In Baghdad, police chief explains why it's tough to enforce the rule of law

“The police stations, including ours, aren’t located properly. If you go to the Interior Ministry, you’ll see a concrete wall surrounding it half a mile away," says Abu Abbas. "In front of our police station is an apartment building.”

He longs for proper concrete walls around his police station, like the ones he sees on television in foreign cities.

“In London they have a bell – people just ring the bell,” he says, pressing an imaginary door bell and making ringing noises.

As part of a security alert around the Sept. 1 end of the US combat mission here, security forces were placed on high alert, more checkpoints set up, and police were directed to patrol on foot instead of the usual vehicle patrols – a move the police chief disagrees with in his vulnerable neighborhood.

“What do I benefit from sending men out in the street and everyone can see them? I’d rather send them out in plain clothes,” says Abu Abbas, who acknowledges that recent attacks have made him and his unit more cautious. “When you feel you’re targeted, there will be changes. These armed groups specialized in assassinations with silencers – it’s a big problem for us.”

Deprived of police training in France

Abu Abbas has been a police officer for more than two decades. He languishes at the dusty outpost in the down-at-the-heels neighborhood because he has no tribal or political connections. He says he was nominated recently for training in France but another officer managed to bribe his way into the course instead.

“I’ve never been out of the country,” he says. “I’ve never even seen an airplane up close.”

But he is a keen observer of political history.

“When America brought its armies … we had a political vacuum and it became a breeding ground for terrorists,” he says. “All of the interests of neighboring countries here coincided.”

As for the Americans leaving: “It’s been a long time since we dealt with them,” he says. “At the beginning they were with us a lot, but that stopped a long time ago. Whether they’re leaving or not, we just see it on TV.”

Interior Ministry praises police's huge strides

At the Interior Ministry, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Abu Ragheef – the director of internal affairs – says the police have made huge strides in the last four years, when they were infiltrated by militia members and death squads.

In a major victory last week, he says the police, acting on intelligence obtained from confessions, discovered a storehouse near Fallujah, built under a bathroom, that contained suicide vests, rocket-propelled-grenades, and packages of explosives.

At the same location, they found a four-wheel-drive loaded with more than 1,000 pounds of explosives ready to be detonated. The alleged military leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an Al Qaeda-linked group, was arrested in a related operation.

Abu Ragheef believes the attacks are supported by neighboring countries, and made worse by the lack of a government here.

“The planning against Iraq is a plot that other countries are participating in,” he told the Monitor. “There are people who are throwing wood on this fire.”

“We are completely confident that we can assume responsibility for security in Iraq, but it will be incomplete if citizens and politicians are not part of it,” he says. “You cannot have one hand applauding.”

Mohammad Dulaimy contributed to this report.

Previous

1 | 2