Reaping what you sow

We've heard a fair amount about how the Iraqi National Guard is ill-supplied, ill-trained, and unwilling to fight either because they are a)ill-equipped and ill-trained, b)unwilling to fight fellow Iraqis, or c)in league with the insurgents. But there is another set of complaints about which we have heard little - but the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) clued us in on November 29:

The US-backed and trained Iraqi National Guard is facing allegations of misconduct and ill-discipline. ...

In recent weeks, there have been a number of complaints about guardsmen beating and abusing members of the public.

The article cites two instances, one of a police investigator in a suburb of Baghdad, who was arrested with his brother-in-law at home. They were beaten both before and after their arrest and accused of being terrorists. After two days he was turned over to US forces who held him for over two weeks before releasing him (but during which time, he said, he received fair treatment). When he got back to his car, he found that guardsmen - who had taken the key - had stolen from it $2000 and two million dinar (about $1300) that had been seized from a gang.

"I tried to follow up on the incident and get an explanation but no one would talk to me. This isn't a police force - it's a bunch of thugs in uniform. Unless the government sorts this out quickly, the National Guard will become useless and corrupt."

The other incident involved a doctor at al-Kindi hospital in Baghdad, who was slapped and punched by guardsmen when he refused to treat one of their colleagues before more serious cases.

"Other staff had to intervene to prevent them arresting me," he said.

Guardsmen have also taken to imitating US soldiers. A policeman in Baghdad told IWPR reporters that

"[t]heir uniform looks quite like the US military's and they've started wearing black sun glasses and cutting their hair really short too. They also try to act like them, holding their rifles with their fingers on the trigger and using sign language rather than talking."

Learn from the best, I say.

Footnote: National Guard commanders admit there are "troublemakers" in the ranks but say that most behave professionally and appropriately and insist they're taking steps to weed out the miscreants. Others aren't so sure: After an incident in which guardsmen were "overzealous" and "incredibly rude" in searching people attending a municipal council meeting in Baghdad, one council member complained and was promised it would be seen to.

"But," the article quoted him as saying, "as far as we can see, nothing has changed."