Iraqi police, a bunch of ‘cowards’ and ‘women’

A video showing a US instructor yelling at Iraqi police and calling them ‘a bunch of women’ and ‘cowards’ has caused a huge buzz on the Net. Our Observers take a look.

One of Barack Obama's objectives when he was elected to the White House was to pull all US troops out of Iraq as soon as possible. As Illinois senator, he had been one of the few to vote against the war. The withdrawal is to start in August 2010. After that date, Iraqi forces will be held responsible for the country's security. But until then, it is up to coalition forces to train them.

We don't know the exact date of the video, nor where it was filmed. We found out that it was posted for the first time on February 4, 2009. It became a hit when US link sharing website Digg published it.

“It is true the Iraqi police lag behind the Army in terms of training”

Peter Harling is a senior analyst for the Middle East Programme of the International Crisis Group.

The US instructor talks to the troops as if they were a homogenous group, probably Shia. [The instructor first questions the Iraqi recruits' loyalty towards the Medhi Army, a Shia militia controlled by radical cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr and opposed to Nuri al-Maliki's government and the US occupation]. A few times he mentions their enemy as if they were clearly Sunni.

This video definitely portrays US troops training Iraqi police on a bad day, and it is hard to say whether this event is recurrent or not.

However, it is true the Iraqi police lag behind the army in terms of training. There is one reason for that: the police recruits locally and the other nationally, that is why the Americans first invested in the army, in order not to encourage local forces to develop.

But it is only recently that the coalition troops have concerned themselves with the underdevelopment of the Iraqi police forces.

What strikes me is that the US officer is having a go at the commanders, which is very rare and puts them in a delicate position in front of their own men.

This video will definitely not help the coalition before the start of the US withdrawal.

Peter Harling's picture

Peter Harling

  • Syria
  • Middle East specialist

“During a training session, it is usual to play with emotional stress”

Ernesto Haibi is a medic in the US army. He served in Iraq.

I think he starts well but then he loses the control of the situation. He is an instructor, so during a training session, it is usual to play with emotional stress. He teases them to get a reaction. When I served in Iraq, we knew some of the Iraqi police officers had links with militias. And I understand why he is angry. Try to be at his place. These guys are scared to patrol down their streets and he risks his life every day! Some of his arguments are right.

However,the first thing they tell you before becoming an instructor is to keep cool.

Faking angriness is fine until you know you are calm. Here, we clearly see that the soldier, who seems to be an officer, is losing his temper and is venting his frustration at the recruits. He even says that he is ready to have a brawl with them. What if there was an Iraqi officer stronger than him who started to beat him up? He would have completely lost his credibility. At the end, I think his speech is totally counter-productive.

Ernesto Haibi's picture

Ernesto Haibi

  • United States
  • U.S. Army medic

Comments

I may agree, but

I may agree with the US trainer that those policemen were lying when they denied their connection with the Mahdi Army. I may also agree with him when he suspected their loyalty is not to Iraq. However, I strongly disagree with the way he conducted his training. He was lucky enough that the translator did not translate the swearing words like "pussy" and the countless times he used the word "fuck."

This is one of the problem the American military does not understand or does not want to understand. If you want to train someone or win his support, you don't insult him. You educate him and respect him. Yes, be tough because that's how the army and police should always be, but do not humiliate. If that soldier was pissed off because he is away from his home country, it's his problem. He joined the military, so he should have expected what comes out of it, especially when it is engaged in a war.

It has been more than 6 years, yet the American military arrogance has never changed. And you still wonder, why some people hate America.

Treasure of Baghdad's picture

Treasure of ...

  • United States
  • Graduate Student - M.A. in Writing Studies

Wake Up

People hate America because we are the best, plain and simple. We are the Hot Chick that everybody hates because she is so beautiful, the jock who everyone wants to be. We have our problems, just like anyone else, like that same hot chick who pukes after every meal, or the jock who's dad beats him. Envy makes people do crazy things; think of that person who had everything when you were younger. You probably had no reason to hate them, but you did because they had what you wanted. If they were middle class you probably would have been best friends. We as a country have worked hard to get to the top, and our problems are mild compared to the rest of the world. But being the superpower we are, all antions look to us to cover there ass when the shit hits the fan. It's like the big brother you hated who was a jerk 24/7, but if someone messed with you he was right there to back you up regardless if you asked him to. The only downfall to the United States is that we now have a GQ media princess president who is as sly as a snake in the grass, saying one thing for all of you who have no clue to believe blindy and doing another.

Unregistered user

does that have to be an

does that have to be an issue coz it's an american training iraq's police.ask anyone who has been in the army or police training how many times he has been called a woman or any type of dirty word.i think that's just no big issue it's found in training

Unregistered user

outrageous

This is total BS an American soldier preaching Iraqi so called draft policemen on nationalism and courage...
who called you into Iraq to settle business in first place, everything was in order there.

Americans are a bunch of hypocrites. They are the like the rooster who cries out to others while not noticing his own feet in his own sh*it.

Unregistered user

I may agree with the US

I may agree with the US trainer that those policemen were lying when they denied their connection with the Mahdi Army. I may also agree with him when he suspected their loyalty is not to Iraq. However, I strongly disagree with the way he conducted his training. He was lucky enough that the translator did not translate the swearing words like "pussy" and the countless times he used the word "fuck."

This is one of the problem the American military does not understand or does not want to understand. If you want to train someone or win his support, you don't insult him. You educate him and respect him. Yes, be tough because that's how the army and police should always be, but do not humiliate. If that soldier was pissed off because he is away from his home country, it's his problem. He joined the military, so he should have expected what comes out of it, especially when it is engaged in a war.

It has been more than 6 years, yet the American military arrogance has never changed. And you still wonder, why some people hate America.

Unregistered user

I love to hear ignorant

I love to hear ignorant comments from C average liberal studies majors about the military, it gives me a good grasp of what type of workforce we can look forward to in the next 15 years. There is a reason the U.S. military, and specifically the U.S. Marines, are the greatest fighting and defense force in the world, and that is because of training. Those of you writing your comments from "java joe bucks" outside of "Insert Liberal arts college here" have not and will not ever have the fortitude to put your life on the line to protect your family and country, and yes that even includes protecting the right for you to bash the same folks who protect your rights in the first place. It is impossible to train somebody for a job where everyday could be your last by being "kind and understanding". You mothers of America types have slowly desecrated the only way there is to train soilders - You break them down physically and mentally until they are inches from there breaking point, and then build them back up to the point where they are ready to carry the world on there shoulders. You cannot mentally prepare a 18 year old kid from Rhode Island to fight a war by "respect and understanding", nor can you train some Iraqi Policeman, who will indefinatley be in contact with much violence and turmoil as soon as his training is completed, by filling his heart with kindness. If you want to be the one with all the opinions, make sure you have experienced what you are bashing. It is easy to have an opinion from a keyboard, but the logic in your statement shows enormous naiveness.

Unregistered user

It is easy to have an

It is easy to have an opinion from a keyboard, but the logic in your statement shows enormous naiveness.

Unregistered user

I've been to Iraq recent and

I've been to Iraq recent and just got back in July 2008. I have to say i agree with him all the way and understand his anger. After all, IP's and IA's do work with insurgents and help plant the IED's.

@ Bassam how about you actually do a tour in iraq or in the military before you start making uneducated statements. The U.S knows exactly what goes on inside Iraq and handles matters accordingly. I've worked with Iraqi's before and i can honestly say while not all of them are bad, MOST of them aren't committed to their jobs and are well known to have ties with terrorists. So once again, if you don't haven't been to war or served in the military, i suggest you STFU. You forget that you're on the outside looking in and only see what's on TV. This has nothing to do with American rrogance.

Unregistered user

Are you kidding me?

First of all, visiting Iraq once does not necessarily mean you have become an expert in Iraq. I'm Iraqi I was born and raised there and went through three successive wars and 12 years of sanctions. You do not know my country better than I do. This kind of comments and judgment is what led my country to collapse. It's because of people like who think like Bush and Cheney with unbelievable shallow arrogance the war is still going on in Iraq.

The US military could have been the best friend of the Iraqi people had they not abused the prisoners, raped teenage girls and shot innocent people like in Haditha, Mahmoudiya and Abu Ghraib.

You worked with Iraqis? Did those Iraqis tell you how scared they were when your country's warplanes were bombarding their cities, towns and villages? Did they tell you how terrified their kids were every time a bomb fall from the sky? Did they tell you how disgusted they were when they saw what happened in Abu Ghraib? C'Mon Now! If Iraqis had ties with the "terrorists" you have ties with the devil himself.

You don't know what it means to have your country destroyed before your eyes by foreign troops and terrorists who did not even exist. Have you forgotten that those terrorists came to Iraq when you invaded and occupied it?

Now why don't YOU STFU???!

Unregistered user

Insults are insults...

...and the f.....g American instructor is a f......g guest of Iraq and not f.....g vice versa! His behavior is f.....g totally unprofessional.

Unregistered user

GET A FUCKING LIFE!

GET A FUCKING LIFE!

Unregistered user

Why so angry?

Can you please explain why you agree when the f word is used towards Iraqi Police and then you get so mad when someone uses the f word to poke fun at a socially inept American G.I.'s exaggerated use of the f word?

Tom Joruka

Unregistered user

Wow Cursing

Why does he curse too much? Does he really have to? Wow

Unregistered user

PERHAPS IN THE WORLD "YOU"

PERHAPS IN THE WORLD "YOU" LIVE IN, THAT WOULD BE AWFUL, BUT IN THE "REAL" WORLD... PEOPLE G E T TIRED OF THE LAZY AND LAME EXCUSES TO FIGHT FOR THEIR "OWN" COUNTIES, I'D BE SWEARING TOO... GUESS YOU DON'T GIVE FUCK, THOUGH... HUH?

Unregistered user

I totally agree with the

I totally agree with the instructor. I have been to Iraq and most of the Iraqis are cowards. They hide behind there bunkers when they get shot at and the Coalition forces have to run towards the enemy to save the Iraqis. When I went to basic training at Ft. Benning Home of the Infantry we were yelled at all the time in the exact same way. They do have to "Man up" and start fighting for there country. They actually have it easy. When Sadam was in charge. The Iraqi instructors use to beat the new recruits.

Unregistered user

I totally disagree with the instructor

Imagine that Iraq would have invaded the U.S., killed a lot of American civilians, totally disarmed the police and armed forces, and destroyed all of the infrastructure. Would you be willing to side with them in order to fight your fellow U.S. brothers and sisters? I can understand why many Iraqis still see the war as not their war, and are reluctant to join the U.S. Forces. The majority didn't ask the U.S. forces to invade their country and to completely destroy it. They probably say to themselves, "the U.S. forces caused havoc and chaos, so they should clean up the mess they created themselves".
Calling them cowards certainly isn't a way of winning 'Hearts and Minds'. If I were in the Police Officer's shoes, I would disobey the "instructor" just for his American "funky attitude". He can talk to his soldiers like that but not to the Iraqi Police.

Unregistered user

If my fellow americans were

If my fellow americans were killing my friends and family and setting off bombs in schools and churches, your damn right I would fight along side those Iraqis. [Deleted]

Unregistered user

you are the man

you are the man you know what are you doing but i am sore thay are so stuped

they never get what xeacakly the meaning.

god blass america.

kurdish from kurdistan

Unregistered user