Iraqi Police Force Should Be 'Scrapped'

Infighting, corruption force recommendation that US 'start over'

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 31, 2007 11:45 AM CDT

Copied

Iraqi Police Force Should Be 'Scrapped' — Members of the Iraqi security forces guard the streets in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007. Police ordered a curfew Tuesday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, that is 70 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Najaf, and told more than... (Associated Press)

Corruption and sectarian biases are so deeply entrenched in the Iraqi police ranks that the force's structure must be “scrapped,” an independent panel will report to Congress next week. The recommendation stems from an examination of the 26,000-member police force that concludes “we should start over,” a military official tells the Times.

Carrying out the blue-ribbon panel's recommendations, which include shrinking and reorganizing the police force, would be fraught with uncertainty—a similar disbanding of the Iraqi army in 2003 led to armed backlash against the US military. But the stature of the committee members and continuing Democratic dissatisfaction with the progress of the war may limit the administration's options. (More Iraq stories.)

Report an error