Jobs offered to Saddam's officers

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's defense minister Wednesday invited officers of Saddam Hussein's former army up to the rank of major to join the new Iraqi army, an overture to disaffected Sunni Arab soldiers, many of whom joined the insurgency after the Americans abolished the armed forces in 2003.

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

Six U.S. soldiers were reported killed Wednesday 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 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 Shiite town of Mussayib, south of Baghdad, at almost the same location as a bombing that killed more than 90 people in July. Witnesses said most victims were women doing last-minute shopping ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival, which marks the end of Ramadan.

The invitation to former officers to return to work was extended to "all honorable people" with the rank of major and below, reversing a 2 ½-year-old policy initiated by former U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer that sought to exclude former members of the ruling Baath party from serving in the security forces of the new Iraq.

All professional soldiers in the old Iraqi army were obliged to be members of the Baath party, and most former soldiers have been unable to find new jobs because of the stigma now attached to former Baathists.

Dissolving Iraq's 400,000-member army soon after U.S. forces overthrew Saddam's government in April 2003 is widely seen as a mistake because it drove many disaffected officers into the ranks of the insurgency, fearing they had no future in 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.

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.

Iraq's police and army now number about 200,000, and Iraqi officials say they are two-thirds of the way toward their target number. U.S. military officials say the Iraqis need 18 months to two years before they could battle the insurgents and maintain law and order without the help of the large U.S. contingent in Iraq, currently about 160,000-strong.

U.S. 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, U.S. Embassy officials in Baghdad have been encouraging the Shiite-led government to do more to reach out to the Sunni community and to soften its harsh opposition to allowing former Baathists to serve the nation.

The United States' strategy in Iraq is focused primarily on training a new army and police force to replace U.S. soldiers. U.S. officials say they hope it will be possible to start withdrawing troops next year.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has said Parliament would soon look at a draft law providing former Iraqi military personnel with pensions and other benefits.

Such a law has been a long-standing demand by Sunni Arab politicians who argue that the neglect of former army soldiers was spreading discontent and pushing them into the arms of the insurgency.

Meanwhile, Talabani has invited former officers and former air-force pilots to move to the self-ruled Kurdish region of northern Iraq "if their security warrants that," according to a statement posted Wednesday on the Iraqi presidency's Web site.

A Talabani aide, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the president, a Kurd, privately extended the invitation last month during a meeting with former service members who expressed concern about their safety.

The aide did not elaborate, but rumors have been rife about unresolved slayings of former army and air-force officers who took part in the 1980-88 war between Saddam's Iraq and neighboring Iran.

The rumors speak of Iranian-linked death squads targeting veterans of the Iran-Iraq war with the knowledge of Shiite parties with ties to Iran. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite who once sought refuge in Iran, has denied the government is tolerating death squads.