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New Iraqi Kurdish Troops Fly Into Baghdad
26.2.2007 |
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February
26, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq, -- About 130 fresh Iraqi
troops from the country's Kurdish north 'Kurdistan
region' flew into Baghdad on Sunday to join the
fight for the nation's capital with the promise of a
$200 bonus, nearly a month's pay.
The mostly Kurdish soldiers _ the first to arrive
from the Kurdistani northern city of Erbil were
greeted by Iraqi commanders as they filed off the
gray C-130 troop transport. They wore camouflage,
with machine guns or rocket-propelled grenade
launchers slung over their shoulders. Many carried
belongings in plastic bags.
The troops represented a fraction of the expected
influx of some 8,000 Iraqi reinforcements from the
north, the Shiite south and the insurgent stronghold
of Anbar province west of Baghdad.
The drafting of troops from the north most former
Kurdish guerrillas who fought for decades against
Saddam Hussein's regime _ to participate in the
security crackdown in the capital has raised
concerns as many speak no Arabic and are unfamiliar
with the territory and urban warfare.
Many Kurds also refused to leave their autonomous
region to fight in far-off Baghdad.
But Lt. Gen. Ali Ghadan, Iraq's ground forces
commander, said the Kurds and other troops coming
from outside Baghdad had a powerful incentive. Each
would receive a $200 bonus in addition to their
regular salaries and would only be deployed for
three months, then allowed to go home.
The minimum salary for Iraqi soldiers is nearly $300
per month, although some get food allowances,
according to the Defense Ministry.
Ghadan said the troops would get another bonus of
the same amount if they signed on for another tour
after their first deployment.
The bonuses underscore the eagerness of the Iraqi
government to show it can rally sufficient forces to
allow it to take the lead in the security sweep
aimed at clearing the capital of Sunni insurgents
and local Shiite militias who have killed thousands
in rising violence between the two Islamic sects.
The inability of the Shiite-led government to
deliver the promised number of Iraqi forces has been
partly blamed for the failure of two previous
security operations in Baghdad. President Bush has
promised to send 21,500 more American troops to Iraq
for the current effort.
Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari, the army chief of
staff, stressed unity in the armed forces,
addressing concerns the Kurdish troops might resent
being called to Baghdad because they feel more
loyalty to their homeland.
"Baghdad is a beautiful city that desperately needs
your help," Zebari, himself a Kurd, said in Arabic
after welcoming the troops in Kurdish. "If the
terrorists are defeated here, all of Iraq will get
back on its feet."
A brigade from Sulaimaniyah, also in the Kurdish
north, has reached Baghdad, but it is only 1,000-men
strong, not the expected 3,000.
Capt. Amir Wali, a 29-year-old former Kurdish
guerrilla who has been integrated into the army,
agreed. "I was glad to come here," he told reporters
after the ceremony. "We came to defend Baghdad
against terrorists."
The Iraqi troops were the first to be brought to the
capital in an aircraft piloted by Iraqis, the
military said, touting it as a sign the Iraqis are
making strides toward taking over their own
security.
"Instead of depending on the friendly forces to move
such units, now the transportation is done by Iraqi
planes. This is a historic event," Ghadan said.
AP
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