A long, indepth article from the NYtimes, shining spotlight on good and bad in Mosul, Iraq. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/17/international/middleeast/17mosul.html?hp the details are interesting, but the underlying stuff is what makes this seem hopeless. How do you train these new police to be good cops? Here in the US, many people have good impressions of the police - as kids, we read books of them saving a kitty from an old lady's tree - or helping people cross the street - or catching bad guys. Even to cops, there are calls to a 'proud tradition' of selflessness - to serve and protect etc. And remember today, post 9/11, we view cops as heros rushing into the WTC to help and losing their lives - that event more than any other reformed the view of the NYPD from the worst of the Guiliani days. But over in Iraq - the cops have always been bad news. there is no proud tradition like what we have. What are their traditions left over from Saddam's days? Brutal interrogations. Kidnapping/detentions. Bribes. Being thugs. How does that change? Iraq surely needs it to change - but is a few weeks of training gonna make a difference? How do we make things improve in Iraq once we turn our backs (or step outside for a smoke)?
