"...while Iraqi forces clearly remain a work in progress, Iraqi soldiers and police are very much in the fight, and they continue to sustain losses that are two to three times our losses."
-General David Petraeus in a letter to US Forces, Sept 7, 2007
Something else to consider:
Over the last week, almost 600 men have applied to join Sha’ab’s new volunteer security force, a government-authorized, U.S.-funded community police force which will guard important local infrastructure sites like offices, schools and markets. The total force will eventually number more than 1,200 people.
“These guys are going to work in partnership with the Iraqi police and the Iraqi national police to secure their own neighborhoods and streets and markets,” said Hinckley, Ohio, native Capt. Dennis Marshall, commander of Headquarters Company, 2nd “White Falcons” Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. The White Falcons have backed the creation of the new force with funding and assistance screening applicants.
While Sha’ab’s volunteer security force program comes in the wake of several other well-publicized community police programs in other parts of Baghdad, Marshall said it was not a case of jumping on the bandwagon.
“This is something the sheiks have been asking for since I first got here,” he said. “It’s about local solutions to local problems.”
The allure of the program is that it gives area residents a greater role in securing their own neighborhood, while also providing much-needed jobs, said Hamood Hassem, a political figure known as the mayor of Adhamiyah, and one of the key organizers of the program.
“We want to give people a chance to work and we want to protect our area,” Hassem said.
This is not unusual for the men of Iraq. What is unusual is for them to get credit for it. God Bless our Troops and God help the Iraqi people.
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