Iraqi Republican Guard

The Iraqi Republican Guard was a branch of the Iraqi military from 1969 to 2003, existing mainly during the presidency of Saddam Hussein. It began as a Praetorian Guard unit with the sole task of protecting the president of Iraq, and it grew rapidly during the Iran-Iraq War into an elite force of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It later became known as the Republican Guard Corps and then the Republican Guard Forces Command, which expanded into two corps. Its troops reported directly to Hussein, unlike the paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam and the regular Iraqi Army, and they were better trained, disciplined and equipped, with higher pay, bonuses, new cars and subsidized housing than ordinary Iraqi soldiers. The Republican Guard was disbanded in 2003 after the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led international coalition.