U.S. Panel on Iraqi Police Corruption: 'We should start over'

Above: Iraqi national policemen question a woman during a search of her home in Baghdad earlier this month.

US panel to urge overhaul of Iraq police - report

An independent U.S. panel will recommend a major overhaul of Iraq's national police force to purge corrupt officers and Shi'ite militants suspected of complicity in sectarian killings, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The commission established by Congress concluded that rampant sectarianism that has plagued the force since its inception requires that its current units "be scrapped," the newspaper reported, citing administration and military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The commission, headed by Gen. James Jones, the former top U.S. commander in Europe, was set up to assess the Iraqi police force. The panel was scheduled to present its findings to Congress next week.

The 14-member panel of former or retired military officers, Pentagon officials and law enforcement officers will urge that the Iraqi force be reshaped into a smaller, more elite organization, a senior official familiar with the findings told The New York Times.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

Panel Will Urge Broad Overhaul of Iraqi Police

An independent commission established by Congress to assess Iraq's security forces will recommend remaking the 26,000-member national police force to purge it of corrupt officers and Shiite militants suspected of complicity in sectarian killings, administration and military officials said Thursday.

The commission, headed by General James L. Jones, the former top United States commander in Europe, concludes that the rampant sectarianism that has existed since the formation of the police force requires that its current units "be scrapped" and reshaped into a smaller, more elite organization, according to one senior official familiar with the findings. The recommendation is that "we should start over," the official said...

However, a new attempt to disband an Iraqi force would also be risky, given the armed backlash that followed the American decision to dissolve the Iraqi Army soon after the invasion of 2003.

Read the rest at the NY Times

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