Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

The Republican GuardThe Republican Guard (RG) consistedof two military branches charged withdivergent missions outlined below.Nonetheless, both branches of theRG received orders from the RGSecretariat, which was directly subordinate to QusaySaddam Husayn. The last officer to hold the positionof Secretariat General, more commonly referred to asSecretary General, was Staff Lt. Gen. Kamal Mustafa‘Abdallah Sultan Al Nasiri.The smaller RG branch, the Special RepublicanGuard, was the third tier of presidential security afterthe Presidential Bodyguards and SSO. The SpecialRepublican Guard’s primary mission was the physicalprotection and security of the presidential groundsand other sites sensitive to national security.The larger contingent,the Republican GuardForces Command, wasoften recognized as the“elite fighting forceof Iraq” and was alsothe group most oftenreferred to when speakingof the RepublicanGuard. The RepublicanGuard Forces Commandwould be consideredthe fourth, and final,Kamal Mustafatier of the Regime security services.Qusay, in the role of the “Honorable Supervisor” ofthe Republican Guard, like his father, kept a keeneye on the military forces closest to the Regime. Nopiece of military equipment could be moved—evenfor repair—by a brigade, division, or corps commanderwithout the prior written permission of Qusaythrough the RG Secretariat. Security officers from theSSO were embedded within the Republican Guard toensure that this was strictly followed and report if itwas contradicted.The Special Republican GuardThe primary mission of the Special Republican Guard(SRG) was to secure and protect presidential areasand other sites sensitive to national security. Althoughtasked with guarding presidential grounds, the SSOofficers also conducted all personal and vehicularsearches and internal security. The SRG was responsiblefor manning gate guards and securing the grounds,perimeter, and surrounding areas. Even the SRGCommander, Brig. Barzan ‘Abd-al-Ghafur SulaymanAl Majid, was not permitted to enter any presidentialgrounds without prior approval. Saddam ensured thatall military units were kept far enough away in orderto prevent any potential coup.The SRG was originallya large brigade composedof seven battalionsizedelements referredto as Regiments. TheSRG bulked up to thesize of a division in 1992when the threat to thegovernment increased,although it had never—before or after thethreat—been trained forcoup suppression. TheSRG maintained its large Barzan ‘Abd al-Ghafurstature until early 2000, when the branch could notsupport its own logistic requirements and was reducedfrom four brigades to one. It was again augmented todivisional size before Operation Iraqi Freedom, butthe SRG units played no role in combat as maneuverunits during Operations Desert Storm or Iraqi Freedom.The chain of command within the SRG was strictlycontrolled, given the proximity of military troops toSaddam. Orders could only be passed down from theRG Secretariat to the SRG commander. The SSO attimes would attempt to commandeer SRG assets forad hoc tasks, but the SRG Commander would refuseto allocate a single vehicle without an official writtenorder from the RG Secretariat.The SRG, under the direction of the SSO, participatedin WMD-related concealment activities from1991 to 1995. Equipment, documents, and otherunidentified sensitive materials from the MilitaryIndustrialization Commission were loadedon trucks and stored at SRG facilities in order toprevent their discovery by UNSCOM inspectors,according to numerous sources.Regime StrategicIntent93