Iraqis willing pilots to safety

sinohero · Mar 24, 2003

Cheers on the Tigris for one that got away

But in the crowd that watched from the banks of the Tigris River on Sunday as Iraqi soldiers searched for a British pilot who they believed had bailed out over Baghdad, some were willing him to safety.
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The exercise had a vital commercial element - Saddam Hussein pays any Iraqi gunner who downs an enemy aircraft the equivalent of $US50,000 ($85,000). Those who bring him a live pilot get $US50,000 and, if the pilot is dead, the reward slips to $US25,000.

At times the crowd broke into pro-Saddam chants, but one bearded Iraqi held back, saying: "This is bad. I'm a pilot and I hate to see another pilot treated this way."

Soon after that exchange I was joined by an Iraqi mute who explained his view in sign language. At first he said that he wanted to go into the rushes, pull the pilot out, shake him by the shoulders and punch him in the nose.

But then the mute thought about it and, in elaborate gestures, showed that he was capable of a more personal, more humane reaction.

Pointing at his brain to suggest intelligence, he said that the pilot would be hiding underwater; that he might be able to swim to the middle of the river and drift downstream to safety. This would be good, he said with a thumbs-up gesture.

As sunset approached, he circled his watch with a finger to indicate the onset of darkness in an hour; he pinched his nose and used arm movements to demonstrate underwater swimming, away from the rushes; and he smiled a smile of great satisfaction.

Just before dark there was wild cheering as the crowd saw a reed, standing vertically as it floated downstream. Two soldiers stripped off and swam towards it; but as they neared it the Kalashnikovs opened up again.

They scarpered ... and the reed got away.
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Iraqis willing pilots to safety

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