Critics warn of plan to sack 30,000 Iraqi police

[floda]

AS MANY as 30,000 members of Iraq’s new police force are to lose their jobs in a radical shake-up aimed at weeding out troublemakers and officers considered unsuitable for employment.

A $60 million (£33 million) fund has been set aside by the interim government in Iraq to pay off the sacked police officers, with the axe due to fall at the end of this month. They will receive an average pay-off of $2,000 (£1,100).

But critics of the plan in Iraq say that it risks repeating the mistakes made when the Iraqi army was disbanded after the end of the war in 2003, when 400,000 disaffected soldiers were turned on to the streets with no source of income. Many joined the insurgency against the coalition forces.

Yesterday, one senior Iraqi officer, Major Basim Mahmoud Hameed, warned that the same could happen again if police officers are dismissed from their jobs. "It is about their loyalty. Some of them are loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr . They are wearing police uniforms and when we need them to be on our side they are on the side of Sadr or with the terrorists in Fallujah," he said.

more...

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=982422004

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Brilliant! Train them then fire them!

Be sure and match up those photo id's on the next patrol for insurgents so Bush can rack up the numbers caught!

Unbelievable!!! :eyes:

[Vladimir]

2. Will they be allowed to keep thier guns like the

soldiers were? Or do these geniuses occasionally learn something? Me, I'm betting the answer to be no...

[shadu]

5. Get this:

"He said the US had only realised their mistakes when they started to lose large numbers of soldiers and equipment without noticing any improvement in the security situation."

Sounds like the Iraqis loaded up on lots of free parting
gifts, courtesy my tax dollar.
While this may be the best dollar I have spent in Iraq to date
I would like to know:
what kind of equipment is missing?

[Vladimir]

8. As they say, you can't cure stupid n/t

[Larkspur]

9. Sounds like the Iraqis are playing the same con games Bush used

to gain his fortune and power. There is no honor among thieves.

[Jacobin]

3. Oh my. The Iraqization of the war is working like the Vietnamization

did.

Who coulda expected this?

:eyes:

[jeff30997]

4. I wonder who's coming up with those great ideas.

[gatlingforme]

6. could be the people in control. LOL maybe it's Rummy or Cheney

sounds like something they would do.

[whosinpower]

7. It is crystal clear

That the US needs Iraq to remain unstable to justify their permanent military bases and for the US to continue the security functions.

The occupation continues just as planned......and if yout think that there ever was an exit strategy - have I got a bridge to sell you!