BAGHDAD - IraqÂ’s Shia prime minister called on Saturday for the return of all officers of Saddam HusseinÂ’s disbanded army in a political overture to disaffected Sunni Arabs aimed at reducing sectarian violence.Nuri Al Maliki made the call at a national reconciliation conference of Shias, Sunni Arab and Kurdish politicians meant to halt communal bloodshed. A senior politician from the powerful Shia Alliance said representatives of some Sunni Arab insurgent groups were in attendance, but delegates said participantsÂ’ names would remain undisclosed.
“The new Iraqi army is opening the door to former Iraqi army officers. Those who do not come back will be given pensions,” Maliki said, in remarks in which he also told leaders to embrace reconciliation as a “safety net from death and destruction”.
| Better to give them all pensions on the promise that they refrain from armed violence. These officers are the same men who helped make the old Iraqi army a failure. They repeatedly stole their men's wages and food; they repeatedly beat their men for infractions; and they were lousy soldiers. Bringing them back into the new army poisons that. If they're a problem as a part of the insurgency, peel them away with money. |
Iraqi officials said MalikiÂ’s call was also part of a four-step plan to speed up the transfer of security from multi-national forces to Iraqis. The plan includes expanding IraqÂ’s forces, get them better training, equipment and weapons.
The Defence Ministry has recruited former Saddam officers but limited the invitation to junior officers. Maliki’s plea, addressing a long-time demand by Sunnis, was the first extended to all ranks. Maliki’s Shia-led coalition government, which took office seven months ago, has said it would not talk to armed groups with “Iraqi blood on their hands”, a comment aimed mainly at Sunni Islamist Al Qaeda. But it has extended an olive branch to armed groups that stop fighting and join the political process.
Iraq has held conferences before that were designed to bring about reconciliation but they failed to stop sectarian killing or bring into the fold some disaffected Sunni groups. “If things remain the way they are this reconciliation conference will resemble its predecessors,” said Saleem Al Jibouri, from the Accordance Front, the largest Sunni bloc.
Many participants, some talking off the record, cast doubt that the conference would bring immediate solutions. “This conference does not have a magic wand to change things overnight,” Takki said.
“The only positive thing about this conference is that people are talking to each other,” said another official.