Deserters from the Iraqi army said they were beaten...

Deserters from the Iraqi army said they were beaten by their superiors and one said he saw 10 fellow soldiers executed by a commander, according to a Human Rights Watch report. Some of the 26 soldiers interviewed by the group said officers frequently warned of executions if they tried to escape, telling them during air strikes to stand fast and "die like men.'' On March 26, six days after the start of the war, 10 deserters were brought to an open field where a colonel had gathered other units, according to one of the deserters. "This is what happens to betrayers of our nation,'' the officers told the assembled troops, according to the witness. He then began shooting the men one by one, and other members of the execution squad joined in. The bodies were dragged onto a hillside so the soldiers would have a better view of the corpses, the witness said.