Iraq Invites Ex-Officers to Join New Army

By HAMZA HENDAWI

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s defense minister Wednesday invited officers of Saddam Hussein’s army up to the rank of major to join the new Iraqi army, an overture to disaffected Sunni Arab ex-soldiers – many of whom joined the insurgency after the Americans abolished the armed forces in 2003.

A ministry official said former officers wishing to re-enlist must report to recruiting centers Nov. 5 through Dec. 15. They will be interviewed and undergo background checks before they can return to active service, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

He said Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab, made the decision.

It is uncertain how many ex-officers will respond to the call since there was nothing to prevent many of them from joining the new army before.

L. Paul Bremer, Iraq’s former U.S. governor, dissolved Iraq’s 400,000-strong army soon after American forces overthrew Saddam’s regime in April 2003. The decision is widely seen as a mistake because it drove many disaffected officers into the ranks of the insurgency, fearing they had no future in the new Iraq.

The top ranks of the old army were dominated by Saddam’s fellow Sunni Arabs. Some former officers are known to be helping insurgents with planning, tactics and instruction on explosives and weapons.

Tens of thousands of lower-ranking soldiers, mostly Shiites, later found their way back to service when Iraq began to rebuild its army and police forces.

Iraq’s police and army now number about 200,000, and Iraqi officials say they are two-thirds of the way toward their target number. U.S. military officials say the Iraqis need 18 months to two years before they could battle the insurgents and maintain law and order without the help of the large American contingent in Iraq, currently about 160,000-strong.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has said parliament would soon look at a draft law providing former Iraqi military personnel with pensions and other benefits. Such a law has been a long-standing demand by Sunni Arab politicians who argue that the neglect of former army soldiers was spreading discontent and pushing them into the arms of the insurgency.

Talabani, in comments posted on his office’s Web site, put at 350,000 the number of former service member who could benefit from the new law.

Meanwhile, Talabani, has invited former officers and ex-air force pilots to move to the self-ruled Kurdish region of northern Iraq "if their security warrants that," according to a statement posted Wednesday on the Iraqi presidency’s Web site.

A Talabani aide, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the president, a Kurd, privately extended the invitation last month during a meeting with former service members who expressed concern about their personal safety.

The aide did not elaborate, but rumors have been rife about unresolved murders of former army and air force officers who took part in the 1980-88 war between Saddam’s Iraq and neighboring Iran.

The rumors speak of Iranian-linked death squads targeting veterans of the Iran-Iraq war with the knowledge of Shiite parties with ties to Iran. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite who once sought refuge in Iran, has denied that the government is tolerating death squads.