Iraqis purge informants from ranks

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi authorities are moving against enemy informants and sympathizers in the ranks of the nation's hastily trained security forces by firing thousands of police officers and taking over from Americans the screening of new recruits.

Such informants are believed to have undermined numerous operations and tipped off terrorists, who last month killed 49 unarmed Iraqi army recruits as they traveled by bus near the Iranian border.

"Most of the screening as far as the staff is up to the Iraqi staff now," said U.S. Army Capt. Kevin Bradley, who trains Iraqi national guardsmen. "Right now, whether or not the person is clean, it depends on the Iraqis."

With a major offensive under way against Fallujah and other bases of the Sunni-led insurgency, U.S. military commanders were forced to shift troops to Mosul last week after American-trained Iraqi police fled their posts and turned parts of the city over to militants without firing a shot.

In Fallujah yesterday, U.S. military officials said American troops had occupied the entire city and there were no more major concentrations of insurgents still fighting after nearly a week of intense urban combat.

A U.S. officer told the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that Fallujah was "occupied but not subdued." Artillery and air strikes were halted after nightfall to prevent mistaken attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces who had taken up positions throughout the city.

Military operations also surged along the Euphrates River valley well to the north and west of Baghdad, with clashes reported in Qaim on the Syrian border and in Hit and Ramadi, nearer to the capital.

Mosul's police chief was fired last week, as was the police chief of Samarra, after waves of insurgent attacks.

They are among the latest of thousands of police officers whom U.S. and Iraqi officials confirm have been fired for incompetence or suspected insurgent sentiments since Iraqis regained sovereignty from coalition forces at the end of June.

The action follows frequent reports of police officers who publicly express support for the insurgency or do not act against terrorists who plant roadside bombs.