Boy, if the these newly trained Iragis ever run into a evil frog or bunny,
better watch out.
December 21, 2006
Iraqi forces take over Najaf
The 3rd of 18 provinces to be transferred from U.S. control faces little sectarian violence
By Will Weissert
Associated Press
NAJAF, Iraq -- In a show of ferocity, a group of Iraqi commandos bit the heads off frogs and tore apart a live rabbit.
The stomach-turning scene, a tradition for elite units even under Saddam Hussein, was part of a ceremony Wednesday marking U.S.-led forces' handover of security responsibilities to Iraqi police and soldiers in Najaf.
Home to 930,000 people, Najaf was the third of Iraq's 18 provinces to come under local control. British troops handed over southern Muthana province in July, and the Italian military transferred neighboring Dhi Qar in September.
But doubts remain about whether the Iraqis can handle security in more volatile provinces anytime soon.
In one of those provinces, Baghdad, police found 76 bodies Wednesday. Many of the victims had been shot, and some showed signs of torture, police said. Two suicide car bombings also killed at least 19 people in the capital.
Roadside bombs took the lives of two more U.S. soldiers, one in Baghdad and the other southwest of the capital.
Authorities in Najaf city banned vehicles as provincial and tribal leaders and dignitaries gathered in the dusty blue bleachers of a soccer stadium for the handover ceremony.
About 1,500 police officers, soldiers and security personnel staged a massive parade around an infield of stubby brown grass, in festivities complete with warriors on horseback and martial arts demonstrations.
After the frogs and rabbits were slaughtered, police steered shiny new cruisers and motorcycles with ribbons and flowers stuck to their windshields around a track ringing the soccer field, which was still littered with fur and discarded frog legs.
U.S. forces closed their major outpost in the region in September, as the 8th Iraqi Army Division and 6,900 police officers assumed greater responsibility. American forces will remain on standby in case violence erupts again.
"Every province is important," Maj. Gen. Kurt Cichowski said. "There's 15 to go, and we hope we can accomplish that by the end of 2007."
Critics charge that handing over control here was easy because Najaf is overwhelmingly Shiite Muslim and has not faced the same level of sectarian violence as religiously mixed areas like Baghdad.
They have also expressed concern that, with the Americans scaling back, the province could become a key staging ground for Shiite militias with strong ties to soldiers in the largely Shiite army.
"There were the same kind of concerns in Muthana and Dhi Qar, and they've done very well," Cichowski countered.
Lt. Gen. Nasier Abadi, deputy chief of staff of the Iraqi army, acknowledged Wednesday that militia groups hold sway among many soldiers but said "they can be weeded out."
Abadi, a veteran of Hussein's army, said the handover was "important for Iraq because up until now, everybody thinks that the coalition is doing the governing, so now Iraqis need to take over the responsibility."
Abadi said his troops lack basic equipment such as aircraft and tanks, and that will prevent them from handling security in all of Iraq. But he said he expects U.S.-led forces to provide key equipment throughout next year.
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Originally Posted by Catty1
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