Iraqi Soldiers: We had to eat grass and witness executions.

Iraqi Soldiers: We Had to Eat Grass, Witness Executions

Human Rights Watch on Friday revealed the first independent, substantial information about Iraqi army deserters since the war began, and it ain't pretty.

Many of the 26 soldiers interviewed by the organization spoke of extremely low pay ($2 or even less a month) and meager food rations. One witness described the summary execution of 10 suspected deserters. Others said they knew of execution squads of 10 to 12 men.

"Some days we were so hungry we would eat grass, which we mixed with a little water," said a 21-year-old soldier from Baghdad whose unit was part of the Fifth Corps. "We didn't wash ourselves for 40 days. Often there was no drinking water, and they would give us jerry cans and tell us to go and fill them from the pools of water that gathered on the ground when it rained."

Some of the Iraqi soldiers described inhumane punishments including beatings or being forced to crawl across stones on their bare knees or backs. One showed the scars on his back from this punishment. Their officers frequently warned them that they would be executed if they tried to escape. Several deserters said their officers forced them to remain in their positions during the air strikes, telling them to "die like men."

The eyewitness to an execution said that on March 26, 10 deserters were brought to an open field where a colonel had gathered other units to witness the execution. "This is what happens to betrayers of our nation," the colonel told the assembled troops, according to the witness. He then began shooting the alleged deserters one by one. Other members of the execution squad joined in. The colonel then ordered the bodies to be dragged up onto a hillside so the soldiers would have a better view of the corpses.

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