Iraq to reinstate 20,000 Saddam-era officers

Iraqi PM gives Saddam-era army officers 'one month and 45 days' to report for duty.

BAGHDAD - More than 20,000 army officers who served under deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein are to be reinstated, a defense ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

"Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave his consent to reinstate 20,400 officers" who had made a request, Mohammad al-Askari said.

The United States dissolved Saddam's 450,000-strong army shortly after the 2003 US-led invasion.

Askari said the requests had come since 2008 from former officers either still living in Iraq or residing abroad. The reinstated officers now had "one month and 45 days" to report for duty.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37486.