IRAQ: New model army training begins

DAWRAH, 22 August 2003 (IRIN) - Fifty men queue in the hot morning sun for their turn to undergo a physical examination to determine their fitness to join a new Iraqi National Guard force, about to be formed. Training is to start this week for a platoon of 120 men, many of them former Iraqi army soldiers. In the empty rooms of a former library, the men were being weighed and having their eyesight, hearing and blood pressure checked. The new national guard was an experiment, Sgt Brent Williams, a spokesman for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division of the US army, told IRIN. "They’ll learn the way we train and the way we fight, compared to the way they train and fight," Williams said. "It will be about discipline and instilling a sense of esprit de corps." Once trained, the new force would handle things like crowd control and natural disasters, he added. They would spend time on the shooting range and learn crowd-control measures, undergo basic combat training and be taught the international laws of war. Many of those just recruited had been fighting against US troops just four months ago, including Qays Yusuf, who was a lieutenant in the now disbanded Iraqi army. "They told us to fight until death," Yusuf said, "but I saw there was no hope against the US army, so I went home." Many of the new recruits talked of a wish to help rebuild the country. "Our main aim is to help people," said Mustafa Tariq Abud, who was also until recently an officer in the Iraqi army. "We respect the responsibility we’re being given. We want to protect the country from Saddam’s fellows." US Sgt First Class Tom Kearney told IRIN he believed that the new force would serve as a buffer in the event of disputes arising between US troops and Iraqi civilians. But he also conceded that the role of the national guard could be misconstrued by Iraqis, who were used to regarding soldiers as oppressors. "I think if we set a good example for them, they’ll follow it," Kearney said. "If these guys do what’s right, if the army is crooked and the cops are crooked, they’ll know that too." If training for the first platoon of 120 soldiers went well, it could be expanded across the country to supplement the new Iraqi army and police force, he noted. Trust between US soldiers and the new recruits would constitute an important factor in determining the project's success, said Sgt First Class Joseph Dilks, who recruited many of the former soldiers. As he looked around at the men waiting for their medical check-ups, he smiled. "I’m sure there’s always a concern, but these guys - until you trust them, they won’t trust you," he said. Those who got through the four-week national guard training course would be issued with AK-47 assault rifles and taken to a firing range to brush up on marksmanship skills, but all weapons would be locked up in storage when they were not in use, he added. The enthusiasm among Coalition forces for the project might well have its source in an element of self-interest. "I’m personally excited about this, because I think it will help get us out of here faster," Dilks said.