[Marxism] In training to help the "U.S. crusaders"

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Iraqi police cadets in Class 10 will have to learn fast,
then go to patrol some of the meanest streets anywhere.

By Susan Taylor Martin

Here in the Jordanian desert, instructors from America, Canada and 14
other nations are trying to build a professional Iraqi police force.
They have trained more than 6,000 officers; the goal is 32,000.

In many ways, it is like any other police academy. Cadets, neatly
uniformed, study the basics - taking reports, investigating crimes,
learning to use firearms.

But there is also a sense of urgency. While police training in most
countries lasts six months, here it is compressed into just eight
weeks. That is because everyone - students and instructors alike -
knows coalition troops need all the help they can get in quelling an
insurgency that has claimed countless Iraqis and more than 1,000
coalition soldiers.
. . .

Beat [Wives] in a Certain Way ... That's the Cultural Thing

The first four weeks are classroom instruction devoted to "general
policings," including Iraqi law. Though Saddam Hussein's brutal regime
is gone, the country's law still permits men to beat their wives as
long as they "leave no marks."

"Women's role in Iraq is a whole lot different than women's role in the
West," says Higgins Elliott of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "It's
okay to tell them to beat in a certain way, but if you slap and push a
wife you'll go to jail. That's the cultural thing."

Some of the Iraqis have a hard time grasping that torture is no longer
an acceptable tool of interrogation. During Hussein's era, all suspects
were required to confess. Extracting a confession often involved
electric shocks, beating the soles of the feet or hanging a suspect
upside down and pouring water in his nose.

In general, most students "understand that they are not allowed to use
torture," Higgins says. "They've been under the other regime and they
want to conform to Western ideas." [But not the practice, eh Higgins?]
. . .
No cameras have been allowed since nine members of Class 9 were
ambushed on their way home last month. The al-Qaida-linked group that
claimed responsibility posted a video of the killings, along with
photos the graduates had taken of the training center and a statement
slamming Jordan for "helping the U.S. Crusaders in their war against
the mujahadeen."

As the ceremony ends, it is impossible not to wonder: How many in this
class will meet the fate of those nine? Or the nearly 1,000 other
police who have died since the war began?

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/14/Worldandnation/
_To_protect_and_serve.shtml
or http://makeashorterlink.com/?P586227C9
Other Susan Taylor Martin's columns at
http://www.sptimes.com/columns/stm.shtml


_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism