Baghdad Blues
For three years, the U.S. has tried to build Iraq's police force. Why it's still a mess
Peterson says that after two years of focus on the quantity of police, he is trying to "put a little more quality into the force." Specifically, he plans to embed some 200 teams of U.S. military and civilian police mentors into local police stations and fully staff posts in the 10 most contested cities by June.
Casteel, who now works for Vance, a security consulting firm, recently returned for a visit and met with a few former ministry officials in Jordan who say there are some 400 Sunnis ousted from the ministry in Jordan alone. "The more you politicize the ministry, the more likely a civil war will happen because you end up with units that are not loyal to the central government," says Casteel.
These days in Baghdad, dozens of new corpses continue to turn up on the streets each week, many of them blindfolded with their hands bound. The Mahdi Army, the militia headed by firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and the Badr Corps continue to operate freely. And the talks to form a new government, which would name the next interior minister, have stretched out for more than three months. In the tumultuous nation, police remain on the front lines--some 2,700 have been killed in the past 18 months.
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