The American-appointed interim Baghdad police chief resigned Saturday, one day after Iraq's U.S. administrators called on all of the capital's police officers to return to work with a slight change of uniform to help restore order. Zuhair Abdul Razaq said he submitted his resignation, which he described as a retirement, because he wanted to make way for younger leaders and spend more time with his family.
| Culture's a little too different for him already, eh? |
Officers from the U.S. Army's 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion appointed Zuhair interim chief April 22. He was in charge of getting former police officers back to work and guarding such important facilities as hospitals, food warehouses and banks. On Saturday, Zuhair said he had never planned to hold the post for long.
| A week's certainly not long... |
The 36-year veteran of the Baghdad police force and Ministry of the Interior, where he was an inspector, urged his officers to cooperate with U.S. forces. "I am retiring to allow others to be leaders, to make room for them to rebuild the police without corruption," Zuhair said. "I ask all the police forces to help the American forces."
| "Now that I got myself back on the books, I've turned in my papers, and I'll expect my pension check to arrive regularly. You young guys can dodge the gunnies and the religious fanatics..." |
Lt. Col. Alan King, the civilian affairs battalion commander, praised Zuhair for his work in reorganizing the Baghdad police and said he was disappointed by the resignation. He said the U.S.-led Office of Rehabilitation and Humanitarian Assistance would appoint another interim chief soon. A permanent chief will be appointed by the new government when it takes power.
| "We'll just snag somebody and use him to warm the chair for awhile..." |
Some unarmed police began reappearing on the streets last week, at times joining U.S. soldiers on patrols, after the devastating looting and arson that followed the U.S. military's takeover of Baghdad and ouster of Saddam Hussein's government. A coalition military radio broadcast said police would be armed with pistols starting Sunday.
| At least there's somebody in the country who's not carrying an AK... |
About 3,000 policemen have received a first emergency salary payment of $20 each from the American administration. Jared L. Bates, chief of staff under head administrator Jay Garner, said Friday that the number of policemen reporting was "getting better every day." But he couldn't predict how many additional officers might show up for work as a result of the special call issued for Sunday. Bates said the police have been asked to return wearing white shirts, not their old uniform jackets, and to place the badges that had been on their hats on their breast pockets. This would show that individual officers were responding to the U.S. officials' call, signaling a break with the old regime.
| Cops shouldn't look like soldiers on patrol. My personal feeling is that all policemen should be required to address citizens as "sir" or "ma'am", even when forced to thump knobs on their heads. "Officer Friendly" is a much better approach than "Agent of State Security #770"... |
To set an example of how the police should work in the future, Zuhair publicly turned over to King $380,000 in U.S. currency and 2.2 pounds of gold jewelry his officers had seized from black marketeers. "He has proven himself to (have) epitomized the honor of the Iraqi people," King said afterward.
| Looks like he can count on his pension... |
King said U.S. forces are still working on getting new uniforms for the Iraqi police, but more than 3,000 had already returned to work. So far, they have dealt with petty criminals, guarded facilities and performed joint patrols with U.S. troops. In coming days, U.S. forces will begin a training program for the police focusing on human rights, public safety and weapons safety, King said. The officers won't be allowed to patrol on their own until they go through the training, he added. The U.S. military command has announced 3,000 to 4,000 additional U.S. military police and infantrymen will enter Baghdad within the week to join 12,000 troops already in the city, reinforcing the anti-crime effort. |