Iraqi soldiers surrendered en masse in 2003, discarding uniforms by the roadside

Evidence

In fact, as soon as they had passed the border, they started seeing uniforms lying indifferently on the ground: lace-up boots, military blouses, and even trousers, all tossed and discarded like broken umbrellas in a windy rainstorm. They drove by individual Iraqis and then groups of men, from a drip into a flow, many of them walking without shirts and shoes and in half military uniforms. Sami stared at them from his vehicle, and they looked back at him hard. He recalled what he’d been told before, that these guys were all murderous, that they didn’t care about anything but killing, that they’d fight to the last tooth. But then here they were, just walking along the side of the road like farmers. “That was all horseshit!” he decided. “They lied. They were trying to scare the living hell out of me, and there it was!” — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 231

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader knowledge of how propaganda constructs dehumanized enemies before war — the ‘murderous Iraqis’ framing that collapsed on first contact.