Iraqi Police Tied to Attack on U.S. Base

[babylonsister]

Iraqi Police Tied to Attack on U.S. Base
8 Officers Arrested in Rocket Strike That Killed 2 American Soldiers in Baghdad

By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, October 21, 2007; Page A19

BAGHDAD, Oct. 20 -- The men gathered in the evening at the schoolyard to execute their attack. By the time they finished, at least seven rockets had crashed down nearly four miles away inside the American military headquarters compound in Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers and wounding at least 38 other people, according to U.S. soldiers.

From the courtyard of his concrete-barricaded garrison in southwestern Baghdad that evening, Lt. Col. Patrick Frank heard the distinctive sound of rocket fire. He hurried inside his command office to flat-screen panels displaying aerial imagery to pinpoint the launch site.

Within minutes, his cellphone began ringing. Several Iraqi informants told him the attack had originated near the decrepit school in al-Amil, recalled Frank, the battalion commander in the neighborhood. His sources agreed on another thing, too, he said: "There were several Iraqi police vehicles spotted leaving the scene."

In the days since the Oct. 10 rocket barrage, U.S. soldiers have arrested eight police officers suspected of collaborating with Shiite militiamen to target the U.S. base. Assaults by mortars and rockets on military installations across the country are relatively common -- though the missiles frequently land in unpopulated areas. But if the police are found guilty, the Camp Victory assault would represent one of the more glaring examples of Iraqi security forces turning on their American partners to devastating effect.

"It's no secret the Iraqi police have some systemic problems with corruption," said Maj. Bill Kinsey, operations officer for the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment. "They've got dirty cops. I would say 'just like anywhere else,' but there's more of them and the stakes are higher."

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/20/AR2007102001009.html

[JohnyCanuck]

1. It's no secret the Iraqi police have some systemic problems with corruption,"

said Maj. Bill Kinsey, operations officer for the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment.

And it appears some of them seem to resent foreigners invading their country, killing their friends, relatives and co-religionists and building permanent military bases to assist the same foreigners exert control over Iraqi resources. Strange people these Muslims.

[tekisui]

2. It's also no secret that the US Army trains and arms the Iraqi

forces. We're funding two or three, at least, sides to fight a fractured Civil War.

Get the Hell out of that country!