Jordan Times
Friday, December 17, 2004
Group of Iraqi police recruits ends training
MUWAQQAR (AP) — A batch of 1,431 Iraqi police
recruits on Thursday ended six weeks of training in the Kingdom as part of a
US-funded effort to rebuild security forces in the violence-ravaged country.
The graduates, wearing navy blue uniforms and baseball caps, stood in attention
as a Jordanian police band played the Iraqi national anthem at a ceremony at the
Jordan International Police Training Centre in Muwaqqar, 35 kilometres east of
Amman.
Thursday's graduates were the 11th batch, and the largest, since training began
in November 2003.
Iraqi police have become frequent targets of insurgents fighting the US-led
multinational force in Iraq and the American-backed government in Baghdad.
Hundreds have been killed in attacks on police stations, recruitment centres and
convoys in an attempt to scare Iraqis away from joining the new police force and
undermine the new government's efforts to restore security.
The US-funded training programme stems from an agreement concluded last year
between Jordan and the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq until the
US-led occupation administration handed sovereignty over to an interim Iraqi
government in June.
Under the agreement, nearly 32,000 Iraqi police recruits will be trained in
Jordan over two years. So far, more than 8,000 Iraqi police have ended their
training and returned home.
The training course includes use of firearms, riot control, self-defence and
first aid. The instructors come from Jordan and 14 other countries including the
United States, Britain and Canada.
The Kingdom is also training Iraqi soldiers at its Zarqa Military College, 27
kilometres northeast of Amman. About 1,650, including 50 women, have graduated
from that programme, which began in March.
Also, a first batch of eight Iraqi pilots and five engineers completed a
two-month training course here in July as part of the rebuilding of the Iraqi
air force.