NYT: Wary Iraqis Are Recruited as Policemen

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/world/middleeast/24anbar.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1153713600&en=40b89d4103c0c895&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin

Wary Iraqis Are Recruited as Policemen

<snip>

The former policeman still bears the scars from the bullets that ripped through his arm when insurgents overran his police station last year, one of many such attacks in the region. But lured by a salary of $360 a month and the opportunity to serve, he turned out for the police recruiting drive here in early July.

It is a second chance for the American military, as well. It was the lack of sufficient American forces in this swath of the violent Anbar Province, in western Iraq, that allowed the insurgents to attack the police stations in the first place.

Recruiting a new police force to battle the insurgents has become a central element in the United States’ plan to eventually reduce American forces. It is a complex mission that requires American commanders to secure a modicum of cooperation from a wary, if not antagonistic, population, and to contend with a vicious campaign by insurgents to assassinate and intimidate the members of Iraq’s fledgling security services.

“For us to have any kind of exit strategy we need a police force, and for them to take control of the city,” said Capt. Avery Jeffers, a Marine officer in charge of the police training team here. “We need their brothers and sons to become policemen. That is how they will see less and less of us.”

[cyberpj]

1. And for Iraqis, what other "jobs" are there now? US saw to that. nt

[saigon68]

2. Their lives as policemen will be Interesting and Short

LOL