Building Iraq's Police Force

U.S. Troops Live Alongside Police For Weeks Of High-Stakes Training

(CBS)  This story was written by CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick, embedded with U.S. forces in Baghdad Province.

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U.S. soldiers pay a surprise visit to an Iraqi National police checkpoint in the middle of the night. They find half the police on-duty sleeping, and none of them aware of an impending attack.

Intelligence indicates gunmen may be massing for an attack here, Checkpoint 2 in Rasallah, Baghdad Province — one of the most dangerous. It's targeted nightly.

Lt. Col. Anthony Cornett, the U.S. team leader, urges the Iraqi captain to wake up his men and defend the checkpoint.

"I told him, 'let's get the other men up and get them fully prepared for the attack.' These gunmen generally attack at the same time every night. They know that. I know that. So they should be prepared, not waiting to call the Americans to come and help them," Cornett says.

The Iraqis have an armored vehicle and a watch tower. Cornett patiently explains to them how the tower should be fortified and how they should use the vehicle for protection.

"They can fend this off by themselves. They can do this," he says.

The Iraqis listen to Cornett but make no move to wake the others. They are polite, and intrigued by the American visit, but they seem unafraid — even as the Iraqi captain acknowledges the gunmen are there and are trying to chase them off.

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Listen To Cami's Report

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Checkpoint 2 separates Sunni and Shiite areas, and the fighters have already seized homes and frightened away families on one side.

This location, on a key road leading into central Baghdad, is important to the upcoming joint security operations in the capital.

"This is a very crucial checkpoint that we can't afford to get rid of," Cornett says. "They have to protect this checkpoint and they have to get aggressive about patrolling outside of it so the enemy doesn't get that close."

But the Iraqis complain the fighters they're up against have better weapons and more ammunition. U.S. military personnel in charge of stock admit supplying the National Police checkpoints has been complicated.

"Safety equipment, helmets, vests, boots, food, ammo, those things are tight. You have very little of it and there is no making a call and getting an abundant re-supply like we do," explains Master Sergeant John Yarborough.

American soldiers sometimes spot police wearing sandals with their uniforms because they don't have boots.

A lack of hardware, and footwear, is only the tip of the iceberg — many of these men have no formal law enforcement training.

"They come straight off the street," Cornett says. "They throw on a haphazard uniform and now they're out there doing something that they have no training to do."

Militia influence is also a problem, especially in the Iraqi National Police ranks.

"Some of them have allegiances to these different organizations that are Sunni or Shiite," Cornett says. They are sometimes threatened into joining militant groups.

Several police commanders have been replaced to try and curtail that problem, and at least one battalion has been completely disbanded.

But the only way to build a police force guaranteed free of militia influence is to watch the recruits all the way. National Police are being trained at a facility in Numiniyah by Australian cops — but they live, eat and learn alongside embedded U.S. forces.

For four weeks of training, a team of about 11 U.S. soldiers will be integrated into a battalion of trainees, and when the police head back to their posts, they're joined by even more Americans.

"We're going to be with them 24-7, so they can't get away from us in the night, they can't get away from us in the daytime. We're with them all the time. And I think a lot of things will come out there. They're going to be cut off from their contacts there and focus on what their job really is," says Cornett.

When they leave the academy they're issued new, digitized uniforms — which are more easily tracked — but also serve to set apart the police who have received training from those who have not.

The program so far appears successful. The first two brigades to graduate "had the best record of any of the National Police Brigades of the past, not having any human rights violations or transgressions, such as extra judicial killings," said. Brig. General Dana Pittard, who oversees the Iraq Assistance Group.

But the training will take time. The police at Checkpoint 2 have just been informed their training will be delayed until late April, or even early May.

U.S. soldiers will have to keep up the frustrating on-the-job training at checkpoints in the meantime, but they'll soon have some help curtailing the militia influence from the Iraqis themselves.

As part of the new Baghdad security plan, checkpoints will be staffed with a mixture of Iraqi police, National Police and Iraqi army units.

"You have the Iraqi Army, mostly Sunni, the National Police, mostly Shiite, and the Iraqi police, a mix of whatever neighborhood they come from," Cornett says. "It's a check and balance."

[obiquital]

"Please give us your source for this.
Posted by itchyb"

http://www.answers.com/topic/ansar-al-islam
http://www.answers.com/topic/al-qaeda-in-iraq

The war in Iraq is an extension of the war on terrorism. If we leave Iraq two things will happen. Iraq will become another extremist islamic state and the terrorists will become even more bold having believed that if they defeated the US in Iraq then they can defeat the US other places.
Many of the people fighting against the US in Iraq are not even Iraqi.

[srsradv]

Congratulations Cami McCormick on clear, factual reporting. It's refreshing to read an article filled with real news of both good and bad developments, from an unbiased source.

The risks confronting genuine front line reporters are underappreciated, as is the importance of getting the up-to-date facts about what's happening in Iraq. Keep up the good work.

[tuckerndfw]

How much training does it take to teach someone to shoot people who are threatening other people?

Police work is not classroom intensive, it requires common sense and a basic level of mature judgment.

Parents continually act as policemen to their children and it may be frustrating, but it is NOT complicated.

And, there is no reason it should take more than 30 days to train someone to walk up and down a street watching for and responding to trouble.

I don't know why it is taking years to "train" policeman, but US taxpayers are getting a huge shaft by those who are claiming to do the "training."

George Bush and his cronies should be indicted and brought to trial for their multiple crimes, including the fraudulent claims about "training" Iraqi police.

[bigwhtpony]

This is one of the main reasons I have always been against invading Iraq. I think freedom isn't something you can just "whip" on a culture. I believe that if you really desire freedom, then you should pick up a weapon and fight for it.

I can't tell you haw many times I saw film of Saddam in the streets of Baghdad with a little "posse" around him. It would have been so easy for an Iraqi man (if there is such a thing) to bust a few rounds in to him. Sure, he would have died, but it would have been a start.

But Noooooooooooo.....instead, they all stand around him clapping, jumping up and down and chanting, "Oh Saddam, yu are great, Oh Saddam, can we line up and kiss your a**."

They don't deserve one more drop of American blood. One of ours is worth 10,000 of theirs.

[karlimhof]

When The Neocons planned this war, they forgot(or were counting on..) the IRAKIS!

It's easy to plan the war when you command US resources, easy to execute too. But then the free ride is over and you decide, am I staying or am I goin'? The neocons blunder is ever more evident and one has to admit, like Gen. Tommy Franks, these are dumbest mother duckers in the world!

[sharncedar]

Maybe we can give some of that 2.9 trillion dollars to the Iraqi police. The 2.9 trillion that Bush is stealing from the American people, and giving to a) rich owners of the federal debt such as wealthy elitists and our enemy China (17%) b) and defense contractors and defense industry for million dollar bombs to drop on tents. (50%)

The worst leader in the history of all time, methinks. The worst fool ever to preside over anything, a budget, a war, anything. It is almost humorous how completely corrupt and stupid Bush is.

[itchyb-2009]

obiquital says:

"There have been terrorist organizations operating in Iraq since at least 2001."

Please give us your source for this.

"Most of them just want to live and be free."

Yes, and most of them want the U.S. out of there, as indicated in polling done in Iraq.

"Clearly, they have begun to learn, they just need some more time."

B.S. They have had four years to learn; it is not time they lack, it is will.

[obiquital]

So just because these people are not American, they should not be given the chance they deserve as humans? Calling them monkeys and saying they are not evolved as much as Americans is just pathetic. They are still people. Do you think that most Iraqis want to kill all Americans or blow themselves up? They don't. Most of them just want to live and be free. There have been terrorist organizations operating in Iraq since at least 2001. These are the ones that are causing the problems, not the Iraqi people as a whole. The article said that the new strategy was working and you just skip over that and say to leave and that they have not learned. Clearly, they have begun to learn, they just need some more time.

[bluestardad]

If these people have not learned in 4 years of traing expending blood, money and lives, they do not want to learn give up on them and leave!

[dallison7]

American oil companies taught them to drill holes in the ground and the American government armed them.

Teaching them to reason is an entirely different and futile objective.

We have done enough damage, GET US OUT OF IRAQ!!

[dallison7]

There is no 'national idenity' in Iraq. Never has been, never will be. These are tribal people, they attack and kill members of rival tribes. Are we to stay, fight and die with them until evolution catches up?

[bluestardad]

America has spent too much on lives, and money on these monkeys it is time to pull out!