US turns to old foes to secure Iraq

"[President] Bush promised to rebuild Iraq, and that every Arab will wish he were an Iraqi," says Colonel Saad "They gave this idea of freedom, and Iraqis can't handle it. To them it means freedom to attack the Americans with stones and tomatoes."

One reason was the dismissal of the Iraqi army, a move that ran counter to the postwar prescriptions offered by State Department working groups. A draft copy of the Democratic Principles Working Group issued Oct. 10, 2002 - a 2-inch-thick postwar blueprint created by US experts and key Iraqi exiles - warned explicitly of the dangers.

"The main issue here is that there could be substantial social and economic chaos created if a large number of military personnel are immediately released," the draft reads.

What unemployed soldiers might do was another issue. The report highlights mistakes after the collapse of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, where the "haphazard reduction of laying off of security personnel in those countries lead to a rise in organized crime syndicates. We need to consider the effects of this in the context of Iraq."

An example that echoes here is next door in Iran, where Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led an Islamic Revolution in 1979 against the despised, Western-backed Shah Reza Pahlavi. "When they removed the Shah, [Khomeini] kept the same security systems and he succeeded - one by one, they kicked people out, without affecting the system," says Capt. Fouad al-Roukabi. "If the Americans did this in Iraq, we would not be at this level [of violence]."

Is it too late? "Only one statement on TV would bring the army back," says Captain Roukabi. "Security will return, the morale of the police will be back, and people will be reassured."

British newspapers report that the idea of appointing old regime officers was suggested by British officials last summer, and that the US "secretly changed tack" early this year, sending six major-generals and 20 other top officers to the US for training.

Not all are convinced. "What [Americans] want is only a symbolic army, one not even capable of protecting itself," says Sayed Saad, who works closely with a group of former officers called the Free Officers Movement. The US training is "only for the media," he asserts. "Now they are back at the Republican Palace [US headquarters], working as cleaners - nothing more."

"The Americans don't choose patriots ... those they are choosing are loyal to them, [but] this won't serve the Americans," says Brig. Gen. Abdulkadir Mohamed. "The Americans are now fighting small numbers, and they will drown if they fight bigger numbers.

"The most important thing is for Americans to listen to advice. It's a political problem, not a military problem," General Mohamed says. "I'm a soldier, the last card of politics."

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