An Important Article on the Iraq Police and how the U.S. Bungled Their Training

When Americans measure violence in Iraq they usually are thinking of how many U.S. soldiers were killed or injured, but for Iraqis the measure of violence and its ravages is whether they may live anything approaching a "normal life". For the past months, if arguably not much longer, many Iraqis have not lived anything remotely close to a normal life. Not only do they confront the daily risk of random violence, but they live under the threat of kidnapping, robbery and sectarian vengeance. Criminality is the defining quality of quotidian life in much of Iraq, not least in the major cities. In this regard, the failure of the Iraq police to maintain order has been of momential importance. Not only have the police been ineffective, but evidence suggests that they may often work in league with criminals and sectarian militias.

Misjudgments Marred U.S. Plans for Iraqi Police - New York Times

How Iraq Police Reform Became Casualty of War Part two.