Because of the rigid, old-school thinking that dominated the army at the time, no one believed such an offensive would work except for me and my colleague Mekkeh Mudad.
General Shanshal was visiting the corps headquarters and he was surrounded by members of the military bureau of the Baath Party.
[1]In 2003, the 3rd Corps headquarters was located at Nasiriyah, and it was composed of the 11th Infantry Division, 51st Mechanised Infantry Division (reported in 2002 as comprising the 31st Mech Bde; 32nd Mech Bde; and 41st Armoured Brigade[2]), and 6th Armored Division—all at around 50 percent strength.
The 51st operated south covering the oilfields, and the 6th was north near Al Amarah, which left three brigade-sized elements of the 11th ID to guard the An Nasiriyah area.
[3] The corps was dissolved alongside the remainder of the Iraqi Army by Coalition Provisional Authority Order 2 of May 2003.