Hussein officers invited to serve

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government yesterday invited junior Iraqi officers dismissed from Saddam Hussein's army by the US occupation authority to enlist in the new Iraqi army, a move aimed at drawing military manpower away from the insurgency and accelerating the rebuilding of Iraq's new security forces.

The invitation to return to work was extended to ''all honorable people" with the rank of major and below, reversing a 2 1/2-year-old policy initiated by former US administrator L. Paul Bremer III that sought to exclude former Ba'athists from serving in the security forces of the new Iraq.

The conciliatory gesture extends a hand of friendship to one of the most disgruntled sectors of Iraqi society: the mostly Sunni cadres of the old army who fought and lost against the invading US and coalition forces in 2003 -- and then lost their jobs.

The move is risky, however. Many thousands of demobilized, jobless soldiers are believed to have joined an insurgency that is now better organized than it was when Americans ran the country, and they may use the opportunity to reenlist to infiltrate the security forces and sabotage US efforts to pacify Iraq.

But Iraqi officials say they recognize they have to reach out to the embittered Sunni minority that lost political and military power when Hussein was toppled if they are to have a chance of ending the Sunni-dominated insurgency that continues to claim dozens of lives daily.

Six American forces were reported killed in the past two days, and at least 30 Iraqis died in insurgent violence. Two of the Americans were pilots killed when their Cobra attack helicopter crashed during combat operations in the troubled city of Ramadi, and four died in three separate attacks in Baghdad, Balad, and Ramadi.

In the deadliest attack, at least 20 Iraqis were killed in a car bombing in the Shi'ite town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad, at almost exactly the same location as a bombing that claimed the lives of more than 90 people in July. Witnesses said most of the victims were women doing last-minute shopping ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival, which marks the end of Ramadan.

US officials in Iraq had no immediate reaction to the repudiation of Bremer's decision to disband the old army, which has since been widely criticized as one of the leading triggers of the Sunni rebellion. But in recent months, US Embassy officials in Baghdad have been encouraging the Shi'ite-led government to do more to reach out to the Sunni community and to soften their harsh opposition to allowing former Ba'athists to serve the state.

All professional soldiers in the old Iraqi army were obliged to be members of the Ba'ath Party, and most former soldiers have been unable to find new jobs because of the stigma now attached to former Ba'athists.

Bringing trained junior officers back into the army may help speed US efforts to expand the Iraqi security forces to the point where they are capable of taking over from the American military. The current US strategy in Iraq is focused primarily on training a new army and police force to replace American soldiers. US officials still say they hope it will be possible to start withdrawing troops next year.

One problem encountered in the effort to train a new army is that a large majority of recruits are drawn from the majority Shi'ite community, while most of the insurgent violence is concentrated in Sunni areas. Leaving a mostly Shi'ite army to fight a mostly Sunni rebellion carries a risk that the country could erupt into civil war whenever US troops leave.

It wasn't immediately clear how many of the 350,000 career military soldiers demobilized by Bremer will be affected by the move. Senior officers are not included in the invitation, although some have already been selectively recruited back to senior positions in the new army.

It also isn't clear how many of the soldiers covered by the call will respond. At a ''reconciliation" gathering earlier this week of 1,000 former junior officers organized by President Jalal Talabani, some soldiers demanded that they be reinstated in the army.

Others said they would refuse any invitation to reenlist unless their former senior officers were also reinstated. ''We cannot serve under the officers of this army because they are all gangsters and they are not loyal to their country," said Munir Adnan, 37, a veteran of Iraq's wars against Iran, Kuwait, and the invading US military.

Those invited to return to work were told to report to recruiting centers at various dates in the next month, according to their rank. A brief statement issued by the Defense Ministry said they will undergo a screening process, including an interview presumably designed to filter out suspected insurgents.

The plight of 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. After most Sunnis boycotted an election in January, they seem likely to turn out in force at the Dec. 15 ballot.

US and Iraqi officials hope this engagement in the political process can undermine popular support for the insurgency. The Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government has been rebuilding the army from scratch with the help of the US military, and it now boasts more than 100,000 men in about 100 battalions. However, many of those units are not yet ready to operate without US support.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.