SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003
Dissolving Iraqi army was a mistake: Egypt
REUTERS
CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Saturday a US decision to dissolve the Iraqi army and other state jobs was a mistake which had created unemployment and fuelled crime in Iraq.
"The dissolution of the army was a mistake," the leader of the Arab world's most populous country said in remarks broadcast on state television.
The US civil administration in Iraq in May ordered the dissolution of the Iraqi armed forces and several security bodies, sacking 400,000 staff who had formed the backbone of Saddam Hussein's rule.
The administration also dissolved the defence and information ministries and military and security courts.
Mubarak said: "(The Iraqi) earns no money. How is he going to live? How is he going to eat? How is going to dress his children? Naturally, he's going to work as a criminal, he'll join any gang, he'll become desperate."
Mubarak, whose country is a regional US ally, said meeting the most basic needs of Iraqis and installing an elected government were crucial to ending violence in Iraq, where US-led forces overthrew Saddam's rule in April. Egypt opposed the war.
US forces have faced almost daily attacks since US President George W Bush declared major combat operations over on May 1. Three US soldiers were killed in a grenade attack at a children's hospital north of Baghdad on Saturday.
"The violence is going to increase, if they do not find a quick solution to let people see how they can live," Mubarak said in the remarks at a meeting with students in Egypt's Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
"Secondly, (Iraqis) have to see a legitimate, elected government," he said.
A US-backed governing council, which held its inaugural meeting on July 13, is working out a new constitution leading to an elected, internationally recognised government. But final control of Iraq still lies with the US administration.
Many Iraqis complain that their new rulers have done too little to improve security and electricity and water supplies.
US troops began recruiting Iraqis to form a new Iraqi army earlier in July. US civilian administrator Paul Bremer said in June the decision to dissolve the army had caused Iraqis "considerable pain" and was under review.
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