US assembles new Iraqi army

Initially, Iraqi forces will take over security at fixed sites, assist in the movement of convoys, and provide border control, according to US Gen. Tommy Franks, who recently stepped down as head of Central Command. "As it develops, this force will work with coalition forces to contribute to stability and security throughout Iraq," said General Franks in recent testimony before the US Senate.

Yet screening potential recruits is a challenge for the coalition. The application form asks detailed questions about criminal convictions, financial troubles, and - most important - membership in organizations such as Hussein's political and security forces. Top Baath Party members, intelligence personnel, as well as Special Republican Guard troops are barred from joining the new Army.

In some cases, the mistrust runs both ways.

Mohammad al-Dulaimi, whose fine clothes and grooming lend veracity to his claim to be a former lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi Army, took an application but hesitated to turn it in.

"Maybe they will put all the officers on trial," said Mr. Dulaimi, a commander in an infantry division based in Mosul that surrendered after negotiations with the coalition following the fall of Baghdad. "If they guarantee my life, my family, then I will join."

Some former Iraqi enlisted men sought reassurance that their treatment in the new Army would be better than it was in the old one. "I was forced to join the Army when I was 18 years old, and was paid 5,000 dinars [about $4] a month," said Akeel Abbas, who manned artillery in Basra during the war. Bribery by Iraqi officers was rampant, another former soldier said. "I want to know whether I would get paid better by the Americans."

Nevertheless, the abundance of recruits is welcome to US officials, who say they seek to accelerate the training of Iraqis to take some of the burden off the nearly 150,000 American troops now in Iraq.

"I would like ... to see this thing, the Iraqi Army, come along as fast as we can actually control it and put it to work," said Franks.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has also spoken recently of accelerating the use of Iraqi forces. "We intend to have the Iraqi Army grow as rapidly as we can do so," he said in testimony this month.

Plans to create an Iraqi civil defense force are also under way, according to coalition officials, although exact details remain unclear.

"There is no blueprint" yet for the militia, which reportedly would include roughly 7,000 Iraqis organized quickly as support for US forces engaged in tracking down guerrillas.

Britain, Poland, and other countries are expected to supply a total of 30,000 troops in Iraq by early fall, although several other nations including India have recently declined to offer forces without a larger United Nations role in the occupation.

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