Combat troops are not cops. The skills of winning a war are very different from those needed to maintain peace. Yet, as the world has seen, chaos lurks at the edge of the battlefield. The orgy of looting that broke out in Baghdad and other “liberated” cities seems to be subsiding. In part, because there’s not much left to steal.
The American military is now holding job fairs in Bagdad, interviewing some of the police who worked for Saddam Hussein to see if they will volunteer (there’s no pay at the moment) to help maintain order. The first two dozen of a thousand American police officers and lawyers, who are trained for post-conflict work, are now on their way to Iraq. Many people are asking what took them so long.
Guests:
Michele Flournoy, Senior International Security Adviser, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Former Defense Dept. Assistant Secretary for Strategy
Michael Dziedzic, Program Officer at the U.S. Institute of Peace and Co-Editor of “Policing the New World Disorder”
Paul Watson, reporter and photographer for the LA Times.