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There is a consensus among the 25-million Iraqis that insecurity in post-Saddam Iraq is "the mother of all problems" in the war-torn country.
The devastating explosion on Thursday in front of the Jordanian embassy in the fashionable district of al-Mansour, west Baghdad, came as another example of the chaotic situation in Iraq. At least 11 people were killed and dozens more were injured in the deadly bombing, which was believed to be launched by those who regard Jordan as a betrayer to Iraq or those resenting its offer of refuge to Saddam's two daughters, Raghad and Rana. Since the sudden downfall on April 9 of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the US-led war, Iraq has become a land of lawlessness, looting, arson and crime.
At sunset, the Iraqi capital of Baghdad becomes almost a dead city with majority of its 5 million residents staying at home. Iraqis, who used to stay vigil late at night and roam streets before the war, find it difficult to understand how the 150,000-strong coalition forces, which smashed their way into the Iraqi capital three weeks after the start of the war on March 20, are unable to re-establish law and order in the country.
After finding that they become almost daily targets of unidentified armed men, who used to ambush US patrols or attack US checkpoints, camps and military concentrations, the coalition forces have enlisted the services of a small newly-established Iraqi police force to help them track down the attackers and curb the rising wave of crime, including kidnapping of children, girls, women, wealthy men to exchange them for fabulous ransoms. The mass-circulated independent daily of Azzaman reported on July 27 that a wealthy Iraqi, Maher Shamuun, who was kidnapped by a gang, was exchanged by his family for 90 million Iraq dinars (around US$60,000).
However, even the Iraqi police forces themselves were now targeted by the armed men who killed at least 10 of its 5,000 members.
What added to these problems is the decision of Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), to dissolve all security, law-enforcement and military establishments of the Saddam regime without being able to replace them quickly. The wailing of the sirens of ambulances in Baghdad streets has become part and parcel of the daily life of the people living in Baghdad.
Nothing like this was heard or seen here before except at the time of war, local people said.
Bremer's decision to dissolve the 400,000-strong 82-year-old Iraqi army was, according to observers, one of the untimely decisions that further exacerbated the issue of insecurity and unemployment in Iraq. The decision played into hands of those Iraqis who are bent on "armed resistance against the foreign occupiers of the beloved motherland."
At its Wednesday's meeting, the newly-established Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), the interim executive all-Iraqi authority, decided to ask the CPA to empower the council to deal with the problem of security.
For this reason, the US-hand-picked 25-member council approved a US$200 million special budget to train 35,000 police forces within three months, and the number will increase to 60,000 before the end of the year.
However, this decision must be approved by the Americans. In a statement last Tuesday, Ibrahim al-Jafaari, the first IGC president, said security issue in Iraq was one of the council's priorities.
"We want crimes to be fought by Iraqis, and we do not have a problem in this field," he told the Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV channel.
Observers widely believe that no genuine reconstruction of war-torn Iraq could start before security is firmly established in the oil-rich country.
(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2003)
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