"The security role will be assumed jointly by the Interior Ministry and
Defense Ministry in some Iraqi districts, while the Interior Ministry will
solely assume this role in other districts," Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf,
head of the Interior Ministry's operations center, said.
Officials acknowledged that the Iraqi police and security forces were
not ready to assume full and sole responsibility for several cities. They
cited the Al Qaida offensive in Baghdad and Mosul, which has led to
scores of deaths per day from suicide car bombings.
The ministry has also sought to protect religious sites, particularly in
mixed Sunni-Shi'ite cities such as Baghdad. Officials said the ministry has
overseen the construction of gates around Sh'ite shrines as well as the
installation of security cameras.
"We are confident that Iraqi security forces are able to eliminate the
remaining terrorist groups despite desperate acts by them to destabilize the
situation," Iraq military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Al Atta said on May 24.
The program also called for intensified training of police and security
forces. On May 11, more than 1,000 Iraqi Police recruits graduated from a
basic four-week police training course in Mosul, capital of the Nineveh
province.
"Our people of Nineveh are trained to do their job better than ever
before," Nineveh Gov. Atheel Al Nujaifi said.
