Monday, September 27, 2010

Sunni Awakening officers fired from police by Maliki (sectarian motives?) #iraq #tcot #gwot

RRD:Unless there are genuine,legitimate reasons to dismiss these men this is INSANE!


Sunni Awakening officers are kicked off police force in Iraq

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR20100926035...


"Hundreds of police officers, formerly members of an American-backed Sunni paramilitary force, will be stripped of their ranks in the Sunni Arab province of Anbar, tribal leaders and Anbar police said Sunday. The officers called the move by Iraq's Interior Ministry, which oversees police, a threat to security in Anbar, once a stronghold of Sunni insurgent violence. In 2006, a group called the Awakening, some of them former insurgents, rose up with tribal and U.S. backing to battle al-Qaeda in Iraq."... ..."In 2007, the U.S. military transformed many of the Awakening members in Anbar into police officers. Now many such as these 410 men, are being stripped of their ranks, are being targeted by al-Qaeda in Iraq or think the Shiite-led government is trying to get rid of them"This committee in the Ministry of Interior is sectarian," said Ahmed Abu Risha, the head of the Awakening and a tribal leader in Anbar. "When you dismiss those who fought al-Qaeda in the streets, this is support for al-Qaeda. What I expect are dire consequences."..

..."Tribal leaders and police officers in Anbar warned that the move could destabilize the province as a political deadlock continues more than six months after national parliamentary elections. They accused the Interior Ministry of demoting them and promoting unqualified outsiders in their stead. On Saturday, dozens of the men gathered at Abu Risha's headquarters in Anbar province to protest the order from the Interior Ministry issued last week. The order demanded that the men leave the force or stay on as beat officers."...
..."The group of officers demanded that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rescind the order, calling it a "gift offered by the government on a gold platter" to al-Qaeda in Iraq"...


...."Officials at the Interior Ministry said the decision was made because the men were not qualified to hold the ranks they had. Many of them were never given the ranks in the first place, said Adnan al Asadi, deputy minister at the Interior Ministry in charge of administration and staffing"They did not graduate from a police or military academy," Asadi said"They have no education requirements and were not approved by the local government."...

Posted via email from theneointellectual

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