BAGHDAD — Forces of an Iraqi security agency developed with private support often pose as government agents while
remaining outside of government control.
Officials said the Facility Protection Service has become a huge
security force facilitated by private interests in Iraq. They said the
service
contains 150,000 people, including insurgents and militia members.
"It is not under our control," Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said.
The FPS was established in 2003 to guard official buildings, power
stations and other sites. The agency was said to have been bolstered by
private interests who have used security officers for a range of
non-official missions.
"These forces are the FPS to protect the ministries," Jabr said. "And
their numbers are huge. There are 150,000. Their uniform is like the police,
their car is like the police, their weapons are like the police."
"There are some forces out of order, not under our control, and not
under the control of the Ministry of Defense," Jaber told the BBC on April
12. "They are uniformed like police, their cars are like the police."
Jabr suggested that members of the FPS or colleagues in private security
firms have formed death squads. He said they arrive at a victim's home or
office under the guise of being on an
official mission.
"Terrorists or someone who support the terrorists are using the clothes
of the police or the military," Jabr said. "I can tell you with these
security companies it is not right. You do not know what they are doing."