Iraqis Begin Duty With Refusal

Members of a mostly Sunni Muslim class of Iraqi army recruits from restive Anbar province protested after their graduation Sunday, when they were told they would have to serve outside their home towns and province. Recruiting Sunnis into the army has been a key U.S. goal. (Photos By Jacob Silberberg -- Associated Press)

Local leaders in Anbar have long demanded that soldiers recruited from the province also serve there. They have accused the country's predominantly Shiite army of committing abuses against the Sunnis living there, and say this is why so many of the province's residents have supported the insurgents .

"We had volunteered to serve our cities and communities, particularly our families in Ramadi and Fallujah, who have been mistreated by the present soldiers of the Iraqi army, who come in large part from Shiite areas," said one of the recruits, Ahmad Mahmoud Azzawi. "If they disperse us to Shiite and Kurdish areas, we will not go. Frankly, we would much rather go back to our land, to plant and reap our produce, than to serve others."

But Negard said the soldiers knew what they were getting into when they enlisted. "They're recruited for national service, and they know this," he said. "They're prepared from the beginning to serve where the needs of the Iraqi army go."

"Diversity is good for the force," he said. "The bottom line is, when they're under fire and they're training, there are no signs of sectarianism."

Mohammad Abdulla Alawin, a recruit from Ramadi, said he wouldn't serve anywhere else; sectarian violence was one of his biggest worries. "We are afraid of the Shiite death squads which are found inside the Iraqi army, and who might kill us if we serve outside our province."

The governor of Anbar, Mamoun Sami Rasheed, told reporters that he tried to make the recruits understand that serving in the army is a great honor, regardless of where the service might be, because it is a service for the whole country. He urged them to obey their officers and follow discipline in order to serve as an example for others.

But it isn't yet clear which way the opinion of the soldiers will swing. Another volunteer, Falah Hussein, said the soldiers' officers have met with them and asked for four days to try to work things out.

"If there is no solution, we are going home," he said.

Special correspondents K.I. Ibrahim and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad and staff writer Thomas E. Ricks in Washington contributed to this report.