A rchive Date
[ 23-05-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/05/23/93668-ap.html
Iraq's army dissolved, new force to be formed, U.S. administration says
Fri, May 23, 2003
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's armed forces and the security organizations that supported Saddam Hussein's regime have been dissolved, and a new defence force will be set up to replace them, the country's U.S.-led administration announced Friday.
"The Coalition Provisional Authority plans to create, in the near future, a New Iraqi Corps. This is the first step in forming a national self-defence capability for a free Iraq," said a written statement released by the administration. "Under civilian control, that corps will be professional, non-political, militarily effective, and representative of all Iraqis," it said.
The statement did not elaborate on when the new defence force would be set up, but U.S. officials have in the past indicated it would include members of the army, navy and air force who were not compromised by their association to the banned Baath Party and who were not involved in criminal acts.
Under the new orders, the Ministry of Defence and the Republican Guard also have been disbanded.
"The order suspends conscription, turns the property of the dissolved entities over to the Administration of the CPA, and dismisses all employees of the dissolved entities," the statement said.
Friday's announcement follows the administration's decree a week ago abolishing Saddam's Baath party. That statement also ordered the dismissal of party officials from the civil service.
"Eligible military personnel and other employees of the dissolved entities, who are dismissed by the order, will be entitled to a termination payment of approximately one month's salary, the statement said.
But the order said that officers with the rank of colonel or above will receive no benefits because they "will be presumed to be in the barred classes, unless they prove otherwise."
"These actions are part of a robust campaign to show the Iraqi people that the Saddam regime is gone, and will never return," the statement said.
Before the latest war, the Iraqi military had a nominal strength of more than 300,000 men. Most of them melted away during the coalition offensive, and only a few thousand became prisoners of war.
Former noncommissioned officers and officers from the three services demonstrated on Sunday in Baghdad demanding back pay and other benefits owed to them since the collapse of Saddam's regime on April 9. They also said that non-political, technical personnel should be considered for jobs in the new armed forces.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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