Guardia Bolivariano
21st June 2003, 20:32
NAYLA RAZZOUK
BAGHDAD - Soldiers of the Iraqi army disbanded by the United States yesterday warned of attacks against US troops, including suicide bombings, unless an agreement over unpaid wages is reached by Monday.
"Yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, a five-member delegation from our side met with a US officer who agreed to respond on Monday to our demands," either to pay owed wages or give them their jobs back, one of the ex-soldiers, Tahseen Ali Hussein, told AFP.
"If on Monday at noon, the Americans do not find a suitable solution to our tragic situation, we will take up arms," he said, sparking a round of loud applause among a large crowd of former army servicemen in civilian clothes.
Hussein added: "We are all very well trained soldiers and we are armed.
We will start ambushes, bombings and even suicide bombings.
We will not let the Americans rule us in such a humiliating way".
A US military official contacted by AFP was unable to immediately confirm the pledge expected by the ex-soldiers on Monday.
The servicemen were standing outside the back entrance of the al-Yarmuk hospital in southern Baghdad, ahead of the funeral procession of one of two soldiers killed Wednesday when US troops opened fire on angry protesters.
It was the first time US soldiers had fired on demonstrators in the capital since it fell to the US-led military coalition on April 9.
The former army troops said they were demanding wages unpaid since the senior US overseer in Iraq, Paul Bremer, abolished the Iraqi army and the network of security services which propped up Saddam Hussein's regime on May 23.
They were also demanding either the cancellation of Bremer's order or the quick establishment of an Iraqi army in which they could serve.
Bremer announced June 2 that the coalition would start recruiting for a new Iraqi army by the end of the month in the face of mounting protests by jobless soldiers and widespread looting and shootings plaguing Iraqi cities, mainly the capital.
On Wednesday, US-British coalition forces urged Iraqis to enroll in new security bodies to help guard vital facilities and ministries, but the move was complicated by Bremer's ban on senior Baath party members serving in the public sector.
The angry ex-soldiers regretted that US troops did not follow the example of British forces in the southern city of Basra where they said over 4 000 army soldiers were enrolled to protect vital facilities.
"It will be a real problem here in Baghdad because the capital is home to half of the Iraqi army.
It looks like the Americans do not care if they anger the Iraqis.
They should learn from the British troops," said Captain Bakr Hamid Ahmad.
"We were not Saddam's soldiers, we were soldiers fighting to defend our country and the Americans know that the Iraqi army did not fight because they took Baghdad without facing any resistance," Ahmad said.
"We don't know why they want to punish us by abolishing the defense ministry and the army, when the (military) industrialisation ministry which they accuse of producing weapons of mass destruction has not been touched," he said.
Said Hamed Zugheib: "The Americans have to find a solution for us.
I cannot raise my children in a prison," he added. - Nampa-AFP
BAGHDAD - Soldiers of the Iraqi army disbanded by the United States yesterday warned of attacks against US troops, including suicide bombings, unless an agreement over unpaid wages is reached by Monday.
"Yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, a five-member delegation from our side met with a US officer who agreed to respond on Monday to our demands," either to pay owed wages or give them their jobs back, one of the ex-soldiers, Tahseen Ali Hussein, told AFP.
"If on Monday at noon, the Americans do not find a suitable solution to our tragic situation, we will take up arms," he said, sparking a round of loud applause among a large crowd of former army servicemen in civilian clothes.
Hussein added: "We are all very well trained soldiers and we are armed.
We will start ambushes, bombings and even suicide bombings.
We will not let the Americans rule us in such a humiliating way".
A US military official contacted by AFP was unable to immediately confirm the pledge expected by the ex-soldiers on Monday.
The servicemen were standing outside the back entrance of the al-Yarmuk hospital in southern Baghdad, ahead of the funeral procession of one of two soldiers killed Wednesday when US troops opened fire on angry protesters.
It was the first time US soldiers had fired on demonstrators in the capital since it fell to the US-led military coalition on April 9.
The former army troops said they were demanding wages unpaid since the senior US overseer in Iraq, Paul Bremer, abolished the Iraqi army and the network of security services which propped up Saddam Hussein's regime on May 23.
They were also demanding either the cancellation of Bremer's order or the quick establishment of an Iraqi army in which they could serve.
Bremer announced June 2 that the coalition would start recruiting for a new Iraqi army by the end of the month in the face of mounting protests by jobless soldiers and widespread looting and shootings plaguing Iraqi cities, mainly the capital.
On Wednesday, US-British coalition forces urged Iraqis to enroll in new security bodies to help guard vital facilities and ministries, but the move was complicated by Bremer's ban on senior Baath party members serving in the public sector.
The angry ex-soldiers regretted that US troops did not follow the example of British forces in the southern city of Basra where they said over 4 000 army soldiers were enrolled to protect vital facilities.
"It will be a real problem here in Baghdad because the capital is home to half of the Iraqi army.
It looks like the Americans do not care if they anger the Iraqis.
They should learn from the British troops," said Captain Bakr Hamid Ahmad.
"We were not Saddam's soldiers, we were soldiers fighting to defend our country and the Americans know that the Iraqi army did not fight because they took Baghdad without facing any resistance," Ahmad said.
"We don't know why they want to punish us by abolishing the defense ministry and the army, when the (military) industrialisation ministry which they accuse of producing weapons of mass destruction has not been touched," he said.
Said Hamed Zugheib: "The Americans have to find a solution for us.
I cannot raise my children in a prison," he added. - Nampa-AFP