Iraqi PM reactivates armed forces alternative system

Iraq's Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi decided to reactivate the alternative system for the Iraqi armed forces, which was suspended in the government of former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Major General Yahya Rasoul, said in a statement on Monday, "Kadhimi agreed to the recommendations of the committee consisting of the Army's Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Abdul-Amir Rashid Yarallah, the Military Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant-General Muhammad Hamid al-Bayati, and MP Iskandar Watut, a member the Security and Defense Committee in parliament, which is concerned with restoring the alternative system."

Rasoul explained, "The first phase includes the Fifth Division of the Federal Police (based in Al-Rutba District, Anbar Governorate) and the 20th Division of the Iraqi Army (based in Sinjar District)," noting that "after two months of the experiment, the evaluation will be conducted to include other military units."

The “alternative system” is a leave system followed by the army. If the military unit numbered 40 soldiers, then 20 of them spend 10 or 15 days on vacation before they rejoin and their colleagues go on vacation, and so on.

It is noteworthy that former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued a decision to suspend the alternative system to expose the "space soldiers", who are ghost soldiers meaning they get paid without working in the Iraqi army and the rest of the armed forces.



PUKmedia