NYT: Misjudgments Marred U.S. Plans for Iraqi Police

[DeepModem Mom]

Misjudgments Marred U.S. Plans for Iraqi Police
By MICHAEL MOSS and DAVID ROHDE
Published: May 21, 2006


(Essam al-Sudani/Agence France-Presse--Getty Images)
A class of 450 Iraqi police officers graduated last month in Basra.

As chaos swept Iraq after the American invasion in 2003, the Pentagon began its effort to rebuild the Iraqi police with a mere dozen advisers. Overmatched from the start, one was sent to train a 4,000-officer unit to guard power plants and other utilities. A second to advise 500 commanders in Baghdad. Another to organize a border patrol for the entire country.

Three years later, the police are a battered and dysfunctional force that has helped bring Iraq to the brink of civil war. Police units stand accused of operating death squads for powerful political groups or simple profit. Citizens, deeply distrustful of the force, are setting up their own neighborhood security squads. Killings of police officers are rampant, with at least 547 slain this year, roughly as many as Iraqi and American soldiers combined, records show.

The police, initially envisioned by the Bush administration as a cornerstone in a new democracy, have instead become part of Iraq's grim constellation of shadowy commandos, ruthless political militias and other armed groups. Iraq's new prime minister and senior American officials now say that the country's future — and the ability of America to withdraw its troops — rests in large measure on whether the police can be reformed and rogue groups reined in.

Like so much that has defined the course of the war, the realities on the ground in Iraq did not match the planning in Washington. An examination of the American effort to train a police force in Iraq, drawn from interviews with several dozen American and Iraqi officials, internal police reports and visits to Iraqi police stations and training camps, reveals a cascading series of misjudgments by White House and Pentagon officials, who repeatedly underestimated the role the United States would need to play in rebuilding the police and generally maintaining order....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/world/middleeast/21security.html?ei=5094&en=84f4002b27e45d00&hp=&ex=1148184000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all

[Kutjara]

1. Well, we said we were going to give them American-style democracy.

"The police, initially envisioned by the Bush administration as a cornerstone in a new democracy, have instead become part of Iraq's grim constellation of shadowy commandos, ruthless political militias and other armed groups."

"Like so much that has defined the course of the war, the realities on the ground in Iraq did not match the planning in Washington."

"...reveals a cascading series of misjudgments by White House and Pentagon officials, who repeatedly underestimated the role the United States would need to play in rebuilding the police and generally maintaining order..."

So, in other words, Iraq is running just like the US under BushCo. We've delivered what we promised. Mission Accomplished!

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. Dog Bites Man: BushCo One Giant Fuckup

maybe if this was reported 2 or three years ago, it may have been relevant, but not now.

[lfairban]

3. And THIS is the course we are suppose to be staying?

What did we hear from Kerry and Hillery and the DLC? Even though the war has been found to be a big mistake we must stay the course.

What Ignorant Blather!

Why is it that for years the Democratic Opposition has failed to point out these obvious shortcomings?

Why should we even bother listening to them?

[leftchick]

4. US-trained Iraqi police largely dysfunctional: NYT

NEW YORK (AFP) - Three years after the United States began rebuilding Iraqi police, they are emerging as a battered and dysfunctional force that has helped bring Iraq to the brink of civil war, The New York Times has reported.

The police, initially envisioned by the US administration as a cornerstone in a new democracy, have instead become part of Iraq's grim constellation of shadowy commandos, ruthless political militias and other armed groups, the paper said.

It said White House and Pentagon officials have repeatedly underestimated the role the United States would need to play in rebuilding the police and generally maintaining order.

Before the war, the Bush administration dismissed as unnecessary a plan backed by the Justice Department to rebuild the police force by deploying thousands of American civilian trainers, The Times said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060521/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqpolice_060521031504

[Roland99]

5. Misjudgments marred US gov't ever since Jan. 2001.

[struggle4progress]

6. Did they do exactly what "The Decider" told them to do? I mean, this ..

.. must be SOMEBODY's fault ...