Would you do it for $50 a month?

[taranaki]

Mass resignations hit Iraqi army
From correspondents in Baghdad
December 12, 2003
ABOUT 300 of the 700 members in the first new Iraqi army battalion set up by the US-led coalition have resigned, a coalition official said today.

"There are about 300 of these individuals out of a total of about 700 of the First Battalion of the new Iraqi army (who) have therefore resigned or effectively resigned," the official told a news conference on condition he not be identified.

Under daily attack by insurgents, the coalition is seeking to transfer more security responsibility to Iraqi forces.

""They weren't happy with terms and conditions and didn't obey the instructions of their commanding officers," he said.

"My understanding is that they felt they should be paid more money, for example, than the police," he said, adding that the coalition will review all security force salaries.









The coalition administering Iraq is building a new army after dismissing all the members of Saddam Hussein's armed forces following his ouster by invading US and British troops in April.

"I think this is a particular problem related to that First Battalion," the official said. "There may have been some confusion when they first joined the Iraqi army. They weren't sure exactly what their terms and conditions are."

The rest of the First Battalion is serving with the US 4th Infantry Division.

He said a second Iraqi battalion is training "and there are no resignations from that". Another group of more than 2000 recruits is expected to begin training next year, he said.

Salaries in the new army range from $US50 ($67) a month in the ranks to $US180 ($244) for a colonel and are "hugely higher" than under the old regime, the coalition spokesman said.

A former air defence battery commander who held the rank of captain in Saddam's armed forces said he used to earn $US50 a month.

Plans call for the new army to grow until it reaches a strength of about 40,000 soldiers in 27 motorised infantry battalions by late next year.

The First Battalion graduated in October after nine weeks of training and was assigned primarily to assist US troops with border security.

Former high-ranking officers were barred from joining the new fighting force but the US military said 75 per cent of the first Iraqi recruits had served in lower ranks of Saddam's army.

Former Iraqi army and police officers will also be drafted into a specialised unit to fight loyalists of Saddam's Baath regime, an aide to Iyad Allawi, who is in charge of security on Iraq's interim Governing Council, said yesterday.

"This force is already being created and will be made up of a battalion of 700 people, most of them officers in the former army and police," the official said.

"This is a stage in the process of transferring responsibility for security from the coalition to Iraqis," he added, asking not to be named.

His statement came after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld indicated a new Iraqi unit would help hunt "high value targets", a reference to Baathist leaders.

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CNN ran this story for about an hour,but curiously, their link has failed.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/11/sprj.irq.main/%20<br%20/>

this version was lifted from The Australian.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...5E1702,00.html

[BLU CIVIC]

if i didn't know any better.....i would

[DGB454]

Apparently it's what they were making working for Sadaam. $50.00 must go a lot further there than it does here. I'm guessing they don't have to pay for their food, clothes or housing. That alone put's them further ahead than their counterparts that aren't in the military.