WAR: Iraqi Police Chief Threatens Militant Crackdown

Just two days after Iraqi's successful election, Mosul's newly appointed police chief Brigadier Mohammed Ahmed al-Jabouri has issued an ultimatum to known insurgents in and around Mosul: "hand over your weapons or we will come and get you." Al-Jabouri has given insurgents two weeks to hand over their weapons or face a crackdown by Iraqi Forces. Jabouri stated he and his men are aware of where the insurgents are and were not afraid to come after them.



Does anyone other then me have a problem with this story? If they know who and where the insurgents are, why don't they set up a sting operation and round them all up at the same time? Is this perhaps a lack of proper training for their police forces? I know that is what other countries do when they suspect individuals are terrorists. Why should Iraq forces be any different? I see this as a very silly move on the part of the police chief, it kind of sounds like he is warning them which will give them time to get away and that is wrong.


[edit on 2-2-2005 by Banshee]

Its a formality. Thats all. Just like we gave Saddam a notice. Now after the 2 weeks, look out. You play, you pay. You cant say we didnt warn you...I hope the police give em hell the likes of which theyve never seen...

If they know who and where the insurgents are, why don’t they set up a sting operation and round them all up at the same time?

Didn't read the article, but where's it say they know who they are?

the article
jabouri said his men knew where the insurgents were and were not afraid to come after them

They know what areas of mosul the insurgents are frequenting. They are saying 'surrender now or there will be a bloodbath'. Seems reasonable enough to give them the opp to surrender.

A 'sting' operation is an operation wherein you catch someone doing somethign illegal. This guy is saying, ' in two weeks we will storm jalabad ave and the mosul heights neighbhorhood and round up everyone and kill anyone that resists'. Its a strong arm tactic, to be sure, but might be sucessful.

Also, the US announced a while ago that it would engage in psyops and disinformation campaigns. Thats why the Fallujan Assault was 'leaked' to the media. They wanted to see what the insurgents do when they expect attack. This method here could, say, result in some surrendering, and others fleeing in anticpation of an attack. This might force them nation wide to gather in camps outside of cities and be more open to military tactics (as opposed to police tactics).

Problem is, if they do crack down and get the job done, the international press will be out making them into the "bad guys"". Then use that to fuel more anti-American and anti-administration feelings.

We can only speculate about the motives, let me throw another angle:

Maybe he is kindly asking them to move to another location, so the police doesn't have to get involved in a nasty streetbattle with them insurgents, or at least have to battle less insurgents during the cleanup.


[edit on 2-2-2005 by Countermeasures]