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| Iraq |
| Another positive Iraqi police article... NYTimes no less... |
| 2003-11-15 |
| BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 14 — Tires squealing, sirens wailing and adrenaline pumping madly, dozens of Iraqi police officers charged through central Baghdad to take back their city from bandits. Pistols and Kalashnikov rifles at the ready, they sprinted up a narrow alleyway in the notorious Fadhil district on Thursday, pulling one car theft suspect from his bed in his underwear. Hardly pausing for breath, the officers burst into a billiard parlor, pushed the six young patrons against a wall and searched them for weapons. Glad to see they are finally getting their own weapons and cars. The more they patrol the streets the more we don’t have to which means the less american soldiers die. Women and children stared down at the ruckus from sheet-covered balconies. Startled peddlers stood frozen by their donkey carts. "God bless the police!" shouted a shopkeeper as the men in blue passed by. "What took you so long?" called out another. This is a good sign. The people are starting to gain faith in their own independence and their own government. They are rebuilding their pride in their establishments... without this they would never thrive and instead spend their time looking for scapegoats for their problems. But there in person was the police chief of Baghdad, Hassan al-Obeidi, smiling as he walked with his troops past the ramshackle car repair shops with mufflers hanging from the doorways like sausages. Even more astonishing to the onlookers, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Ibrahim, deputy interior minister and boss of the Iraqi national police, strode along at the head of the procession, asking, even pleading, for people to help him fight crime. "Help us to protect you and preserve security," General Ibrahim, wearing a black bulletproof vest and a black Gauloises cap, shouted through a megaphone above the din. "Guide us, please," he said, buttonholing merchants along the sidewalks. "If you have suspicions about anything, tell us. We’ve been receiving complaints about gangs and hand grenades. Do you know anyone? Have you seen anything? Can you give us a name or an address?" The Iraqi police will get the population to help them far more than we ever could. They are proving to me that they are ready to handle the security themselves. We should start handing over the responsability to them as soon as possible. |
| Posted by:Damn_Proud_American |
| #2 At first, the US was keen on time consuming training for the Iraqis and the first police took quite awhile to be trained (3-6 weeks) but now, the Iraqi police have reached the point where they can do OJT with new recruits. The only real problem is keeping out Baathist double agents. |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-11-15 6:33:50 PM |
| #1 I think we're leaving too early. The IRC isn't going to work. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-11-15 12:35:53 PM |