PARIS, August 6: The US plan, now in its final phase, that was to have paid $50 to ex-members of the Iraqi armed forces in exchange for their allegiance, has effectively backfired, says French public television.

The report said it is costing Washington several times the $2 million for which the programme had been budgeted. So many ex- Iraqi soldiers are showing up for the right to a $50 bill, says the report, that Washington has had to come up with more than $7 million, also has had to make use of sophisticated crowd control measures to allow the 200 bureaucrats administering the programme to keep the often irascible Iraqis under control.

According to Kristian Autain, France’s correspondent in Baghdad, so many former Iraqi army soldiers have decided to take part in the programme that instead of the 1-2000 persons who were expected to show up daily during start of the programme in mid- July, more than 8000 daily have stood in line in order to sign a statement pledging to “renounce violence and disown the Baathist (pro-Saddam) political party.”