Editing Republican Guard (Iraq) (section)

==Formation==
{{Story|date=January 2018}}
Formed in 1969, it was originally created to be a [[Presidential Guard (disambiguation)|presidential guard]]. Its primary objective was to maintain the stability of the regime and provide protection against internal and external enemies. During the [[Iran–Iraq War]], it was expanded into a large military force. It was officially dissolved in 2003, as per [[Coalition Provisional Authority Order 2|CPA Order 2]] in the wake of the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion of Iraq]] by a [[Multi-National Force – Iraq|U.S.-led international coalition]].<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040701202042/http://iraqcoalition.org/regulations/20030823_CPAORD_2_Dissolution_of_Entities_with_Annex_A.pdf Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2: Dissoulution of Entities]}}</ref>

The force's last commander was [[Qusay Hussein]], the younger son of Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein was so confident about the capability of the guard that he had said: "In history when they write about [[Imperial Guard (Napoleon I)|Napoleon's Guard]], they will arrange them next to the Republican Guard of Iraq."<ref name="Kevin M. Woods">{{cite book |title=The Iraqi Perspective Report |last=Woods |first=Kevin |author2=Michael R. Pease |author3=Mark E. Stout |author4=Williamson Murray |author5=James G. Lacey |year=2006 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=1-59114-457-4 |page=39}}</ref>

Because of their elite status Republican Guards received better equipment and uniforms than their regular Army counterparts, and could often be identified by distinctive markings or items of head dress. Members of the regular Republican Guards conventionally wore a scarlet-colored triangle insignia on both shoulders of their uniforms (sometimes backed with white material to form a white border around the edge of the triangle); they also wore black berets as did some Army personnel, but as a distinctive marking a scarlet ribbon was often sewn to the right of the National cap badge to distinguish bravery in combat and/or loyalty to the Hussein regime. The [[Special Republican Guard (Iraq)|Special Republican Guard]]s wore a maroon beret with the national eagle device, and a special variation of the triangle shoulder insignia in maroon with green Arabic lettering. The bright red qardoon ([[lanyard|shoulder cord]]) distinguished Republican Guards as well. A similar cord with green and red bands was also worn by the Special Republican Guards.