NEWS > 28 July 2006

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Gulf Daily News - Manama,Bahra
28 July 2006

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'People have lost faith in pol

The Iraqi people have lost faith in their police forces, some of whom are colluding with death squads and militias, Britain's outgoing ambassador to Iraq William Patey said yesterday.

"There is some evidence that some members of the police are actively engaged with death squads and with militias and taking orders and clearly they need to be identified, weeded out, prosecuted," he said.

"Undoubtedly the Iraqi people have lost confidence in the police. That's a question of leadership, it's a question of getting rid of the bad apples," Patey said.

Earlier this month the Los Angeles Times, citing Iraqi government documents, reported that Iraq's police force was riddled with corruption and its officers have been involved in abductions, murders and prisoner rape.

The confidential documents, which detail more than 400 police corruption investigations, were authenticated by current and former police officials, it said.

They include reports of Iraqi police participating in insurgent bombings and releasing terror suspects for bribes, as well as selling stolen and forged Iraqi passports and beating prisoners to death.

Strengthening and training Iraq's police and army is the cornerstone to US and British plans to eventually withdraw their troops from Iraq.

Patey, who is leaving his post as ambassador, said the slide towards civil war could be stopped, but the Iraqis themselves held the key.

"You move from optimism and pessimism. It's a fine dividing line. What I don't have is a sense of hopelessness or despair. I think we can, however bad it gets and has got, make it better."

Lieutenant General Rob Fry, the top British military officer in Iraq, warned that violence in Iraq was becoming a contest for wealth and political power.

Also speaking on BBC Radio, he said: "I think, inevitably, that will be concentrated in Baghdad.

"What we are doing here is an appropriate response to the sort of violence that we are now confronting. "Anything that finally brings people to the table means that they will have to have gone through a process where their capacity to exchange violence has been worn down by the effects that that has," he said.

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Article sourced from

Gulf Daily News - Manama,Bahra28 July 2006

'People have lost faith in pol

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Gulf Daily News - Manama,Bahra
28 July 2006