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.
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