  A distinct low energy cosmic-ray component has been proposed to explain the
essentially constant Be/Fe ratio at low metallicities. Atomic collisions of
such low energy ions produce characteristic nonthermal X-ray emission. In this
paper, we study the possible contribution of such X-rays to the Galactic ridge
emission. We show that they would account for < 10% of the 10-60 keV luminosity
of the thin Galactic disk component detected with RXTE. They could make a more
significant contribution in the 0.5-10 keV energy range, provided that the
nonthermal ion population extends down to about 1 MeV/nucleon and delivers
about 10$^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ to the interstellar medium, comparable to the
total power suplied by the Galactic supernovae. But since the nonthermal X-rays
in this energy range are essentially produced below the thresholds of the
Be-producing cross sections, their detection does not necessarily imply a low
energy cosmic-ray origin for the spallogenic light elements. A significant
contribution of nonthermal X-rays could alleviate the problem of the origin of
the hard component observed with ASCA in the Scutum arm region.
