Recruits in the U.S.-formed "New Iraqi Army" attend a course at a U.S. military base

By Subhy Haddad, IOL Correspondent

QARAQUSH, northern Iraq, September 16 (IslamOnline.net) –Just like the case was with the U.S.-handpicked Iraq’s interim Governing Council, the occupation-formed New Iraqi Army (NIA) was also grounded on sectarian basis.

The NIA, whose first recruits graduated Monday, September 15 at Qaraqush, a small northern Iraqi town not far from the Iranian borders, is made out of 60 percent Shiites, 25 percent Sunnis, 10 percent Kurds and 5 percent others, including Christians, Sabians and Yezidis.

Shiites were given a higher representation in the new army than that in the U.S.-sanctioned Governing Council and cabinet, whose 25 members comprised 13 Shiites, 5 Sunnis, 5 Kurds, 1 Christian and 1 Turkman.

The NIA comprises former soldiers of the U.S.-dissolved Iraqi army as well as members of the Kurdish Peshmerga militias that served under the two dissident Kurdish parties who ruled Kurdistan in northern Iraq away from the central government in Baghdad.

A detailed report distributed by the U.S. forces at a graduation celebration held cited the recruitment of 67 officer candidates and 684 soldiers from Mosul in the north, Baghdad in the center and Basra in southern Iraq.

U.S. civil ruler of Iraq, Paul Bremer, told reporters last month that the NIA would comprise 40,000 soldiers and officers, replacing the 450,000 Iraqi army he dissolved after the collapse of the ousted regime.

A handout distributed by the U.S. forces to reporters who attended the celebration said the aim of the NIA is creating stability in Iraq and within the region.

It also indicated that the new armed forces include volunteers who form a backbone of defense with pillars of merit: nationally respected, regionally trusted, professionally run, defensively capable and constitutionally obedient.

On promotion to Private First Class, the soldier’s pay increases to 99,000 Iraqi Dinars (US$70) per month, whilst an officer cadet will receive 149,000 Iraqi Dinars (US$100) a month while undergoing training.

The average salary of an Iraqi private soldier during the former regime of Saddam Hussein did not exceed 22,000 Iraqi Dinars (US$11) per month, whilst the average salary of an officer cadet was about 80,000 Iraqi Dinars (US$44).

Speaking to IslamOnline.net correspondent, Shuan Muhsin, 18-year-old Kurdish volunteer born in Mosul, said that the U.S.-led forces “have prepared all necessary prerequisites that would enable the NIA to succeed.”

"There is no difference among the ethnic and sectarian groups forming the NIA, as we are all Iraqi brothers," he argued.

Another volunteer, 20-year-old Nazeeh Abbas from Baghdad, who served in the dissolved Iraqi army, highly appreciated what he termed as "the very good treatment by the U.S. training force, compared with the ‘rough’ treatment by the former Iraqi officers."

"The training in all armies is hard and difficult in the beginning. But being a former soldier in the dissolved Iraqi army, I have an experience in training which was stemmed on the British school, rather than the American school in the NIA, " Abbas said.

Sacked by the occupation forces, the once-proud Iraqi uniformed members are now struggling for life in tough conditions afflicting the war-torn country.

Few high-ranking officers of the army managed to cope with the new reality by selling their properties to feed their families. Many others could not.

Some turned to be taxi drivers, others tomato sellers, with not-so-bright prospects looming in the horizon.