Iraq Police Say the Job Is Now Perilous

[Rose Siding]

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Being an Iraqi police officer used to be a safe, cushy job that sometimes required chasing down pickpockets and car thieves, but left plenty of time for tea.
...
"It used to be prestigious. ... People respected us, criminals were afraid of us," said 1st Lt. Amjid Mohammed, a 26-year-old detective at al-Bayaa police station, Baghdad's largest. "Today it's the opposite: It's we who are afraid."

Insurgents see police as collaborators with U.S.-led forces, who are struggling to restore order. They've blown up police stations all over the country, sometimes disguised as cops. They've gunned down officers in drive-by shootings as they left home for work, and they've battered police stations with mortar barrages and rocket-propelled grenades.

From April 2003 to May 2004 alone, 710 Iraqi police were killed out of a total force of 130,000 officers, authorities said. Until then, police say, an officer's death was nearly always of natural causes.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-police-in-fear,0,2932317.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[lottie244]

1. But, but we are winning. How can they say that.? Report only the positive

things that are happening, please.

[LittleApple81]

2. My friend's neighbor was sent to train them. He said it was horrible

because these guys are essentially family men and good people and he knew he was sending many of them to their deaths. The families had become friendly towards him, and then when the men got killed they blamed this guy and told him never to come around their house any more under the risk of death... winning hearts and minds....