Efforts Intensify to Train Iraqi Police

[SWJED]

30 Dec. New York Times - G.I.'s to Increase U.S. Supervision of Iraqi Police.

American commanders are planning to increase significantly the number of soldiers advising Iraqi police commando units, in part to curtail abuse that the units are suspected of inflicting on Sunni Arabs, a senior commander in Iraq said Thursday.

Under the plan, which the officer said he expected would be formally approved in a few weeks, the number of advisers working with the Iraqi units would be greatly expanded. The advisers themselves would be under the command of American officers.

American advisers now accompany commando units as part of the vast effort to train and equip security forces to take over the fight against the insurgency and to maintain order.

But the number of advisers is relatively small: currently, groups of about 40 American soldiers each are attached to seven of the nine special Iraqi police brigades.

Under the new plan, which would be put in force in and around Baghdad, all the Iraqi units would get American advisers, and the advisers' total number would be increased by several hundred, said the commander, who spoke to reporters in Baghdad only on condition of anonymity...

30 Dec. Los Angeles Times - U.S. to Restrict Iraqi Police.

After a series of prison abuse scandals that have inflamed sectarian tensions, U.S. officials announced plans Thursday to rein in Iraqi special police forces, increasing the number of American troops assigned to work with them and requiring consultations before the Iraqis mount raids in Baghdad...

Iraq's Sunni Muslim Arabs, who dominated Iraq under former President Saddam Hussein, have complained of being targeted by the security forces now controlled by Shiite Muslims. The bodies of hundreds of Sunni men have been fished out of the Tigris River or found in abandoned lots and garbage dumps. Many had been tied, blindfolded and shot execution-style. Relatives often say their family members were taken away by Iraqi security forces or people dressed as such...