http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2159349,00.htmlMilitias steal new recruits with better pay and perks
Iraq'a militias are growing in strength, attracting many recruits from the US-run police academy
SOON after he graduated near the top of his class at the American-run police academy, Alah defected. He did not bother to inform his superiors. The young Iraqi police officer simply walked into a recruitment office in a rundown neighbourhood of Baghdad and signed on for the Mahdi Army, the private militia run by the radical young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that has been blamed for some of the most savage atrocities in this city in recent weeks.
The 23-year-old absconder described it as “a career move”. The pay was better, the duties less onerous and there was far less chance of being killed.
Three years after President Bush declared “mission accomplished” in Iraq, young gunslingers such as Alah are what passes for the law across much of this city today.
Nobody knows for sure the strength of Iraq’s militias, but they certainly outnumber the 120,000-strong police force that estimates it is losing several hundred recruits a month. This is the only country where police and soldiers have it written into their contracts that they can leave on a whim without being punished.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
