Many disaffected officers of former president Saddam Hussein's army joined the Sunni-led insurgency after the US abolished the armed forces in 2003. Now Iraq's defense minister has invited them back.
There's a catch -- the officers' rank must be no higher than major and they must pass a background check to make sure their loyalties belong to 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.
PHOTO: AP
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. 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.
Violence
Word of the recruitment came on Wednesday -- another violent day in Iraq. A suicide bomber detonated a minibus packed with explosives in an outdoor market packed with shoppers ahead of a Muslim festival, killing about 20 people and wounding more than 60 in a Shiite Muslim town south of Baghdad.
Six US troops were killed, two in a helicopter crash west of the capital.
Also on Wednesday, the US command confirmed moves to step up training on how to combat roadside bombs -- now the biggest killers of US troops in Iraq.
The suicide bombing occurred about 5pm in the center of Musayyib, a Euphrates River town 64km from Baghdad. On July 16, nearly 100 people died in a suicide bombing in front of a Shiite mosque in Musayyib.
Witnesses said the latest attack took place as the market was crowded in advance of the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Many women and children were feared among the dead and wounded.
"They want to kill people before the feast," said Nagat Hassoun, 50, who lived a few hundred meters from the blast site. "They want people to stay at home and live in a tragedy. The aim is to cause sabotage. They're targeting the Shiites."
The town police chief, Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Mijwil, said 22 people were killed and 61 wounded, many in heavily damaged meat and vegetable stalls, shops and cafes. Yesterday, Ali Abbas, a regional health director, said the wounded included nine children and four women.
"The insurgents wanted to cause as many casualties as possible," said police Captain Muthanna Khalid.
The latest deaths follow the fourth deadliest month for US troops since the US-led invasion of Iraq. Most of the 96 Americans killed last month were victims of roadside bombs.
The US decision to disband Saddam's 400,000-member army soon after he was ousted in April 2003 has been widely seen as a major contributor to the growth of the insurgency, which is fueled by Sunni ex-soldiers.
Al-Qaeda
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda in Iraq said yesterday it had decided to kill two Moroccan embassy employees it kidnapped last month, according to an Internet statement.
It was not clear from the statement when the killings would be carried out.
The statement appeared on an Islamist Web site often used by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda group.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS