The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq would begin to pay interim monthly stipends to former Iraqi soldiers and their families by mid-July, announced chief US administrator in Iraq, Ambassador Paul Bremer.
Hundreds of disgruntled Iraqi soldiers, who lost their jobs when Bremer dissolved Saddam Hussein's armed forces in May, staged a forceful protest outside the headquarters of the US-led administration in Baghdad, on June 18, 2003. Two of the servicemen demanding their unpaid wages or alternative employment, were shot by US troops during the angry demonstrations.
The payments are part of an effort “to make life easier for former soldiers during the transition of Iraq's armed forces,” stated Bremer at a Baghdad press conference, adding that many former officers and soldiers "worked hard, to earn salaries to care for their families. These men should not be punished for the cruelty of senior Ba'ath and military officials."
However, he added that former officers in the top four ranks of the Ba'ath party, Special Republican Guard members or former mukhabarat (secret police) would not be paid, as well as "anyone linked with terrorist organizations or with responsibility for war crimes."
The new army, he said would be "suited to a democratic nation," said Bremer. Service will be voluntary and advancement "will be based on merit and not on loyalty to any party." The initial 12,000-person army will increase to 40,000 within two years. "It will be Iraqi because it will be made up of Iraqi soldiers and commanded by Iraqi officers," said Bremer.
However, he acknowledged that the new army would be "considerably smaller" than the Iraqi military was under Saddam Hussein, and he said the CPA understands that "it will take time for former soldiers to transfer their leadership skills into the civil economy."
To address the needs of former soldiers, Bremer said there will be many jobs opening up for them in the fields of civilian security and law enforcement, construction and engineering, and community and national rehabilitation projects. "There will also be career counseling and retraining programs that cater specifically to helping former soldiers find work in the new economy," said Bremer. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
