BRECON, Wales - Thirty-five Iraqi soldiers completed leadership training on Wednesday at a British military college in Wales, with many guarding their identities for fear of reprisals. The select group of officers and non-commissioned officers graduated from the Infantry Battle School near Brecon after a three-month course in infantry training, the Ministry of Defence said.
But at their parade before Iraqi army deputy chief of staff Lieutenant General Nasier Al Abadi, many kept their identities secret to protect their families in Iraq from reprisals by insurgents. On Friday, one Iraqi officer cadet at the prestigious Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst won a special award for his excellence, but feared so much for his familyâs safety that he only gave his name as âJunior Underofficer Mohammedâ.
The 35 men at Brecon, chosen from the elite of army recruits in post-Saddam Iraq, are to return to the Ar Rustimiyah Military Academy near Baghdad to instruct members of the new Iraqi Security Forces.
Qhazwan Haji Abala, 29, from Kurdistan, one of the few to give his name, admitted that signing up posed a risk for his family. But he added: âWe 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.â
Captain Durgar Jassim, who joined Saddam Husseinâs army in 1993 and therefore confronted British forces in the 2003 US-led invasion, said training with his old foe posed no problems. âWe are not political persons. We are military,â he said. âThe first thing I have noticed is and it is very important that the people here have their freedom.â
Britainâs junior defence minister Adam Ingram said their training was a small but significant step towards developing a professional Iraqi army that could hold its own after US, British and other forces leave. âBritish army training is second to none, and once again this is evident when you look at the calibre of the Iraqi soldiers passing out,â the armed forces minister said. |
