Tension over Iraqi police role

By Magdi Abdelhadi
BBC Arab affairs editor in Baghdad

It is no longer safe to be a policeman in Iraq

The al-Rasheed police headquarters is a shabby two-storey building in one of Baghdad's poorest districts.

It is surrounded by barbed wire and American armoured vehicles and there are gun positions on the roof.

I was not allowed to take pictures.

An American soldier told me I could not enter the building without an escort or a permission because it was a military zone.

Not an ideal set up, you might say, for fostering mutual trust between the police and the community.

Safety threat

But it is no longer safe to be a member of the police in Iraq.

How can we do our job properly when we're not allowed to carry arms? Iraqi policeman

Earlier this month, seven new recruits to the US-backed police force were killed in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

Police stations have come under several attacks since then.

Groups opposed to the US occupation have been targeting Iraqis cooperating with the Americans, accusing them of being collaborators.

I went to the al-Rasheed police station to find out how Iraqi police cope with the increased threat to their own safety.

Since I was not allowed to enter the station, the station's commanding officer kindly accepted an invitation to meet me just outside the compound.

Lieutenant General Kazim Abid Khalaf is a short stocky man in his mid-fifties, with a drooping moustache and thick grey hair.

He refused to acknowledge that the level of threat he and his troops are facing is radically different from the usual threats police forces in other countries have to deal with.

No endorsement

He insisted it was the job of police everywhere to fight outlaws, regardless whether their motivation was political, or purely criminal.

They are all corrupt... all were informers for the Baath party Iraqi woman

As I was speaking to the general crowds of curious and angry Iraqis began to gather around us, as they often do in Baghdad when they notice a journalist talking to their fellow countrymen.

They are keen on getting their voice heard: No security, no electricity, no jobs, are the words I hear everywhere.

I put the question to General Khalaf: Don't you think it would be better for your forces to operate on their own, away from the Americans, to avoid being accused of collaboration?

He bluntly rejected the idea, saying the Americans were doing a good job.

But it did not sound like a whole-hearted endorsement of the US presence at his station.

Protecting themselves

Other members of the force who joined the crowd around us had a different view.

US forces are trying to build bridges

They said the Americans were part of the problem, not the solution.

"How can we do our job properly when we're not allowed to carry arms?", one of them asked rhetorically.

He said Iraqi police were capably of re-establishing law and order in Baghdad, but only if the Americans were to let them to do the job.

"Give us just one month," said one, "and we can round up every single criminal gang in the whole of Iraq".

His colleagues agreed.

"A police force that cannot protect itself, cannot protect the crowd," said a man in the crowd.

Difficult position

The Coalition Provision Authority (CPA) acknowledges that not all Iraqi policemen have been armed.

But they say that, eventually, all those who need arms to carry out the duties will be issued with weapons.

A woman who was among the first to gather around us, followed me to the car.

"They are all corrupt," she said referring to the policemen.

"All were informers for the Baath party," she added.

So, the picture you get here is of a total breakdown of trust.

The rank and file policemen do not trust the Americans and the people here do not trust the police.

The attacks on police stations highlight the determination of such groups to undermine US efforts to establish law and order in Iraq.

They also put the Americans in a difficult position.

The more they fortify police stations to protect the soldiers, the more they look like military bases.

This alienates the local population and makes building bridges to the community an impossible task.