| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Surprise Visit to a Police Station in Sadr City |
| 2004-04-29 |
| Early in April, I had sent a message to James Steele, Paul Bremerâs Counselor for Iraqi Security Forces, asking if we could talk. .... Steele had been in Iraq for several months, on his second tour of duty since the end of the war. Last summer, he spent four months training an Iraqi police swat team to deal with terrorists and organized crime. On April 10th, several days into the bloody battle in Fallujah and the Sadr uprising, we met at the entrance to the Green Zone. .... A few days later, Steele invited me to come with him for a surprise nighttime inspection of the main Iraqi police station in Sadr City, where, in the first days of the uprising, Sadrâs militia seized most of the police stations and battled with American soldiers, killing a number of them. They fled when U.S. tanks moved in. .... After a round of manly hugs and cheek-kissing with twenty or so Iraqi policemen heâd trained last summer â and who had apparently volunteered to go along with us â Steele led me to a white Japanese sedan parked outside the security barricades of the Green Zone. .... Steele said that the sedan was his goodluck car. He pointed to a couple of bullet holes in the right-hand side. .... We were headed for the Al Jezaaer police station. It is on the very edge of town, separated from a mosque by a barricade of razor wire and concrete-filled oil drums. .... Inside the station, we crowded into the office of the Sadr City police chief, Colonel Marouf Amran Musa, a small, stocky man who seemed pleased to see Steele. Marouf said that order had been largely restored in Sadr City. Five of Sadr Cityâs seven police stations had been taken over, but only for about four hours, Marouf said. He pointed to the stations on a map on the wall. His station and one other were the only ones that had not been seized. During the revolt, he said, he had gone to a station that was in the hands of Sadrâs men. There was little he could do. âThere were fifty guys with RPGs sitting on top of the building,â he said, âso I came back here and put twenty-five cops on our roof with the heavy machine gun. I sent some more policemen to the other station, Al Karama, so that it would not fall. Then I called the U.S. Army. They came with armor and choppers, and the militia ran away.â After it was all over, he said, he found that the police had lost a hundred and forty rifles, but he had managed to get seventy-five back. A handful of detainees had escaped as well. Heâd lost only one policeman, who had vanished along with his rifle. Steele praised Marouf, saying that he was a brave man and had shown true leadership qualities. Marouf smiled and waved his hands in a show of modesty. âI am a son of this city, Iâve been with the force for twenty years and worked in all of its stations, and I have good relations with the people,â he said. .... Marouf told Steele that his main problem was that he didnât have enough weapons or men. âThere may be five thousand RPGs in Sadr City,â he said, âand we have none. Some of the criminals even have mortars. We have five hundred policemen and only thirty bulletproof vests.â And only the one heavy machine gun. Steele smiled: âYouâre not asking me for mortars and RPGs are you?â âA heavy machine gun for each station would be good,â Marouf said. Steele nodded and made a note. Marouf said that he would also like commendations for fifty-seven officers who had stood fast during the revolt. Steele nodded, and noted this down as well. Marouf turned to more long-standing problems. âThis city changed a lot for the worse during Saddamâs regime,â he said, âand, as you can seeâ â he cocked his head toward the back of the station, where the sewage-filled streets were â âwe need help. There are about three hundred and fifty thousand unemployed men in Sadr City.â Steele was getting impatient, and he interrupted Marouf. âYou need to get the city council up and running again,â he said. âIâve heard some members have resigned. That city council is your vehicle, your key, to getting services.â That wasnât what Marouf had in mind. âThe councilâs been in place for a year now and nothing has been done,â he said. He mentioned the sewage problem, and the fact that the electricity didnât come on in Sadr City until 2 a.m. âWe hear about a lot of money being spent on us, and weâve seen nothing here.â .... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #1 Please shorten the title to "A Visit to a Police Station in Sadr City". |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-04-29 9:12:24 AM |