114]

Space Ball 1 Division

[@powasjington4262]

These were just guys who wanted to go hard for Saddam Hussein.

[@treywaz]

General Franks is the type of dude to say "American citizens wouldn't have a chance against the government" if a civil confrontation occurred. He has the typical "only those in the military can know military things" egotistical officer way of thinking. We literally have a whole SF group dedicated to training locals to combat criminal, insurgent and military threats and these people still think civilians can't be turned into good fighters.

[@jonpato]

Soo Has Lucasart sued them yet?

[@josephahner3031]

Of course, that's the real reason we invaded Iraq, to serve Uday his court papers.

[@rustomkanishka]

I dont understand why would the coalition forces not consider that Iraqis would have their own version of Gladio. Saddam's people had access to newspapers, they knew how NATO stay behind networks operated. It makes sense that they'd copy some of the ideas.

[@oz314]

Based Iraqi militia

[@actionjackson180]

Not just the Fedayeen militia but assorted Sunni,Shia ,AQ and foreign Fighter units gave American military ground forces a hard time.

[@barcelona9496]

اخ جدي كان في القوات الخاصة بالحرس الجمهوري توفي في قصف طائرة في الليل على قصر صدام حسين في تكريت

[@godoforder1828]

Immediately makes me recall Dune's Fedaykin. What does the name mean?

[@diskopartizan0850]

'Those who sacrifice themselves (for God)' Herbert borrowed the word and added a K.

[@HibHab69]

I simply cannot take the Darth Vader helmets seriously. Yes, they probably had some training, and you should never underestimate opponents in war, but dude, come on.

[@thebeatles334]

For what I've read is that they were more for show than actual protection. Instead of being made of kevlar, they were made of some mixture between fiber glass and ceramic that wasn't very resistant

[@1joshjosh1]

Lean and mean and sometimes green fedaheen.

[@AMEER-zz5et]

شكرا.. للولايات المتحدة التي حررت العراق من نظام صدام الدكتاتوري المستبد 🇮🇶♥️🇺🇲

[@MahmoudWaz]

You now have 1,000 saddam.

[@johnkingeef855]

After the defeat of Communisme in the end of the eighties and the return-to-faith campaign f Saddam launched shortly after that, Ba'ath was everything but a secular party. In fact it had turned into a sunni-salafism.

[@taysondynastyemperor5124]

The ‘return to faith’ campaign was widely seen the by the population as a cynical attempt by the regime to increase its legitimacy. Although the man behind the entire campaign, al-Douri, did seem to genuinely get more religious during the time, his involvement with the Naqshbandi Sufi order is not salafism, since salafis usually don’t hold a high opinion of Sufism.

[@RCAvhstape]

That was a cynical front. Nobody believed that Saddam was religious at all. He was a pure Stalinist/Hitlerist dictator.

[@johnkingeef855]

@@RCAvhstape Strangest thing is well that Saddam - in the end - requisted a Quran in his cell. And besides that he was a devout muslim by praying five times a day. (Source debriefing the president - Nixon). Furthermore after the fall of the regime the most hardline Ba'ath party members joined indeed JRTN, but a very large proportion didn't and joind AQI/ISI

[@AboSaad-q8n]

Wow, actually someone who knows the history, my compliments . I think its more Sunni than Salafism, the official military branch of the Baath party was aligned with sunni Sufi sects " جيش النقشبندية " , however, Saddam in his final days opened the gates to Salafi's to come and fight the Americans, and even in 2014 ISIL was supported indirectly by the Baath as a vehicle to take down the government. But official party members are still secular, they are still out there so this is will known they have official statements and everything. Saddam vice president Izzat died in 2021 from covid so these guys were still active.

[@EnnieMinnieand1]

Would have been better as a Hardest Helmets video 😂

[@johnmurdoch8534]

Disgraceful war....i salute the iraqi men who stood for their country in 2003.

[@ShootRapids]

I don’t salute islamofascist anywhere in the world.

[@Т1000-м1и]

Here when 7,3k in 2h. This will be good

[@TheColombiano89]

Looking back at it they were literally fighting a foreign invader that invaded them. Like any one in their country would.

[@BigBobster86]

9:38 bit of an interesting frame for Saddam's portrait.

[@obsidianjane4413]

The characterization of the post-invasion insurgency is a bit off. The Fedayeen became the core of the insurgency not because they were loyal to the Husseins or religiously motivated, but because they were from his Sunni tribes. It was all about internal Iraqi Sunni-Shia power politics. When I was there in '05-'06 they would shoot at each other as much as they would shoot at us. The Islamist aspect came after the US had pretty much handed the country over to its installed government. That came from the Wahabist "ISIS", imported from Saudi Arabia as a counter to Iranian support to Shia militias.

[@反ヨーロッパのサムライ]

Not really Saudi branch of Islam is vastly different to Daesh branch of ideology.

[@obsidianjane4413]

​BS the are both Wahhabist Sunni.

[@反ヨーロッパのサムライ]

@@obsidianjane4413 Daesh don't follow Wahhabism, they are kharijite. They hate Saudi Arabia.

[@Native_love]

1:24 They revolted because Bush told them to, and tens of thousands of civilians were tortured to death because Bush didn't keep his promise. Sad day for American international integrity and an absolute tragedy for the Shia and Kurdish people.

[@elgenerico6263]

"Fedayeen" What is this, a Dune reference?

[@diskopartizan0850]

Fedayeen has been an Arabic word since the Middle Ages. So Frank Herbert borrowed it from there rather than the other way round.

[@PolarBearSeal]

Get an education, dude.

[@matthewkuchinski1769]

"Know your enemy as well as you know yourself and you shall not be afraid even if you fight a hundred battles." --Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Just from seeing Franks' disregard of intelligence about the Fedayeen militia one can see he broke one of the most essential rules of warfare laid down by the great master that he and others had supposedly read.

[@blacklight4720]

- Stashing weapon caches in Mosques and Schools. - Using civilian clothing. - Using civilians as Human Shields. I wonder why it's so familiar of lately, as if it reminds... G@za!

[@stardekk1461]

Average jihad tactics

[@firasajoury7813]

Cope

[@karlscher5170]

We cope by making parking lots

[@turnermd1302]

It's almost like these are proven tactics against an overwhelming invading force who would have thought

[@stardekk1461]

@@turnermd1302 yup, very effective, ethical... not so much. "Overwhelming invading force" that has ethical background you mean, because Israel/USA could just whipe out cities if they want to and make that tactic irrelevant

[@ROM_ror2]

Fun fact about the helmets, their made of fiberglass, super light apparently

[@nickstonehenge]

my desert my iraq my dune

[@ChanConstantine]

- Winston Churchill lookin ass