BAGHDAD - Iraq on Friday reinstated 20,000 former army officers dismissed after the U.S.-led invasion, a landmark gesture at reconciliation ahead of the March 7 elections.
It's a move designed to allay some of the bitterness that still rankles Iraq - years after the Bush administration first made the controversial decision to dismantle Saddam Hussein's army.
The 20,000 returnees are the largest known group to rejoin the officer corps.
The timing of the announcement also raised suspicions that Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his allies were just currying favor ahead of the election for a new, 325-seat parliament.
News of the reinstatement was followed by a U.N. announcement that Iraq was gaining momentum with its bid to end U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam's army invaded Kuwait in 1990.
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The U.N. Security Council pledged "to review, with a view toward lifting" the sanctions once Iraq's safeguards against acquiring weapons of mass destruction are shown to be sufficient.
The 2003 order by Iraq's then-American governor, L. Paul Bremer, to dissolve Saddam's 400,000-strong army, the largest in the Middle East, is widely seen as a key factor that fed the alienation many Sunnis felt toward the new Iraq.
That rancor fueled a Sunni insurgency that broke out later that year and still claims lives in Iraq.
Sunnis dominated Saddam's regime, and many top military officers came from that community.
Jobless and angry, some from the old army took their expertise in explosives, urban warfare and military tactics to the insurgency, seeking an income for their families or revenge against the Americans and their Iraqi allies.
The disbanding of the army, along with the looting of the army's bases and depots across much of Iraq, is widely blamed for the torturously slow pace of forming, equipping and training the country's new army.
Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari denied Friday's announcement was linked to the election, insisting funding for the 20,000 positions is only now available.
"This measure has nothing to do with elections - rather, it is related to budget allocations," said al-Askari.
Critics, however, said the sudden return of their jobs might influence the votes of the reinstated officers.
US Toll in Iraq
• Deaths: 4,382
• Wounded: 31,693
Latest identifications
• Cpl. Daniel T. O'Leary, 23, of Youngsville, N.C.; assigned to the 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Sgt. William C. Spencer, 40, of Tacoma, Wash.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment, Olympia, Wash.
SOURCE: Department of Defense
