Tuesday, October 19, 2004

This is what we need.

"I have been a sailor for 22 years, but no one ever bothered to teach me how to navigate properly or tie knots," said Haqi Ismail, 39, a toothless sailor, who described how in the former navy he had been sunk on three separate occasions.

This is why we keep saying that disbanding the former Iraqi forces was NOT a mistake, even if everyone else says the opposite. It was a corrupt opportunistic useless mass that would’ve costed huge money with virtually no benefit. Even in the new ING and IP you can find agents for the old regime and the terrorists and we often hear reports about arresting some of those here and there for spying.
Now the Iraqi navy among other parts of the Iraqi forces is getting the proper training. It’s still small and not really effective but it’s making the right start.
Read the rest of the story here.

The police was a different story, as even a corrupt policeman standing in the street is better than none and that’s why the old members of the police had to be brought back to service and that’s why corruption among ING is much less than that in the IP, although the latter is by no comparison better than what it used to be before the war.

As an example for this is this story from Sabah newspaper that was on most of the Iraqi newspapers yesterday :
An Iraqi police unit in Kerbela'a refuses a bribe of 100 thousand Dollars in exchange for releasing a gang involved in robbing 360 thousand Dollars from one of the official banks.

Colonel Kareem Hachim Sultan the chief of Kerbela’a IP stated that his police department had gathered information about this gang after the robbery and managed to arrest them, and that they confessed of robbing the bank. The police chief continued saying that more than 1 billion Iraq Dinar stolen from the treasury has been returned by the efforts of the IP in addition to large sums in foreign currency and dozens of stolen cars.

On another development, and from Sabah newspaper too:
IP patrols arrested a man involved in terrorist activities in Al Nahdha garage after some police members had suspicions about the guy who was carrying two bags that seemed heavy. The IP member asked him to stop for inspection but the man ran way and tried to hide in a neighboring school but the IP patrol followed him and managed to arrest him. After arresting him, the man confessed that he was planning to plant side road bombs.

While in Al Masbah district the IP arrested a gang that was involved in kidnaping and freed a child who the gang has kidnaped, apparently demanding a ransom from his parents. The child was returned back to his parents safely.
In the road between Amara and Basra, the ING forces there disarmed 5 road side bombs that were put on the main road.
Story here. (Arabic)

While doing this great service, the ING, IP and all other civil defense forces are taking heavily casualties everyday, as today an IP officer was killed in Hindyea and several members were injured in an ambush in Hindyea while 3 IP members were killed together with 4 civilians when a car loaded with explosives targeted a convoy of police cars in Karrada.

Despite these great dangers, the ING and IP are still doing their job with great dedication, and what’s more impressive is their gentleness and politeness when dealing with people, as everyone I know have noticed and which was also shown on a report by AL Sharquia TV station were all the people interviewed in the streets expressed their gratitude and respect for the IP and showed optimism.
There are many stories like these everyday. This is what we need, not a group of corrupted Ba'athist senior officers and hundreds of thousands of starving illitrate soldiers.
These guys really deserve a memorial statue.

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