U.S. commander in Iraq: Sectarian bias limits police

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: LA Times

The Interior Ministry has been slow to hire officers because of internal concerns about the force's religious makeup, says Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon.

BAGHDAD -- A departing major general who oversaw the U.S. military operation in northern Iraq delivered blunt criticism Friday of the ministry that manages Iraqi police forces, accusing it of "foot dragging" in hiring desperately needed officers because of sectarian bias.

The comments put in stark terms the sectarian divisions in Iraq's Shiite-led Interior Ministry, which has been beset by allegations of infiltration by Shiite Muslim militiamen and human rights violations, including torture. U.S. officials are rarely so openly critical of the agencies with which they are nominally partnering to try to stabilize the country.

The comments also ran counter to recent remarks by the U.S. ambassador here, who said strides had been made in bringing Sunni Arabs into the police forces.

Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, who will soon conclude his 15-month term commanding the U.S. forces in northern provinces, said he had negotiated Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's approval in May for the Interior Ministry to hire 6,000 additional Iraqi police officers for Diyala province north of Baghdad.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-iraq27oct27,1,6613732.story?track=rss