Iraqi women joining police forces

KIRKUK, Iraq - Thirty-seven females attended the first day of a
four-week course at the Kirkuk Police Academy outside of Kirkuk, Iraq,
Aug. 16.
It's been a year since the academy has seen any Iraqi females in blue
and never a class of this size.
"We need these females badly," said Lt. Col. Muid, a cadre at the
academy. "It is our religious custom not to touch our women, so we
cannot search females. Our female Iraqi Police will be extremely
important to use at checkpoints and government buildings throughout the
province."
The cadre also pointed out they would bring a different perspective to
policing.     "Women think differently than men," Muid said. "They
will bring fresh ideas to how we conduct business."
The 37 females are split into squad-size elements. Each squad will have
a 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain female military police Soldier assist them.
"This is going to be a big challenge," said Spc. Jennifer Swierk, one of
the assistants, referring to the cultural differences, "but I'm proud to
be a part of this page in Kirkuk's, if not Iraq's, history."
For recruit Nowal, the experience so far has her realizing she has a lot
of work ahead of her.
"I am very tired," said Nowal of the first day of training. Nowal's
brother is a member of the Kirkuk police force.
In spite of the recent increase in female suicide bombers, these women
are undaunted by the dangers of the field they have chosen. When asked
what they would do if they were to spot one at a checkpoint, as a group
they did not hesitate to answer, "Man or woman, if you come through our
checkpoint, we will stop you." 
"Terrorists are not welcome in the province of Kirkuk," said recruit
Intesar. She elaborated further regarding female suicide bombers. "They
are not Iraqis. They are not Muslim. It is not our way."
The police force is also providing some women with much needed jobs.
"I have a 5-year-old son I have to feed," said recruit Jinan, whose
husband was killed by criminal elements. "I will be able to take care of
my son and also help ensure he has a safe future here."
An IP recruit earns approximately 185,000 Iraqi-dinar monthly (around
$81 U.S.), with an additional 25,000 dinar per diem (approximately $20
U.S.).
After graduating from the academy, an IP will make 500,000 dinar (around
$360 U.S.), which includes hazardous duty compensation, with the amount
varying depending on the area of responsibility, according to academy
staff. 
The women have to fulfill the same standards as the males to graduate.
The Ministry of Interior's standard is 240 hours of training, to include
two hours of calisthenics each morning and various drills geared toward
team building.
The rest of the day is spent rotating from indoor to outdoor classroom
instruction on law enforcement procedures ranging from democratic
policing, human rights, hostage survival, basic first aid, to responding
to an ambush.
The only adjustments the cadres have had to make is utilizing a stick so
they don't physically make contact with their female recruits.
"We are so used to hands-on training when showing our recruits how to do
something," Muid said. "In our custom, we cannot touch our females. That
is the only difficult change for me that I see so far. It is good that
we have female Coalition Soldiers to help us."
"This is going to be an amazing experience for all of us," U.S. Army
Sgt. 1st Class Bustamante said. "I'm looking forward to helping my
fellow female police officers and being a part of the positive historic
changes occurring here."

Defanging the Snake
By William Lovelady
TAJI, Iraq – Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition forces have captured tens of thousands of enemy weapons and stored them at the Taji National Supply Depot here. In May a group of Soldiers from Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq started sorting and inventorying them so that they can either be refurbished and issued to the Iraqi military and police or properly demilitarized so they cannot be used by insurgents in the future.
“We estimate we have about 80,000 small arms,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Amy Estes, officer in charge of the captured enemy weapons program. “We have counted more than 12,000 so far out of two warehouses and 45 shipping containers.”
The majority of the captured weapons are various makes and models of the Russian-designed AK-47. These rifles were made in China, Russia, Rumania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Iraq and several other countries. There are thousands of machine guns including RPKs and RPDs—similar to the AK, but with a longer barrel and bipod, chambered for the same 7.62x39 ammunition—and several variations of PKs, belt-fed machine guns chambered for the more powerful 7.62x54R round.
The variety of captured firearms reaches back to the 19th century and has representatives from almost every arms-producing nation on earth. There are bolt-action Mausers, Enfields, Springfields and Moisin-Nagants; guns from the first and second world wars when British and German forces enlisted the aid of Iraq and neighboring states during battles in the Middle East and northern Africa. There were  sporting rifles and shotguns from Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and the United States.
There are a host of submachine guns and assault rifles from Italy, Germany, England, Egypt, and everywhere else guns have been made. Among them are even Iraqi versions of famous guns like the Tariq 9mm pistol which is a licensed copy of the Italian Beretta model 951, and several copies of the German G-3 automatic rifle that had no makers’ marks and Arabic serial numbers.
Some of the weapons had been modified, others were just broken. There were sawed-off shotguns, many AK-47s with no butt stock, several SKS rifles that had been cut down into pistols, and what appeared to be a 1938 Mauser with a home-made silencer welded onto the barrel. Many were chrome or nickel plated and had various decorative embellishments.
“The AK-47s get inventoried and sorted into three groups by condition,” said Estes. “H is completely unserviceable, P can be stripped for parts, and F can be overhauled or repaired.”
Beside the captured firearms, there are hundreds of RPGs-rocket propelled grenade launchers-both military issue and some hand-made from pipe, wood and wire. There were also mortars of various sizes and origins.
After 10 weeks of sorting weapons already in the warehouse, the MNSTC-I Soldiers have started accepting new deliveries from the capturing units.
Seven crates containing 164 weapons, captured in the Abu Ghraib area of operations, were brought in by a group of Soldiers from the 24th Bde. 6th Div. of the Iraqi Army. One of the guns was a WWII-era, Russian PPsH submachine gun that an Iraqi Colonel purchased for $10.
Iraqi Army Maj. Chied said the weapons were captured, “when you make a raid or on foot patrol when you go to search the area. Sometimes at the checkpoint when you search the car, or sometimes they are buried in the ground.”
“Today [July 23] is the first day we’ve had crews bringing in weapons. All the rest came out of the warehouses,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Don Spillers, NCOIC of the captured weapons program.
Later in the day, a group of American, Military Transition Team Soldiers from the 34th Bde. 9th Div. of the Iraqi Army brought in a trunk containing 31 captured weapons and 6,000 rounds of ammunition that were captured in the area around Taji.
After they are sorted and accounted for, captured enemy weapons will be sent to the Small Arms Repair Facility at Taji National Maintenance Depot. This shop will service AK-47 rifles, Dragunov sniper rifles, and several machineguns and 9 mm pistols.
The more unusual weapons that cannot be supported by the Iraqi supply and maintenance system will be stored for future destruction.