Iraq removes key police commanders as part of Interior Ministry restructuring

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: By BUSHRA JUHI
Date: 17 October 2006


BAGHDAD, Iraq_Iraq's Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry said Tuesday it had
removed two officers in charge of commando units as part of its
restructuring plan of the national police force.

Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the ministry's spokesman, said the two officers _
Maj. Gen. Rashid Filah and Maj. Gen. Mahdi Sabbih _ were transferred from
their posts but denied their removal was a demotion or had anything to do
with widespread allegations that police commandos were involved in some of
the violence directed against Sunni Arabs.

"The leadership of the national police was changed to restructure the
Interior Ministry," said Khalaf, flanked by Filah and Sabbih in business
suits, rather than the camouflage fatigues associated with Iraq's police
commandos.

"Because of their sacrifices and their experience, both of these leaders
were named to high-ranking posts," the spokesman said.

Khalaf said the restructuring of the ministry, which is in charge of the
police, would touch all departments and may result in the creation of new
ones. He did not elaborate.

The ministry said last week it had fired 3,000 employees accused of
corruption or rights abuses and that it intended to change top commanders as
part of a restructuring plan designed to bolster its ability to combat
violence. It said a total of 600 from the 3,000 personnel fired will face
prosecution.

Shiite militias linked to religious parties in the government are widely
thought to have infiltrated the country's police force. Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, pledged this week to crack down on the
militias.

"The state and the militias cannot coexist," he said in a nationally
broadcast address Sunday. "Arms can only be in the hands of the government
and no one has the right to be above the law," he said.
 
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