By some estimates, it will take years before this ragtag militia of
former Iraqi soldiers, impoverished farmers and jobless men and youths
will be able to shoulder the burden of securing Saddam Hussein's
hometown.

"Oh my God, it will be a while," said Staff Sgt. Hugo Olveraleija, 26,
one of the trainers.

"These guys are farmers."

In Tikrit, Olveraleija and another American soldier led the Iraqis on
patrol Friday morning near a base that houses the Army's 4th Infantry
Division at one of Saddam's riverside palace complexes.

He was angered to see some of them covering their faces as they moved
out onto Highway No. 1, a busy thoroughfare of shops and restaurants
that has been a shooting gallery for insurgents attacking U.S. forces.

"You can see that they're scared, covering up their faces," he said.

The Iraqis say they have good reason to hide.

Jassim Sliem, 21, said men in two cars followed him to his family's
home one recent night and asked him what he was doing at the base.

Frightened, he lied that he was a detainee just released from the base
lockup.

Others say their lives have been threatened.

"This job is very dangerous," said Adnan Wadi, 34, a company commander
in the new force who was a soldier in the old Iraqi army.

He said that the U.S. military has not outfitted civil defense
officers with adequate gear, particularly body armor.

One group pressured a gas station owner to give them free gas and let
them jump to the front of lines that have grown long because of fuel
shortages.

On a few occasions, some in the Iraqi corps have mistakenly fired on
their own men, Olveraleija said.

Once, while guarding an entrance to the American base, they sprayed
bullets at a car carrying their returning comrades.

No one was hurt.

"The good thing is they can't hit anything," Olveraleija said.


From The Associated Press, 1/2/04:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-on-guard,0,3277278.st
ory?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

Cracks Appear in U.S.-Trained Iraq Corps

By JASON KEYSER
Associated Press Writer


TIKRIT, Iraq --

A foot patrol of U.S.-trained Iraqi civil defense officers emerges
from an alley into the bustle of this city's main highway.

Quickly, some of the men wrap scarves around their faces, fearful of
being recognized by insurgents attacking Americans and their Iraqi
allies.

The 16 Iraqis, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, are part of the Iraqi
Civil Defense Corps, or ICDC, meant to be one of the country's key
emerging security forces.

But cracks are beginning to show in at least one part of the corps,
here in Tikrit, five months after its first men hit the streets.

Some U.S. trainers in Tikrit say the Iraqi force is ill-equipped,
prone to corruption and so trigger-happy that some have shot at their
own comrades.

Added to that is the threat of anti-American guerrillas targeting
Iraqis cooperating with the coalition.

By some estimates, it will take years before this ragtag militia of
former Iraqi soldiers, impoverished farmers and jobless men and youths
will be able to shoulder the burden of securing Saddam Hussein's
hometown.

"Oh my God, it will be a while," said Staff Sgt. Hugo Olveraleija, 26,
one of the trainers.

"These guys are farmers."

_______________________________________________________

"We are, to put it mildly, in a mess, and there is a strong chance
that we shall have exterminated ourselves by the end of the century.
Our only consolation will have to be that, as a species, we have had
an exciting term of office."

Desmond Morris

Harry