Ghost of a flea: People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it

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February 16, 2007

People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it

Bill Ardolino posts his latest from his citizen journalist expedition to Iraq with an account of police transition teams in Fallujah. Major Brian Lippo points to drawing on the deep skills of the Marine Corps to do the job.

"The concept is, you take a bunch of reservists, and there is a subculture in law enforcement where you have a bunch of cops who used to be marines ... so the Marine Corps figured they'd get more bang for the buck and take reservists who are cops, bring them back into the fold and send them to Iraq to teach the police how to be policemen," said Lippo. "The junior marines who exist to run the convoys, they're our security element. But there is so much going on here, such a need for advisors, that we've had to plug them in to the mission as well."

I have an old friend, an officer with the Toronto police force, who gave a year in Kosovo doing the same work under the auspices of the United Nations. It is to the lasting discredit of the free world the Americans should have been left to face this task alone.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at February 16, 2007 07:23 AM

Comments

In fairness to the rest of the free world, the United States wasn't exactly the nicest to them in the lead-up to the Iraqi invasion.

Still think that Canada and others (France, Germany) should have pitched in, but I can kinda see their point. (Sometimes. Other times, I think that it's the entire left half of the spectrum -- save for Blair -- that has taken its toys, gone home, and started sulking.)

Posted by: Ben (The Tiger in Exile) at February 17, 2007 10:59 AM