Shakhawan Abdullah, head of Iraq’s parliamentary security and defense committee told Rudaw on that the army has set a goal of recruiting 10,000 new soldiers and anyone interested could register.
Abdullah believes many Iraqis would welcome the announcement due to the current financial hardship.
“A lot of people are living in a difficult financial situation and the monthly salary for a soldier is not too bad,” he said. “It starts at 700,000 ID (approx. US$ 500) and it can be up to 1,000,000 ID (about $ 800).”
Abdullah added that the new recruitment is to replace thousands of Iraqi soldiers who have deserted their duty since the start of the war with ISIS last year.
The former Iraqi army was dissolved by the American administration after toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, thus ending mandatory military service in Iraq.
Financial incentives have since made the new army an attractive career path.
However, in the past few years the army has proved incapable of fighting and soldiers defect in droves in the face of danger as was seen during the ISIS attack on Mosul last year.
A report by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in July showed that a joint US-Iraqi plan to recruit 24,000 new soldiers came to a halt due to lack of applicants.
“Some regional recruitment centers receiving no applications at all,” the report said.
