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Iraq
Iraq military leaders brave mortar fire to celebrate army day
2006-01-07
BAGHDAD -Iraq’s fledgling military marked Army Day on Friday to the sound of mortar and rocket fire, highlighting the tough battle the troops face to bring security to the country. Waving Iraqi flags, some 800 soldiers from the army’s 10 divisions paraded in front of senior Iraqi government and US officials as marching music played inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone.

But the annual ceremony, marking the 85th anniversary of the military’s creation, was a fraction of its previous size under Saddam Hussein. The toppled dictator used to sit with a rifle on his lap, firing off rounds, as thousands of troops, tanks, helicopters and fighter jets took part in a three to four hour-long parade.
Along with chained Kurds and Shi'a.
This time around, there were only two old Russian tanks on display as well as some US-made Humvees and military trucks, while Iraq’s current president and prime minister both chose to stay away.

Saddam’s theatrical gunshots were replaced by real mortar fire. One mortar round, fired by rebels, even struck about a hundred metres (yards) away but did not explode, said an AFP correspondent at the scene.

General Babkir Bederkhan Al Zibari, the army’s chief of staff, had been talking to reporters at the time and ducked as the round flew past. “It was nothing, it was nothing,” he said afterwards.

At the start of the ceremony, Defence Minister Saadun Al Dulaimi and US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad laid flowers at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier -- a giant shield-shaped stone slab erected in the centre of a vast circle. It was built under Saddam to commemorate soldiers who died in the Iran-Iraq war.

The Iraqi national anthem struck up as everyone stood to attention. The soldiers then marched grim-faced for about five minutes. Then Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab, and Zibari, a Kurd, gave rallying speeches. “Today’s festival has a special meaning and it is not like the previous ones,” said Dulaimi. “Today we serve the nation and not the (then) victorious leader,” he said, in a reference to Saddam.

Standing to attention, with unloaded guns at their side, the soldiers then repeated an oath of allegiance. “I swear in the name of God and on my honour to protect the land of Iraq and its people from all aggression,” they chanted in Arabic.
Posted by:Steve White

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