FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Iraqi Police Fire on Protesting Ex-Soldiers: "Some Iraqi troops have received threats from suspected insurgents who have carried out deadly attacks on Iraqis working with the U.S.-led coalition.
Still the soldiers were upbeat.
'We were very confused about this at first,' said Capt. Nasr Abdel Jalil, a graduate who had stayed with Saddam's army until the fall of Baghdad on April 9. When recruitment for the new army began in July, he said, 'We volunteered because we had to work, and not with much enthusiasm. It was the only job I knew.'
He was won over by the two months of training to prepare the Second or Honor Battalion for low-intensity conflict that will include patrols, reconnaissance, security for convoys and cordon and search operations conducted alongside coalition troops, which are expected to remain in Iraq for some years.
'When we got to training, we were shocked!' he said. 'This is the military the way we love it.'
Abdel Jalil, a newlywed in his 20s, is from the Shiite majority among Iraq's 24 million people that long was oppressed by Saddam's Sunni minority, which also dominated the ranks of the army.
New to the military was another Shiite, Capt. Hassan Abdel Amir Aziz, who said seven of his relatives had been killed under Saddam.
'My family didn't want me to be a member in this army, this is a risky job. ... But I told them it is our duty. We should be here now. If we need the freedom, we will make it. Nobody will give us that freedom,' Aziz said in English."
Still the soldiers were upbeat.
'We were very confused about this at first,' said Capt. Nasr Abdel Jalil, a graduate who had stayed with Saddam's army until the fall of Baghdad on April 9. When recruitment for the new army began in July, he said, 'We volunteered because we had to work, and not with much enthusiasm. It was the only job I knew.'
He was won over by the two months of training to prepare the Second or Honor Battalion for low-intensity conflict that will include patrols, reconnaissance, security for convoys and cordon and search operations conducted alongside coalition troops, which are expected to remain in Iraq for some years.
'When we got to training, we were shocked!' he said. 'This is the military the way we love it.'
Abdel Jalil, a newlywed in his 20s, is from the Shiite majority among Iraq's 24 million people that long was oppressed by Saddam's Sunni minority, which also dominated the ranks of the army.
New to the military was another Shiite, Capt. Hassan Abdel Amir Aziz, who said seven of his relatives had been killed under Saddam.
'My family didn't want me to be a member in this army, this is a risky job. ... But I told them it is our duty. We should be here now. If we need the freedom, we will make it. Nobody will give us that freedom,' Aziz said in English."
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