BAGHDAD, 21 June 2004 — Iraq’s interim prime minister yesterday announced a restructuring of the country’s security forces, saying all Iraqi troops would be brought under a central command whose chief duty would be to rout rebel and terrorist bands plaguing the country.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued a plea for more international help in Iraq’s guerrilla war, asking outside countries to send troops and donate military hardware to bolster the country’s beleaguered forces.

“Until our forces are fully capable we will continue to need support from our friends,” Allawi told reporters.

The incoming government is also considering an amnesty for Iraqis who have not taken direct roles in killings of US-led occupation forces or Iraqis, Interior Minister Falah Hassan Al-Naqib told reporters after the briefing, offering few details.

Allawi said his ministers were also discussing the imposition of emergency law in parts of Iraq, to help police and paramilitaries bring order. “We might impose some kind of martial law in some places if necessary in accordance with the law and in respect to the human rights and the international law,” Allawi said. Allawi acknowledged that the May 2003 decision by US occupation chief L. Paul Bremer to disband the Iraqi Army was a mistake.

Allawi intends to resurrect aspects of Iraq’s former military, enlarging the overall army while creating police and paramilitary units focused on fighting terrorists and fighters and controlling riots.

The US-created paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defense Corps would be redesigned as a national guard force and placed under army control, along with border guards and other independent units. The country will also build an army special forces capacity and an Iraqi Intervention Force for counterinsurgency operations.

The chief duties of Iraq’s fledgling air force, with just two small surveillance aircraft in its inventory, will be to monitor pipelines, electrical rights of way and borders, Allawi said.

As a last resort, Allawi said he would send Iraq’s army to fight the militants.