Iraq Calls for Air Force Recruits

[Guest Chainsaw]

Iraq has launched a search for a select group of motivated, apolitical volunteers to help rebuild its once powerful but shattered air force.The defense ministry this week sent out a call for air force recruits with strong scientific backgrounds ready “to volunteer for 15 years†as pilots.

 

Applicants “should be of Iraqi parents or an Iraqi father and an Arab mother,†a ministry statement said.

 

They must “not belong to a political party and should be loyal only to Iraq.â€

 

Under the rule of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq had one of the most advanced air forces in the Middle East, with hundreds of warplanes including Russian Mig and Sukhoi fighter jets and French Mirage aircraft.

 

When a U.S.-led coalition attacked Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War, the air force was annihilated, with those planes not destroyed either hidden or flown to neighboring Iran, where they were impounded to pay for damages from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

 

Those hidden in Iraq were discovered following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and sliced up to prevent subsequent use.

 

Air force pilots also allegedly became the target of Shiite militias who sought to punish them for bombing Iran, and many officers were shot dead.

 

Iraq now has some helicopters provided by friendly countries and coalition forces, but their number is not known.

 

The air force headquarters is located in the southern city of Nasiriyah, according to a former pilot, but volunteers were told to submit applications in Baghdad and the northern Kurdish cities of Sulaimaniyah and Arbil.

 

“Applicants should have good conduct and no criminal record,†the ministry said

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