Posted on 10/09/2003 12:22:59 AM PDT by BenLurkin
TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) - With a map of Saddam Hussein's hometown spread out before him, Lt. Col. David Poirier huddled with Brig. Gen. Hamid Nasim Abdoullah, a deputy provincial police chief who had just received a tip on a member of the Iraqi resistance. Speaking in muted tones around the Iraqi policeman's desk, the two men and their staffs worked a joint plan to arrest the suspect.
The planning session was just one of many carried out between the 720th Military Police Battalion from Fort Hood, Texas, and a new Iraqi police force that was selected, trained and equipped by Poirier and his troops.
On a raid against suspected resistance members carried out on Sept. 29, a record number of Iraqi police - more than 200 in their distinctive blue uniforms - led a joint operation with dozens of MP's. And on Oct. 8, the U.S. Army carried out 130 joint patrols with Iraqi security services in the area controlled by the 4th Infantry Division, a record number.
"I feel satisfied. I am not as happy as I want but we've made good progress. There are still some bad guys that don't want to give up because of significance of Tikrit and because of family ties. They are outnumbered by the coalition forces and the police," Poirier, from Massena, NY, said during a recent interview.
Tikrit is a place in a predominantly Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq where the American-trained police seem to be actively working with U.S. forces - not always effectively but at least so far in unison.
"I think our people are accepting this new structure because they know we have to build a new Iraq. We now have a big force that is trying to police the province. People want a new life and more people are starting to realize this," Abdoullah said.
Getting the Iraqi police force onto the streets has taken added significance following a sharp increase in the number and boldness of roadside bombs targeting U.S. forces in Tikrit. Midday attacks in central Tikrit near the main American base have already killed one U.S. soldier and injured a number of others in the past week.
Anti-American demonstrations have also been increasing in Tikrit and neighboring cities, including one in the nearby town of Beiji that evolved into a gunbattle between police and protesters.
Tikrit and the province surrounding it now has about 4,000 police officers, with roughly less than half that number in and around the city itself.
In the six months since the MP's began training the police, they have managed to weed out many former regime supporters, Baath party and members of the Saddam Fedayeen - a militia thought to be responsible for most of the attacks against U.S. forces - as well as people suspected of having close ties to Saddam's extended family, including the once influential Al-Majid and the Abu Nasr clans.
The chief and many of his officers are apparently members of the Al-Jibouri clan, one of the largest in Tikrit and the region. Many police officers are also from the smaller villages around Tikrit, who were not part of the city's elite and its power structure under Saddam.
"We have people from the whole province. But the people working in Tikrit are from Tikrit," Abdoullah said with a smile.
There have been problems, however, and fears of reprisal attacks among the police. The former Tikrit police chief, a resident of the nearby town of Samara, barely managed to survive a recent assassination attempt. The provincial police station was also attacked a couple of weeks ago with rockets.
Breaking bad habits and practices, improving equipment and increasing the base salary of about $65 for ordinary patrolmen have been key issues.
"During Saddam's time the police's job was basically to arrest his opponents. We've had to struggle with tangibles and intangibles," said Lt. Roscoe Woods, 28, from St. Louis, Mo.
Woods, who has played a key role in training the police since May 7, said they have managed to change attitudes.
"They are more responsible for the actions of the Iraqi people and see the necessity of arresting those who are opposed to Iraqi governmental reform," Woods said. "Now the bad guys are going after them and they now see it as critical to catch them."
Poirier agrees that the "hardest part has been getting them out of the police stations because of fear of reprisal."
Before being hired by the police, candidates undergo a tough screening procedure, including filling in a lengthy form about their past history and an interview process.
"We sit in a room with two interpreters and discuss the Baath party," Poirier said.
He added that clan and family membership - in the Al-Majids for example - was also examined.
"We looked at that. We have a mixture of all backgrounds and families. They are doing OK. Do we completely trust them? I don't completely trust anyone," Poirier said. "Am I absolutely confident all our police are free and clear of Fedayeen loyalists. No I am not."
The key difference in Tikrit has been that the 720th MP Battalion had reforming the police as it primary task and developed a three-week training program to try and mold a civilian police out of the remnants of Saddam's force, which had a military structure and training regimen.
A three-week training program includes subjects never before broached in Iraq, including basic human rights, prohibitions against torture and handling domestic violence.
"It's almost like you are rebuilding a police that never existed," said Lt. Shannon Newell, 24, from Dekalb, Miss., who is the Battalion's police reform officer.
AP-ES-10-09-03 0300EDT
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