Posted on 08/17/2005 7:25:51 PM PDT by mdittmar
The first Iraqi soldiers to be trained in Britain since the fall of Saddam Hussein ended their training in Brecon, mid-Wales, yesterday.
Thirty-five officers and non-commissioned officers were picked from Iraqi army recruits and will return to Iraq to the Ar Rustimiyah Military Academy near Baghdad.
There they will train the new generation of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).
Some of the students served in the Republican Guard during Saddam Hussein's regime. One, Captain Durgar Jassim, fought against British forces, having joined the army 12 years ago, in 1993.
But he said that training with those he was formerly fighting presented no problem. "We are not political persons, we are military." Another of his fellow students, Qhazwan Haji Abala, a 29-year-old from Kurdistan, admitted that signing up for the army posed a risk to him and his family. But, he said: "We are not doing something wrong in Iraq, we are doing something to be proud of. It should be the enemy that are afraid, not us."
The most important part of the training was to teach the Iraqi recruits "how to think for themselves", said Ministry of Defence spokesman David Stevens.
Adam Ingram, the minister of state for the armed forces, said: "This is about training the trainers. It is about giving them the confidence to train their own people. This is a small number here today but they will now multiply very quickly."
The course was based on British army junior leadership training.
The deputy chief of staff of the Iraqi armed forces, Lieutenant General Nasier al Abadi, was also there to receive their salute.
Lets hope theres a George Washinton in that group.
Let's just hope he remembers who the enemy is.
Of course, the title should be "Iraqi officers graduate from British military school"
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