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Us turns to saddams police { April 13 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/13/1050172467066.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/13/1050172467066.html
US turns to Saddam's police
Sunday 13 April 2003, 2:30 PM
Stretched US special forces in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul turned to police officers of ousted president Saddam Hussein to stem ethnic clashes that have killed as many as 20 people.
The move threatened to complicate the US force's relations with its Kurdish rebel allies who entered the city without a fight on Friday and for whom the existing mainly Sunni Arab police are a hated symbol of the old regime.
But the small US force, which is still awaiting reinforcement after entering Mosul several hours after the Kurds, had few options in the face of the deadly clashes that have gripped the city.
"Tonight, we are putting the police back on the streets," said the commander of US forces in the city, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Waltemeyer.
"I want to make it clear those police are under my protection."
Waltemeyer said his troops were also looking to create a new multi-ethnic force to guard key infrastructure in the sprawling city of 1.5 million people.
Property-owners in each neighbourhood would be asked to establish their own protection against looters, he added.
But the move to co-opt the existing police sparked fury from Kurdish residents who had greeted the collapse of Saddam's regime with jubilation.
As police officers gathered for a briefing at US military headquarters in Mosul, a grief-stricken Kurd turned on one of them, accusing him of murdering two of his brothers.
"All of these officers are traitors, supporters of Saddam and the Baath party," the protester screamed.
Mosul's Sunni Muslim Arab community was widely seen as a bastion of support for Saddam and the ouster of his regime has sparked a frenzy of score-settling in the city.
Hospital sources say as many as 20 people have been killed and 200 wounded in the violence, which has seen the divided communities establish rival roadblocks across the city.
Kurds insist the violence is understandable given the community's decades-long repression by Saddam.
"It is the revenge of the Kurds, the old historical hatred which has arisen," male nurse Fakher Omar told AFP.
"Saddam Hussein controlled the population but each one has had a member of their family killed by the regime. Now that there is no more authority, they are taking vengeance."
©2003 AFP
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