CBS: Building Iraq's Police Force

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/05/iraq/main2431258.shtml

U.S. soldiers pay a surprise visit to an Iraqi National police checkpoint in the middle of the night. They find half the police on-duty sleeping, and none of them aware of an impending attack.

Intelligence indicates gunmen may be massing for an attack here, Checkpoint 2 in Rasallah, Baghdad Province — one of the most dangerous. It's targeted nightly.

Lt. Col. Anthony Cornett, the U.S. team leader, urges the Iraqi captain to wake up his men and defend the checkpoint.

"I told him, 'let's get the other men up and get them fully prepared for the attack.' These gunmen generally attack at the same time every night. They know that. I know that. So they should be prepared, not waiting to call the Americans to come and help them," Cornett says.

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"You have the Iraqi Army, mostly Sunni, the National Police, mostly Shiite, and the Iraqi police, a mix of whatever neighborhood they come from," Cornett says. "It's a check and balance."