Fight or die is what Iraqi officers are telling their reluctant soldiers, and they mean it. Refusal to fight American and British soldiers means a bullet in the back of the head – the Iraqi version of friendly fire.

In addition to intelligence reports that the "Fedayeen Saddam" are taking children from their homes in order to make their parents fight against coalition troops, proof of other, bullet-based Iraqi coercion was evident in the case of an injured Iraqi private.

The dying Iraqi had been shot in the head during the firefight Tuesday night with American troops, reported the New York Times, and the wound to the back of his head was from a small-caliber bullet, most likely from a pistol fired at close range.

Iraqi prisoners taken after the battle said their officers had been firing at them, forcing them to go into a battle they did not want to fight.

"The officers threatened to shoot us unless we fought," a wounded Iraqi told the Times from his bed in the American field hospital here. "They took out their guns and pointed them and told us to fight." "We think he was shot by his own," Dr. Wade Wilde, a Navy surgeon assigned to the Marines, told the Times. "If he had been hit by an M-16, it would have taken his whole head off. It seems like it was an Iraqi gun."

As Dr. Wilde spoke, his eyes drifted to the Iraqi soldier, still clinging to life on the stretcher. "We've tried to make him as comfortable as possible," he said, "and let the wound run its course." American Marines guarding Iraqi prisoners told the Times the Iraqis complained that their own officers had shot at them during the battle.

Proof of "Fedayeen" kidnappings came from another of the injured Iraqis, whom we are now treating: "I have four children at home, and they threatened to hurt them if I did not fight. I had no choice."