Baghdad, February 26: The Iraqi military will reinstate 20,000 Saddam Hussein-era army officers who were dismissed from their posts after the 2003 US-led invasion for serving under the former dictator, an Iraqi defence spokesman said today.
The announcement, a little over a week before the March 7 parliamentary elections, immediately raised questions about whether the move was timed to pump up votes for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the move was not related to the balloting, but was simply a matter of timing because funding for the jobs became available.
“This measure has nothing to do with elections, rather it is related to budget allocations,” he said.
But that explanation held little sway with Sunni lawmakers who called it a blatant ploy by al-Maliki to win more votes.
–Agencies