Former Iraqi general speaks to Luke members

  • Published
  • By Deborah Silliman Wolfe
  • Thunderbolt staff writer
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, ARIZ. --  There was standing-room-only at last week's Warrior Call held here Feb. 6 with special guest speaker Maj. Gen. Georges Sada, former vice air marshal of the Iraqi air force and advisor to Saddam Hussein. He shared stories, history and his faith with the audience of more than 300 Luke members and honorary commanders. 

"It is a great privilege and honor for me to be here at this beautiful air base with the aircraft I love very much, the F-16," said General Sada. "Of course I wish to fly. I told one of the squadron commanders of the 62nd Fighter Squadron that if he were at my base and wanted to fly one of the MiGs, I would tell him, 'Come on let's fly.' But of course, you know the regulations here." 

Mixing humor and history, General Sada went on to explain how Iraq developed over the past 4,000 years and how now, with U.S. help, it has become the No. 2 democracy in the region. 

"I want to make clear some very important points I wish all Americans could understand," General Sada said. "First, I want to bow before the mothers and fathers who have lost their beloved ones in the operations liberating Iraq. Iraq has now been liberated for the first time in their history and the Iraqi people now feel that they are free. 

"What America did, nobody else in the world could have done. They have done a great job. Yes, there have been mistakes, but Iraqis are a free people now. 

All Americans and Iraqis should be proud of what the armed forces of this blessed country have done for that part of the world." 

General Sada said that Israel is the No. 1 democracy in the region and that with the Iraqi elections that took place Jan. 31, Iraq is the number two democracy, and will soon be "shining in the darkness of the Middle East." 

"It is now the Iraqi's job," General Sada said. "The American's have completed their job in a very wonderful way. They have given freedom and democracy on a golden platter to Iraq." 

General Sada also spoke to the audience about his time serving under Saddam Hussein. 

"When I was an advisor I would raise my hand when I wanted to speak, and he (Saddam) used to like to listen to me," General Sada said. "I was never a threat because I was a Christian. Because I was a Christian, he knew I would not kill or betray him or take his position. A Christian couldn't be president. He used to feel safe around me. I would speak out, and many people have told me that if I was not a Christian, I would have been dead a long time ago." 

General Sada was forced to retire in 1986 because he was the only general who, at the time, was not a member of Ba'ath Party. But in 1990, Saddam asked him to come back just as the first gulf war started. 

"They asked me for a solution and I said it was very easy," he said. "I told them we cannot go to war with these nations. I told them the solution was to withdraw forces from Kuwait and that we had made a strategic mistake and must solve it. They said if I said that again, my head would be cut from my body. I shut my mouth. They didn't listen." 

During the conflict, Saddam personally put General Sada in charge of downed pilots who were taken as prisoners of war. He became responsible for 21 Americans, 16 British, five Saudis, two Italians and one Kuwaiti POW. He was tested on Jan. 24, 1991, when one of Saddam's sons brought five armed guards to General Sada and said the pilots were to be executed then and there. General Sada tried to reason with Saddam's son, but he wouldn't listen. 

"I asked, 'God, what should I tell this crazy man?'" he said. "So I told him the moment he kills these people, America is going to declare another war, this time between America and his family. (The Husseins) didn't care if five million Iraqis die, but when it is personal for them, they think twice. That opened his eyes, and he left." 

The pilots lives were spared, but for his actions, General Sada was thrown in jail and then dismissed from the army. In 2002, before Operation Iraqi Freedom started, General Sada sided with the coalition and tried in vain to persuade Saddam to abdicate and leave Iraq. His pleas were ignored and General Sada stayed in the United Kingdom as the invasion began. 

"It was only Saddam that didn't accept anything we tried to do," General Sada said. "It was not an easy war, but Iraq was liberated. The men and women in uniform have done a great job. And we must always remember them and their sacrifices for making Iraq a free county. Americans can now withdraw and withdraw victoriously. Americans, I can tell you now, you can be proud of your forces withdrawing. You have 500,000 security forces army and police to take over responsibility. If there is someone to die for the security of Iraq, it should not be an American. It should be an Iraqi." 

General Sada acknowledges that democracy is not easy and is very complicated. But he hopes in October another election will take place in Iraq like the one on Jan. 31 and the country will continue to go in the right direction. 

After a question and answer session at the end of the Warrior Call, the entire room gave General Sada a standing ovation. 

"General Sada is an incredible man," said Lt. Col. Bob Battema, 62nd Fighter Squadron commander. "We owe him a debt of gratitude because of his courage and willingness to do what is right and not necessarily what is easy."