Police defections add to Mosul's woes

[Barrett808]

Police defections add to Mosul's woes
By Kathleen Ridolfo

Multinational forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have arrested General Mohammed Khayri al-Birhawi, the director general of Mosul police, accusing him of cooperating with terrorists in the city. Earlier, Deputy Governor Khisro Goran accused police of colluding with insurgents: "We are convinced, because we have evidence ... that many policemen in Mosul are loyal to the former regime and sympathetic to the terrorists. Their loyalty is not for the new Iraqi regime," Kurdistan Satellite Television reported. Goran added that the police directorate in the city was advised several months ago to purge the police organization of Saddam Hussein loyalists, but the directorate failed to do so.

Reuters reported on Monday that scores of police defected in last week's fighting and joined insurgents. "The terrorists were not able to occupy the offices of the national parties, centers of the National Guard or the Installations Protection Force. They were only able to seize police stations, which is a clear indication that there is collusion between the police and that many policemen are sympathetic to the former regime, which is why they handed over the stations very easily," he said. "In many of the stations, there was no shooting or fighting, they were just handed over to the terrorists."

Reports indicate that fighting remains sporadic but US, Kurdish and Iraqi National Guard personnel have secured at least half of the city, which is divided by the Tigris River. Al-Jazeera reported on Friday that gunmen could be seen in the city urging residents to return to their jobs without fear. A statement was also issued by the "Higher commission of the Mujahideen Brigades" calling on residents to return to work, adding that the mujahideen would protect state institutions and banks in the city, and that there was no reason for citizens to close their shops. The Kurdish daily Khabat reported on Thursday that Kurdish homes were repeatedly attacked in the city. The daily said that "Arab democrats" were also being targeted. The Kurdish parliament claimed in a November 6 statement condemning the violence in Mosul that Kurds wearing traditional dress were being targeted in a number of northern Iraqi towns. "These malicious and criminal aim at planting the seeds of sedition and contention between the Kurds and Arabs," the statement said.

Some reports said that peshmerga (paramilitary) forces had taken up positions in the city in recent days. They launched operations in the Kurdish-populated al-Jihad neighborhood of the city on Monday. Peshmerga forces also defended the Kurdistan Democratic Party office against an attack on Monday, killing four insurgents. Two militants were also killed outside the Ibn Sina Hospital after peshmerga forces caught them trying to plant explosives on a parked car belonging to a peshmerga. Gunfire could still be heard in some areas of the city as multinational forces worked to secure the area. Witnesses said many terrorists were killed but many others escaped to villages south of the city.

(more)

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FK17Ak03.html

[Brand New Tico]

1. American military personnel should be the ones defecting

Sounds like Iraqi "police" are smarter than our own troops. They don't want to die. Our troops don't seem to care if they live or die. Anyone who volunteers to go and die like a dog in the desert for George W. Bush deserves what he gets.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thanks for this article. Hadn't heard a word on this subject.

Really not too hard to understand that people, even the ones hastily appointed "policemen," would harbor deep, deep reservations about being invaded, and bombed senseless, and having their loved ones slaughtered.

You'd be a fool to imagine the same thing wouldn't happen here. Are they supposed to actually love the invaders, just because that's what we want? Everyone has to do our bidding? Why?

That's the thinking of a nasty, imperious, completely unchallenged, undisciplined Little Lord Fauntleroy, similar to the thing in the White House.

[Maat]

3. Funny, that's how I see our beloved leader...his parents..

just buy him whatever he wants, get him out of tickets, felonies, or whatever else, pay for the best hired guns in the Land so he can claim the presidency.

Little Lord Fauntleroy (LLF) should be a new acronym for you-know-who.