What is "defections"

Usage examples of "defections".

In postwar interrogations of Iraqi soldiers and officers, being without adequate food and water in the middle of the desert stood out as the first among various reasons that their frontline divisions collapsed in a mass of desertions, defections, and surrenders.

The Agency wanted nothing to do with the Iraqi National Congress after having watched it fail to generate any significant support after four years inside Iraq--let alone produce mass defections from the Iraqi military or even spark a popular revolt--coupled with a series of unpleasant experiences with Ahmed Chalabi.

Although the INC operated out of Iraqi Kurdistan until 1996, with ample funding and with ostensible air cover from the United States, it was never able to attract more than a few hundred full-time followers and never garnered significant defections from the Iraqi armed forces--let alone started a popular revolt.