Security a shambles ahead of handover (30,000 police officers face firing)

[Barrett808]

Security a shambles ahead of handover
With one week to go, 30,000 police officers face the sack amid serious shortages of staff and equipment
Rory McCarthy and Jonathan Steele in Baghdad
Thursday June 24, 2004
The Guardian

Up to 30,000 Iraqi police officers are to be sacked for being incompetent and unreliable and given a $60m payoff before the US hands over to an Iraqi government, senior British military sources said yesterday.

Many officers either deserted to the insurgents or simply stayed at home during the recent uprisings in Falluja and across the south.

Fourteen months after the war and just a week before the Iraqis take power on June 30, the sources revealed serious shortfalls of properly trained police and soldiers and vital equipment.

The problems are particularly critical because 35 new police checkpoints are to be set up across Baghdad before the handover, when violence is expected to escalate.

Although the US has set aside $3.5bn to rebuild the security forces, much of the training and many of the contracts have yet to be completed.

...up to 30,000 regular police officers who are now deemed unsuitable will be sacked and replaced. Each will receive $1,000 to $2,000 in severance pay - a total package of up to $60m.

"The feeling is this will allow them to generate a business and feed their family and not force them to become fighters," one source said.

(more)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1245926,00.html

[54anickel]

1. 1-2K severance will surely go far in a country that is facing something

like 50% unemployment, won't it? :eyes:

[alarcojon]

2. This handover

isn't a joke, now is it?

[Jacobin]

3. It's a prelude to the upheaval which will drive us from their

country.

The sooner the better. The longer this occupation goes on, the worse it's going to get.

[54anickel]

4. Sounds like the US did a fabulous job in preparing the Iraqi police &

military for a smooth transition, no? Perhaps if the US weren't so pre-occupied with closing local newspapers and avenging the mutilation of a handful of "contractors" they could have done a better job. :eyes:

This is probably according to Rummies plan, they'll have no functional police or military, so they will simply invite the coalition of the willing to stay a bit longer to help out in those areas.

snip>
Fourteen months after the war and just a week before the Iraqis take power on June 30, the sources revealed serious shortfalls of properly trained police and soldiers and vital equipment.

The problems are particularly critical because 35 new police checkpoints are to be set up across Baghdad before the handover, when violence is expected to escalate.

Although the US has set aside $3.5bn to rebuild the security forces, much of the training and many of the contracts have yet to be completed.

[dArKeR]

5. 'Bush is a Lying Sham' should be this title! Or

"Bush's brain a shambles ahead of handover"