Former Baathists being recruited for elite security squad
By ORLY HALPERN
Special to The Globe and Mail
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 - Page A17
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BAGHDAD -- Iraq's government is scrambling to find members for an elite security team to protect top officials, but time is so short and quality candidates so scarce that former Baathist bodyguards and special forces are being recruited.
The assassination this week of Izzadine Saleem, president of the Governing Council, highlighted the need for the force. But many candidates have failed to pass a rigorous training course, and officials say compromises will have to be made -- even if it means hiring people who had ties to Saddam Hussein's regime.
"Now we will recruit people who have already worked in this field, to shorten the training time," said Hilmi Bassim, an Iraqi-born Montrealer who returned to Baghdad a year ago and is working as volunteer chief of staff at the Interior Ministry, helping create the force.
It is to be modelled after similar U.S. forces, including bodyguards, a riot squad and a special tactical unit. The ministry aims to have it in place by the end of June, when U.S. forces are scheduled to transfer sovereignty to Iraqis.
Mr. Bassim said the original plan was to hire Iraqi police officers with no ties to the old regime. But the training process for the tactical unit has not been encouraging.
Two groups of 24 officers were sent to the state of Georgia for a seven-week course, but many failed a three-day test at the end of it.
"It was the same training as for any SWAT team," Mr. Bassim said. "Some just could not finish and had to come back. They didn't have the physical or mental ability to endure this training. It is very demanding."
Hiring former Baathists is the only quick way to form the force, Interior Minister Samir al-Sumaedae told reporters yesterday.
"However, they are very close to personalities of the previous regime and we have to screen them very well," he said.
U.S. administrator Paul Bremer recently allowed high-ranking former Baathist army officers to apply to join Iraq's new military force, reversing a previous decision.
Mr. Bassim said that for many Iraqis, membership in Mr. Hussein's party was little more than a formality.
"If he was a Baathist and did not do any harm, then there should be no problem," he said.
But even with their numbers, the new squad will not be complete by the end of June. "Some of them will be ready before the handover and some will be ready after it," Mr. Bassim acknowledged. The Interior Ministry is still consulting with officials of the U.S.-led occupying force on the long-term size of the force.
Mr. Saleem's death has heightened the need for the new force, not in the least because the president was relying on untrained family members.
Governing Council members normally choose their own security details, and it is not unusual for them to use relatives, since tribal blood ties encourages strong loyalty. Mr. Saleem, who was killed in a suicide-bomb blast on Monday, relied on untrained family members as bodyguards.
But the new force is supposed to be selected on the basis of ability, experience and past record. Future training will take place in newly built facilities in and around Baghdad, Mr. Bassim said.
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