U.S. Asks Iraqi Nationals to Aid Troops

With America possibly on the cusp of war, top Pentagon officials came to the large Arab community here Sunday in search of Iraqis willing to help the U.S. military topple Saddam Hussein and establish a new democracy in their homeland.

They were recruiting volunteers to assist the U.S. military as civilians or as government contractors, to join the military as special Individual Ready Reservists or to enlist in what the Pentagon billed as a “Free Iraqi Force” that would work alongside U.S. soldiers as guides, translators and experts in other areas if American troops invade Iraq and head for Baghdad in search of Hussein.

“We need to work together,” Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told about 200 Iraqis at a town hall meeting. “We are on the same team. We have the same goal.”

Throughout the two-hour meeting, many in the crowd -- mostly men who told horror stories of escaping Hussein’s rule only to later learn that family members had been killed or tortured -- repeatedly rose to their feet to applaud and shout their encouragement when Wolfowitz promised that if war comes, America would “seek to liberate Iraq, not to occupy Iraq.”

“Saddam must go! Saddam must go!” the crowd roared back, the meeting quickly becoming a cheerleading session for the Bush administration’s goal of regime change in Baghdad. “Saddam is a killer!”

This community next to Detroit has seen its share of turmoil since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. It is believed to house the largest Arab community in the nation, and untold thousands of Iraqi refugees settled here at the close of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. In all, between 200,000 and 400,000 Iraqi nationals now live in the United States.

But since the attacks -- carried out by 19 Arabs -- on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many here have complained about retaliation by individuals, harassment by the government and other problems that have made life difficult.

Indeed, for this town hall meeting, the audience was required to pass through metal detectors. In addition, next month, four Arab Americans go on trial in federal court in Detroit, accused of planning their own terrorist assaults, both here and in Southern California.

But that aside, the group that turned out to hear Wolfowitz and other Pentagon leaders Sunday was decidedly united on two fronts -- that Hussein must be ousted and that America should then quickly bow out as Iraqis attempt to build their own new democracy.

The Pentagon’s plan to engage Iraqis in any war against Hussein was presented as a unique opportunity: “We know you want to be part of this cause,” Wolfowitz said. “And there is an urgent need for your talents.”

Iraqis were asked to help as temporary civilian employees or, in some cases, as individual contractors with the U.S. government. They would work as translators and in other positions once American troops move into Iraq.

A second program would permit Iraqis to actually join the U.S. military as part of the Individual Ready Reserve. As officials described it, they would serve in an “integrated part of the U.S. military” and the Pentagon would “take advantage of your professional skills” in helping U.S. troops understand local languages and cultural differences.

As reservists, they would mobilize to Iraq but then return to civilian status after any hostilities ended. For those not American citizens, participation could make them “eligible for accelerated U.S. citizenship” and their local jobs would be protected while they were away.

“You would enjoy the same rights, privileges and benefits as any American serving in the U.S. military,” Wolfowitz told them.

Finally, they could join the new Free Iraqi Force, which would remain in place after the war and help rebuild the country. Pentagon officials said that training is already underway at a base in Hungary for this program, and that the effort is open to Iraqis around the world, not just in the United States.

But while the vast majority in the crowd cried for Hussein’s removal, it was unclear how many actually would be willing to leave their jobs and their families in America to support the war in Iraq. In interviews before and after the Pentagon made its pitch, many expressed reluctance

“I would, but I can’t do that now,” said Basil Boji, a 57-year-old father of three who runs a grocery and pizza parlor. “Of course I should go, though. Saddam should have gone in 1991, and we should have gone to Baghdad then to get him out.”

But other, younger men said they would seriously consider the proposal, especially if they felt assured by the U.S. government that it would step aside after the war and let Iraqis determine their own future.

“We have no problem to do that,” said a man named Fadhel, who declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals against family members still in Iraq. He is 37, runs his own grocery here and said he would love nothing more than to return to his homeland with his three children.

“But we need to know if American soldiers are going to stay in Iraq or leave Iraq,” he said. “This is very important to our country. We don’t want to be occupied. We are qualified to turn our own government.”

Ameer Al-Auqaili, 30, said he was a “rebel” against Hussein during the Gulf War and was captured by Hussein’s army. Two of his brothers were killed, he said, and he buried them. He rolled up his right sleeve, showing a heavy shrapnel wound.

After American troops freed him, Al-Auqaili was sent to a refugee camp in Kuwait and, eventually, to the United States, where he works now as a tailor. He is not yet an American citizen, but he did find tantalizing the offer of getting his citizenship more quickly if he joined up with the American military.

“They have to convince me they will remove Saddam,” he said, and not stop short of Baghdad as happened after the Persian Gulf War. “If they do that, then I would be the first one to go in with them.”

Al-Auqaili pondered the possibility further, and then came up with one more condition: promises that innocent Iraqi citizens would not be killed by U.S. bombs or by an enraged Hussein turning weapons against his own people if America attacks.

“If civilians die, then I will not go,” he said.

Wolfowitz could offer no guarantees, except to say that he saw only a “very, very, very small chance” that Hussein would avert war by agreeing to disarm any nuclear, chemical or biological weapons that his regime may possess. With time running out, Wolfowitz said, Americans and Iraqis alike are at that “moment of maximum danger.”