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Iraqi force takes control of some border posts
Jordan Times, Sunday, September 28, 2003
AL MUNDTHRIYA, Iraq-Iran border (Reuters) — Heralded as a high-profile success, US troops on Saturday gave a new Iraqi security force responsibility for guarding a stretch of the border with Iran. It was the first time since the toppling of Saddam Hussein that Iraqis were fully in control of a section of their border. The 335km stretch runs from mainly Kurdish populated territory in the north to a point east of Baghdad.
The United States has trained and equipped the 1,200-strong Iraqi border force over the past three months, drawing mainly from the local population, including former police and troops.
The force was trained to recognise the "characteristics of suicide bombers" as well as "human rights, dignity and respect", said Lieutenant Colonel Reginald Allen of the 1st Squadron of the 10th Cavalry of the Fourth Infantry Division, one of the units involved in the training.
"There might be bad guys. We're on the look out for them," he said, when asked if anti-US Taleban or Al Qaeda fighters might try to mingle with Iranian pilgrims crossing the border.
US officials say foreign guerrillas have sneaked into Iraq to link up with Saddam loyalists and fight the US occupation.
The area under the force's control has become a magnet for people smugglers on both sides of the border, who take advantage of thousands of Iranian pilgrims seeking to visit holy sites in Iraq which had been off limits since the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Since the end of August, US and Iraqi border guards, in training until now, have briefly detained some 14,000 pilgrims.
Iraqi force commander Colonel Nazim Sherif Mohammad, a Kurd, said the priority was to help pilgrims as they try to reach holy sites, and to screen for anti-US infiltrators.
"We expect to head off thousands of people who are coming illegally to Iraq," he told reporters at this crossing point. "We are unique in Iraq. For the first time, we are again controlling one of our own borders."
US officers said training was easier because the force is "predominantly Kurds," who regard US forces as liberators, not occupiers, due to their persecution during Saddam's rule.
The pilgrims are dumped in Iran about two kilometres from the border and walk another 10 kilometres to a main road in Iraq where they are picked up by other smugglers.
"We hear the people smugglers charge about $30 a person," Allen said. He said pilgrims often walk for two days with a single bottle of water and little food.
"When we pick them up many are badly dehydrated and some close to death," Allen said. After caring for the pilgrims, they are sent to an official crossing point and returned to Iran.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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