Security a shambles ahead of handover

Up to 30 000 Iraqi police officers are to be sacked for being incompetent and unreliable and given a $60-million payoff before the United States hands over to an Iraqi government, senior British military sources said on Wednesday.

Many officers either deserted to the insurgents or simply stayed at home during the recent uprisings in Falluja and across the south.

Fourteen months after the war and just a week before the Iraqis take power on June 30, the sources revealed serious shortfalls of properly trained police and soldiers and vital equipment.

The problems are particularly critical because 35 new police checkpoints are to be set up across Baghdad before the handover, when violence is expected to escalate.

Although the US has set aside $3,5-billion to rebuild the security forces, much of the training and many of the contracts have yet to be completed.

The police forces, now the first line of defence, are being drastically overhauled.

There are 120 000 officers on the payroll, although only 89 000 turn up for work — and more than half of these have still had no training. Those who do not turn up are either ghost employees left over from the previous corrupt system or are permanently absent. Most will be encouraged to retire.

In addition, up to 30 000 regular police officers who are now deemed unsuitable will be sacked and replaced. Each will receive $1 000 to $2 000 in severance pay — a total package of up to $60-million.

”The feeling is this will allow them to generate a business and feed their family and not force them to become fighters,” one source said.

An army of 25 000 is also planned but the first 5 000 soldiers are still in training.

A paramilitary force, now known as the Iraqi national guard, should have 51 000 troops but has only 35 000.

The security forces are also desperately short of equipment, having less than 5% of the radios, a quarter of the body armour, a third of the vehicles and slightly more than half the weapons they need.

A total of 253 000 weapons have been ordered but only 141 000 have arrived so far. Of the 57 000 radios on order, there are only 2 500 in Iraq. And of the 25 000 vehicles needed, there are only 8 500.

The high demand for body armour has been particularly difficult to meet. Of the 174 000 sets procured, only 40 000 have so far been received.

Colonel James Mulvenna, an American officer who is chief of staff on the coalition’s training team, said the programme for building barracks and bases for the Iraqi army was three months behind schedule. Most work had been farmed out to private contractors, who were increasingly being targeted.

”The contractors are facing security issues,” Colonel Mulvenna told The Guardian in a separate briefing. ”It is hard to do construction in the middle of an insurgency. There are also funding delays.”

The insurgency had also forced a switch in priorities away from the army and towards the police, he said. ”One army base has had to be switched and given to the police civil intervention force.”

This specialised new force, designed to handle riots and recapture police stations seized by militias, will consist of around 5 000 men. Training will take several months.

The army is also building an intervention force to conduct urban warfare, but here too the programme is slow. While the plan is to have some 7 500 men, only one battalion of around 700 will be ready to deploy in Baghdad by June 30. The problems are in part due to the colossal task facing the US and British military in rebuilding the Iraqi state, but the sources said they were also a result of logistical breakdowns, unclear policies and an apparent rush to recruit troops many of whom are now recognised as unsuitable.

The British military sources said they hoped the transfer of power would help defuse the tensions. ”To get the violence to reduce I would be looking primarily at the political process,” one said. ”The legitimacy of government is a key factor.”