For Police Recruits, Risk Is Constant Companion

[kskiska]

Monday, September 27, 2004; Page A01

(snip)

But the recruits, almost uniformly poor, have become the primary targets for insurgents seeking to undermine that strategy. Of about 250 Iraqis reported killed over the past two weeks, at least 90, or 36 percent, were new police officers or police and National Guard recruits. In Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi authorities say they believe the insurgents send suicide bombers to patrol the streets in search of large congregations of recruits.

"We're walking dead men," Aboud said.

Sabah Kadim, a spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, said that despite the attacks, young Iraqis continue to apply at a furious rate.

"Word spreads through the community; you don't need any publicity at all," Kadim said. "If we want 100 in an area, 3,000 show up. This is the amazing thing: Without any recruitment drive at all, the numbers are not only doubling but tripling."

Jabri said the phenomenon is easily explained: "Everyone wants jobs, and there really are no jobs but the police."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52561-2004Sep26.html