IRAQ: In Kalak, in the north, Iraqi troops are pleading with Kurds living in the village not to attack them, reports Tim Judah
For a man charged with securing the safety of the 6,000 Iraqi Kurds who live in the village of Kalak, one might expect Hajar Mullah Omar to at least look worried. Not a bit.
Walk out of his office and you can see Saddam Hussein's troops walking about on the crest of the hills that dominate the village. They are barely 300 metres from houses on the outskirts of Kalak, but sheep and shepherds venture up to within a stone's throw of the Iraqi bunkers.
From there, Saddam's men could, within minutes of an order, simply blast Kalak from the face of the earth. The village lies just inside the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq and 45 kilometres from the major oil-producing city of Mosul.
But if Mr Omar is to be believed, the people of Kalak have little reason to worry. This, he says, is because he knows exactly what the Iraqis will do here - because they are telling him. He says that several times a week, Iraqi officers and ordinary soldiers slip across the lines to ply him with detailed military information - and to beg him not to order an attack if and when the US-led war begins.
Mr Omar, whose official title is security chief for Kalak, says: "They are saying they will not fight. They say: 'just don't attack us, give us time to join you or to escape.'"
He says there have always been contacts between the two sides but that in the last two months the number of men crossing over to visit him has increased dramatically. He explains that Saddam's men "have a contact who brings them over". The men change into civilian clothes. "They come especially at night. They say they are in a bad condition. They have no food, no money, nothing, and their morale is zero."
This account is supported by villagers, who say that, frequently, hungry young Iraqi soldiers come to Kalak at night, knock on doors and beg for food. They have also stolen sheep.
Mr Omar, whose Kalashnikov is propped up behind his desk, says the intelligence he receives is passed up the chain of command. Iraqi soldiers - who, he says, are Arabs, not Kurds - have told him they come because "they also want to get rid of the regime but no one can say that there. If you say anything wrong you will be executed".
Holding up a file containing a sheaf of handwritten papers, Mr Omar claims it contains information that arrived two days ago, on the execution of a lieutenant in the city of Kirkuk. He is believed to have said something critical of the regime. "He was called Salem and this happened 15 days ago."
Iraq's military leadership, says Mr Omar, is well aware its troops on the frontline here have no intention of fighting, and so has made provisions to foil any mass defections. He says that, until 10 days ago, there have been large numbers of soldiers on the Kalak frontline but that many of them have been moved to new positions seven to 10 kilometres further back. From there it would be far harder for troops to surrender or defect.
He also claims that heavy weaponry has also been moved back to positions around Baghdad and Tikrit and that, in his view, "maybe" only Saddam's Republican Guards would resist an American invasion.
It is impossible to verify Mr Omar's claims but they seem consistent with similar reports from the region over the last few months. It is also unclear whether some of the more detailed information he says he is receiving is either of amazing value or of somewhat more dubious quality from soldiers keen to curry favour.
"This is Saddam's palace in Baghdad," says Mr Omar, showing off a biro-drawn map, which he claims he had been given the night before. It clearly shows an area with buildings, roads and gun positions. Asked whether he pays his informants, he says, "They don't come here especially for money, but of course we help them."
Near Mr Omar's office and about 300 metres from the Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish children play in the sun while their mothers knead dough and made bread. Villagers say no one has left Kalak due to fear of what might happen here in case of a war.
If Mr Omar is to be believed, they have little reason to fear, anyway.