Iraqi authorities are firing thousands of police officers and taking over the screening of new recruits in an effort to eliminate enemy informants and sympathizers.
According to the Washington Times, informants are believed to have undermined numerous operations and tipped off terrorists, who last month killed 49 unarmed Iraqi army recruits as they traveled by bus near the ian border:
Mosul's police chief was fired last week, as was the police chief of Samarra, after waves of insurgent attacks.
They are among the latest of thousands of police officers whom U.S. and Iraqi officials confirm have been fired for incompetence or suspected insurgent sentiments since Iraqis regained sovereignty from coalition forces at the end of June.
The action follows frequent reports of police officers who publicly express support for the insurgency or do not act against terrorists who plant roadside bombs.
The Iraqi armed forces have taken charge of their own recruiting, raising the recruitment age from 17 to 20 and instituting new rules to keep anti-government sympathizers out of the ranks:
Each recruit must now bring a letter of approval from his local community council, and each military base now dispatches committees to new recruits' neighborhoods to check on their "moral background," Maj. Ala al-Khifajey of the Iraqi national guard said.
The Iraqis are also embracing nepotism:
Every new recruit must have a relative already in the service to vouch for him.
"We know our people," he said. "We know who to recruit and who to reject."
This is good news. The Iraqi's have to take responsibility for their own security. Perhaps they will be better able to do so if they pick the people they have to trust to defend them.
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