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The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from
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Looking to Security from Paper Police
Inter Press Service
by Ali al-Fadhily In a country with no security and no jobs, just about anyone can work as a policeman.
"To survive in Iraq under U.S. occupation, there are only two jobs; police and garbage collection," Baghdad journalist Mohammad al-Dulaymi told IPS. "Unemployment is leading many Iraqis to join the security forces despite the risk involved."
BAGHDAD, Dec 19 (IPS) - According to the Iraqi government, unemployment was between 60-70
percent over the year. But not even senior army and police leaders know
how many have got jobs as security men.
"We do not really have
reliable statistics for the number of security personnel in Iraq," a
general in the ministry of interior in Baghdad, speaking on condition
of anonymity, told IPS. "There are at least one million policemen who
receive salaries from the ministry of interior as official policemen
with salaries of 300 dollars and up. But we believe that half of them
exist on paper only."
The general said there is massive
corruption in the ministry, and that most of the senior staff colludes
in faking lists of personnel who do not exist.
"Why does
everybody blame the bad security on the police," Col. Fadhi al-Rubai of
the Russafa Police in Baghdad asked IPS. "The whole country is being
robbed. A look at any ministry would reveal the catastrophe Iraq is
going through. We, the police, are only one part of huge corruption."
"There
are 1.4 million policemen in Iraq," Abbas al-Bayaty, member of the
security committee in the Iraqi parliament, and senior member of the
major Shia bloc the Iraqi Coalition, told IPS. "That brings the
percentage of policemen to people to one policeman for 27 residents,
while the usual standard should be one to 300. This militarisation of
Iraq is a big mistake."
Even if large numbers exist only on paper, they are at the least a massive drain on the budget.
Moreover,
there are security forces other than the police, though the ministry of
defence refused to give IPS any idea of the numbers of Iraqi army
personnel.
"Only the minister is authorised to talk about it," a
general in the ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS.
"And anyway, no one has a good estimate given the tremendous chaos in
the ministry."
On the ministry of national security too,
information is scarce. "The ministry of national security is an arm of
the Iranian intelligence," Col. Jassim Alwan of the former Iraqi army
told IPS in Baghdad. "It is completely run by Iranian intelligence and
the al-Quds Regiment under a secret agreement between Iran and America
since before the invasion and occupation."
An Iraqi Intelligence
Office was set up by L. Paul Bremer, head of the U.S. Coalition
Provisional Authority which controlled Iraq during the first year of
occupation. This office was meant to be independent of government. The
office led by Gen. Mohammad Abdullah al-Shahwany has maintained a low
profile through the years of occupation.
Shahwany, a Sunni
Muslim, came to Iraq with the U.S. army in April 2003. He was one of
the strongest supporters of U.S. presence in Iraq, and his office was
keen on bringing former intelligence officers back to the service. But
again, there is no information available on the number of personnel and
what they do.
There are still other security forces in Iraq.
"There are special army units that work together with the U.S. army
without any authority of the Iraqi government," Yassen Fadhi of the
ministry of defence told IPS. "These forces are used by the U.S. army
to conduct sensitive missions like arresting militia leaders or raiding
mosques."
The recent Awakening Forces formed by the U.S. forces
from Arab tribes is believed now to be at least 76,000 strong, with
plans to add another 10,000.
These men are also referred to by
the U.S. military as "concerned citizens". Most of them are said to be
former resistance fighters who used to attack occupation forces, but
have now switched support to the U.S. Men said to be among these forces
are paid 300 dollars a month.
Many local community representatives now want their own "Awakening" forces.
"We
contributed a lot to the security of Iraq, and we achieved in six
months what the huge armies of the Americans and Iraqis failed to
achieve in four years," Sheikh Hammed Hayis of the Anbar Awakening
Force in Ramadi, 10 km west of Baghdad, told IPS. "We are the leaders
of the Awakening all over Iraq, and the government must accept us as
official forces."
The Shia-led government of Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki has been at odds with the U.S.-military over the
formation of these local U.S.-backed Sunni militias. According to the
U.S. military, 82 percent of the "concerned citizens" are Sunni.
Many fear further deterioration of security under current policies.
"Power
in Iraq will soon be turned to tribal leaders," Sheikh Ahmed Shakir of
the Sunni religious group The Association of Muslim Scholars
Association told IPS in Baghdad. "They (the U.S. military) are buying
time with the tribes after they failed with the army and militias."
Ali al-Fadhily,
our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with Dahr
Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who travels
extensively in the region.
Posted by Dahr_Jamail at December 19, 2007 05:18 PM
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