Country needs you, Iraq tells Saddam's officers

Reuters ^ | November 2 2005 | Hiba Moussa

[jmc1969]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government issued a plea on Wednesday to former officers in Saddam Hussein's military who were sacked by the U.S. occupiers after his fall to return to the army as it battles a fierce Sunni Arab insurgency.

In a statement, issued on the eve of the main annual Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, Defense Minister Saadoun Dulaimi, one of the few Sunnis in government, invited former officers with the ranks of major, captain and lieutenant to return to the forces.

"Those who wish to rejoin the new Iraqi army to serve the precious homeland should go to recruitment centers opened around the country ... for medical procedures and interviews," he said, listing six centers around the country where they can register.

The plight of the hundreds of thousands of unemployed former soldiers has been a rallying point for Sunni Arab complaints that the ruling Shi'ites and Kurds are neglecting their interests.

"They called us the army of Saddam but we were the army of the people," said the former soldier, who asked not to be named.

"We were marginalized and neglected at first but they need us now they are in a bad way."

[Just A Nobody]

"They called us the army of Saddam but we were the army of the people," said the former soldier

The army that drug people to the torture and rape rooms, that fed the people into shredders, that murdered family members in front of the others.....

[BenLurkin]

Well, I imagine that much of the officer corps, and most of the rank and file were NOT involved in those kinds of things.

IMO a reconstituted Iraqi army will be an indiscernible ally in the coming war with Iran.

[Bigh4u2]

Reuters just HAD to get that jab in there against the U.S. by stating we are 'occupiers'.

[Logical me]

You know, maybe hiring these officers might not be a bad thing. Maybe slicing a few heads off of the terrorist might just do some good. (Please don't take me seriously but sure would scare the sh@@ of a few terrorist)

[freema]

Kill or be killed.

Not a sweet choice, eh.

[SedVictaCatoni]

Well, I imagine that much of the officer corps, and most of the rank and file were NOT involved in those kinds of things.

This amounts to pretty much the same thing as recruiting ex-Wehrmacht officers to join the West German army. Technically, Hans the Quartermaster was part of the great engine of evil, but as a practical matter he was just this guy who sat in a depot in Munich and kept track of the ball bearing inventory.