The Iraqi government has decided to restore Jan. 6 as Army Day as part of efforts to rebuild the struggling army.
The decision came 20 months after the US occupation forces dissolved the Iraqi army, a move which forced some of its members to join in resistance movement.
US reports had admitted that the decision to dissolve the Iraqi army was one of the biggest mistakes of then US civil administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.
An Iraqi government source said that the decision to restore the Army Day means that the army was not involved in affairs of the former regime, but carried out its duties.
Hazim Shaalan, the Iraqi defense minister, has said that the national guards would be unified with the new army, which was formed last year, and that a celebration would be held for the regrouping.
He said that new army units with the size of a brigade would graduate from training centers across Iraq to join the army.
Ghazi al-Yawar, interim Iraqi president, last month accused the United States and Britain of having committed a big mistake in dissolving the Iraqi army after toppling Saddam.
"Coalition forces' decision to break down the structure of state created security vacuum in Iraq," said Al-Yawar. "With a stroke of a pen, a large number of clean-record members were dismissed along with the bad-record ones," he added.
Ismael Zair, editor-in-chief of the Al Sabah Al Jadid newspaper, said Iraqis were left in dark when the decision was taken.
"There is still a hope that the Iraqi army would come back to shape Iraq's future," said the Al Nahdhah newspaper, mouthpiece of the Independent Democratic Gathering, headed by Adnan al Pachachi, a veteran politician in Iraq.
While the Al Mashriq newspaper said that some groups demanded the return of the former army.
If the army had not been disbanded, it could probably stop the infiltrations of terrorists and sabotages against energy establishments, said Mohammed Baqir Al Sihail, supervisor of the Iraqi Liberal Democratic party, demanding that the army fulfill its duty to protect borders with its experience.
The Iraqi army was first founded in 1921 after King Faisal I became head of the kingdom, but the army toppled the monarchy in 1958 when a new republic was established.
The army fought several wars against Israel, in addition to three wars during the era of Saddam. The war against Iran, which lasted for eight years, the war for occupying Kuwait, and the third one, which ended with the US occupation of Iraq.
Observers said that the occupation authorities had changed their policies, and they would not mind the return of some Iraqi army units to take part in operations aimed at ending the worsening situation in the violence-ravaged country.
The occupation authorities believed that the army should be the vanguard to fight resistance, so that US forces could withdraw at low cost.
More than 1,000 US soldiers have been killed and 10,000 others injured since March 2003.
Washington has hinted that US forces would withdraw from Iraq. But observers said such an idea would serve to soothe political groups demanding the withdrawal of Yankees, a condition for participation in Iraq's political process.