Ericsson
05-24-2006, 06:45 PM
How Germany Is Training Iraqis for the World's Toughest Job
By Matthias Gebauer (matthias_gebauer@spiegel.de) in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates
Berlin won't be sending troops to Iraq anytime soon, but it is contributing to the reconstruction effort in other ways. Its main program provides training in the United Arab Emirates for Iraqi police and bodyguards for its newly elected government. The Germans hope to give them the skills they need for one of the most dangerous jobs out there.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,436594,00.jpg (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436593-342236,00.html)
http://www.spiegel.de/static/sys/lupe.gif (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436593-342236,00.html)
SPIEGEL ONLINE
Iraqi bodyguards training in Al-Ain.
For Mahmoud, danger is a part of everyday life. The 27-year-old Iraqi policeman still remembers one September day with absolute clarity. He was part of the motorcade accompanying Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Nakib through the streets of Baghdad when a car suddenly pulled into their path. As Mahmoud and his men jumped out of their Jeeps, the car's driver opened fire. Returning fire with their machine guns, the bodyguards killed the attacker. The interior minister was unharmed.
"We have to expect such attacks every second of every day in Iraq, because the terrorists have zeroed in on our government," says Mahmoud, describing his everyday encounter with terror in Baghdad.
Flash forward five months later. Mahmoud's in a different place but faces a similar situation. This time, two heavy sedans are stopped by a road block in a parking lot. With tires squealing, the drivers jerkily reverse, hit the brakes, the cars spin out and race off at full speed. Then a loud whistle blows. "Well done," a brawny man yells, "next!" The cap he's bearing sports Germany's official symbol, the eagle, and the initials of the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA), Germany's equivalent to the FBI. He's working with the Iraqis as a police trainer, and he's set up the road block as part of a training simulation. But instead of conducting the training somewhere in terror-shaken Iraq, this time it's on a heavily guarded military base in the United Arab Emirates.
Mahmoud is one of 30 Iraqi policemen currently participating in German's training project for the Iraqi security forces. He's been training with his colleagues in the desert every day for three weeks now. The training is the mainstay of Germany's contribution to reconstruction efforts for the oppressed country, which is far from peace nearly two years after the first bombs fell. Germany refuses to allow any of its troops to set foot in Iraq, where violence persists in the terror zone between Kirkuk and Basra. Instead, it has extended an olive branch to Washington through its police training efforts.
So far, the German BKA officers have provided training to more than 400 Iraqi policemen over the past several months, equipping them with the know-how they'll need to do their jobs once they return to Iraq. Initially, the BKA coaches trained around 100 men in investigating techniques and how to secure evidence. And for the past few weeks, eight BKA experts have been training the men who will provide security and protection for Iraq's newly elected politicians. When they return home, they'll find themselves working in what is arguably one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. "You can't really envy any of these men," says BKA instructor Joerg Kerschek. "Nevertheless, we to try to give them the optimum training for survival."
Helping Iraq from the outside
In a trans-Atlantic relationship that has been seriously strained by the Iraq war, the police training program is an excellent example of areas where ties between Berlin and Washington remains strong. Earlier this week, German Interior Minister Otto Schily traveled with a delegation from Berlin to see the program in action. And there was no coincidence in the fact that Schily, who is generally media shy, brought a group of reporters along with him on the trip. Despite their resistance during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, virtually all politicians here want the country to become stable as quickly as possible. And Germans are keen to show they are doing their part to help.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,436599,00.jpg (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436598-342236,00.html)
http://www.spiegel.de/static/sys/lupe.gif (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436598-342236,00.html)
DPA
Interior Minister Otto Schily watches Iraqi bodyguards go through their training exercises.
Schily recently experienced just how important such messages can be. During a visit to Washington, he unexpectedly received a short audience with US President George W. Bush in the White House, making him the first German government representative to meet with the recently re-elected president. Bush took a whole 25 minutes to welcome Schily, and personally thank him for the training program. On the eve of his visit to Al-Ain, Schily said the US values the contribution of the Germans and accepts Germany's position that it will not send any troops to Iraq. Instead, Germany is focusing on programs like the bodyguard and police traning to further promote its rapprochement with Washington.
During his visit, Schily observed the Iraqi bodyguards as they trained on thick mats in the gymnasium of the Zayed II school. They demonstrated their new skills in hand-to-hand fighting and martial arts to be used in close combat. The moves being taught by the trainers also include the Israeli combat technique Krav Maga -- though the instructors have kept that fact under wraps from the trainees. "We teach the men everything that they need to know for deployment as a bodyguard," says Kerschek. That includes combat techniques, tactical operation for hostage releases, shooting-range training and assault exercises.
Iraqis will protect Iraqis
Outside, the men recreate a scene that plays out almost every day in Iraq. Before the bodyguards are even out of their cars, an assailant opens fire on the person they are trying to protect. The Iraqis immediately pull the man out of the line of fire, covering him with their own bodies, while three of the men return fire with their rifles. The others get the politician/actor back into the car and race from the scene, tires spinning. Many politicians have already been killed in similar attacks in Iraq. The hope is that the skills garnered through the BKA training will help them prevent further slayings in the future -- even if there is no sure-fire protection against the bomb attacks that the terrorists seem to have perfected in Iraq.
But there's another important factor in the training. The reconstruction effort in Afghanistan taught people that it can be very politically damaging for a top politician to be protected by foreign security guards. There, President Hamid Karzai is still being protected by US guards from the American company Blackwater, and his combat-trained compatriots scoff at what they see as a president so weak he has to look to foreigners for protection.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,436597,00.jpg (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436596-342236,00.html)
http://www.spiegel.de/static/sys/lupe.gif (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436596-342236,00.html)
SPIEGEL ONLINE
Arms training in the United Arab Emirates.
In order to avoid this type of potential embarrassment, the BKA officers are training Iraqis to do the job. Still, it's an uphill battle. Many of the men had no shooting-range experience, let alone a driver's licence prior to coming here. "What we offer here is a basic course in protecting individuals", says a BKA teachers. "Nevertheless, in six weeks we give them at least some know-how for their daily battle." Afterwards, the men will also receive a few weeks of training by special forces from the United Arab Emirates.
On the ground here, the international political disputes surrounding the war, including the quarreling between the US and Germany, couldn't seem further away -- training is the most important thing on peoples' minds. "We want our country to finally find peace," says Mahmoud. He's been with the Iraqi police force for seven years, and since the fall of the Saddam regime has been responsible protecting politicians.
Usually in these kinds of attacks, only the bodyguards are killed. Nevertheless, "fear" isn't a word that crops up often in the vocabulary of an Iraqi. For men like Mahmoud, it's hardly even part of the vernacular. "We will be well trained after this program", he says, nodding his head at his team, "Now must we go back and do our jobs." In some other corners of the training camp, though, things sound a little different. "We try to fade out the topic to a large extent", says BKA coach Kerschek, "otherwise we'd probably talk about it all the time."
Ice cream in Dubai instead of bombs in Bagdad
For the Iraqis, training in Al-Ain is almost a vacation from the daily terror of police work in Iraq. During the last three weeks, Mahmoud says, he's slept soundly for the first time in years. Even if much in the dusty military camp reminds him of home, everything is different. Only a few days ago he and several of his colleagues went to glitzy Dubai, which is only a good hour's drive from the camp. They drove through the city with the windows down and the music blaring. They ate ice cream, went to movies and experienced what people in many parts of the world would consider normalcy -- but they're all things that have been missing from the lives of men like Mahmoud for years now.
"It was like a dream," says the earnest young man. "Someday, Iraq will look the same way."
By Matthias Gebauer (matthias_gebauer@spiegel.de) in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates
Berlin won't be sending troops to Iraq anytime soon, but it is contributing to the reconstruction effort in other ways. Its main program provides training in the United Arab Emirates for Iraqi police and bodyguards for its newly elected government. The Germans hope to give them the skills they need for one of the most dangerous jobs out there.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,436594,00.jpg (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436593-342236,00.html)
http://www.spiegel.de/static/sys/lupe.gif (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436593-342236,00.html)
SPIEGEL ONLINE
Iraqi bodyguards training in Al-Ain.
For Mahmoud, danger is a part of everyday life. The 27-year-old Iraqi policeman still remembers one September day with absolute clarity. He was part of the motorcade accompanying Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Nakib through the streets of Baghdad when a car suddenly pulled into their path. As Mahmoud and his men jumped out of their Jeeps, the car's driver opened fire. Returning fire with their machine guns, the bodyguards killed the attacker. The interior minister was unharmed.
"We have to expect such attacks every second of every day in Iraq, because the terrorists have zeroed in on our government," says Mahmoud, describing his everyday encounter with terror in Baghdad.
Flash forward five months later. Mahmoud's in a different place but faces a similar situation. This time, two heavy sedans are stopped by a road block in a parking lot. With tires squealing, the drivers jerkily reverse, hit the brakes, the cars spin out and race off at full speed. Then a loud whistle blows. "Well done," a brawny man yells, "next!" The cap he's bearing sports Germany's official symbol, the eagle, and the initials of the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA), Germany's equivalent to the FBI. He's working with the Iraqis as a police trainer, and he's set up the road block as part of a training simulation. But instead of conducting the training somewhere in terror-shaken Iraq, this time it's on a heavily guarded military base in the United Arab Emirates.
Mahmoud is one of 30 Iraqi policemen currently participating in German's training project for the Iraqi security forces. He's been training with his colleagues in the desert every day for three weeks now. The training is the mainstay of Germany's contribution to reconstruction efforts for the oppressed country, which is far from peace nearly two years after the first bombs fell. Germany refuses to allow any of its troops to set foot in Iraq, where violence persists in the terror zone between Kirkuk and Basra. Instead, it has extended an olive branch to Washington through its police training efforts.
So far, the German BKA officers have provided training to more than 400 Iraqi policemen over the past several months, equipping them with the know-how they'll need to do their jobs once they return to Iraq. Initially, the BKA coaches trained around 100 men in investigating techniques and how to secure evidence. And for the past few weeks, eight BKA experts have been training the men who will provide security and protection for Iraq's newly elected politicians. When they return home, they'll find themselves working in what is arguably one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. "You can't really envy any of these men," says BKA instructor Joerg Kerschek. "Nevertheless, we to try to give them the optimum training for survival."
Helping Iraq from the outside
In a trans-Atlantic relationship that has been seriously strained by the Iraq war, the police training program is an excellent example of areas where ties between Berlin and Washington remains strong. Earlier this week, German Interior Minister Otto Schily traveled with a delegation from Berlin to see the program in action. And there was no coincidence in the fact that Schily, who is generally media shy, brought a group of reporters along with him on the trip. Despite their resistance during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, virtually all politicians here want the country to become stable as quickly as possible. And Germans are keen to show they are doing their part to help.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,436599,00.jpg (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436598-342236,00.html)
http://www.spiegel.de/static/sys/lupe.gif (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436598-342236,00.html)
DPA
Interior Minister Otto Schily watches Iraqi bodyguards go through their training exercises.
Schily recently experienced just how important such messages can be. During a visit to Washington, he unexpectedly received a short audience with US President George W. Bush in the White House, making him the first German government representative to meet with the recently re-elected president. Bush took a whole 25 minutes to welcome Schily, and personally thank him for the training program. On the eve of his visit to Al-Ain, Schily said the US values the contribution of the Germans and accepts Germany's position that it will not send any troops to Iraq. Instead, Germany is focusing on programs like the bodyguard and police traning to further promote its rapprochement with Washington.
During his visit, Schily observed the Iraqi bodyguards as they trained on thick mats in the gymnasium of the Zayed II school. They demonstrated their new skills in hand-to-hand fighting and martial arts to be used in close combat. The moves being taught by the trainers also include the Israeli combat technique Krav Maga -- though the instructors have kept that fact under wraps from the trainees. "We teach the men everything that they need to know for deployment as a bodyguard," says Kerschek. That includes combat techniques, tactical operation for hostage releases, shooting-range training and assault exercises.
Iraqis will protect Iraqis
Outside, the men recreate a scene that plays out almost every day in Iraq. Before the bodyguards are even out of their cars, an assailant opens fire on the person they are trying to protect. The Iraqis immediately pull the man out of the line of fire, covering him with their own bodies, while three of the men return fire with their rifles. The others get the politician/actor back into the car and race from the scene, tires spinning. Many politicians have already been killed in similar attacks in Iraq. The hope is that the skills garnered through the BKA training will help them prevent further slayings in the future -- even if there is no sure-fire protection against the bomb attacks that the terrorists seem to have perfected in Iraq.
But there's another important factor in the training. The reconstruction effort in Afghanistan taught people that it can be very politically damaging for a top politician to be protected by foreign security guards. There, President Hamid Karzai is still being protected by US guards from the American company Blackwater, and his combat-trained compatriots scoff at what they see as a president so weak he has to look to foreigners for protection.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,436597,00.jpg (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436596-342236,00.html)
http://www.spiegel.de/static/sys/lupe.gif (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,grossbild-436596-342236,00.html)
SPIEGEL ONLINE
Arms training in the United Arab Emirates.
In order to avoid this type of potential embarrassment, the BKA officers are training Iraqis to do the job. Still, it's an uphill battle. Many of the men had no shooting-range experience, let alone a driver's licence prior to coming here. "What we offer here is a basic course in protecting individuals", says a BKA teachers. "Nevertheless, in six weeks we give them at least some know-how for their daily battle." Afterwards, the men will also receive a few weeks of training by special forces from the United Arab Emirates.
On the ground here, the international political disputes surrounding the war, including the quarreling between the US and Germany, couldn't seem further away -- training is the most important thing on peoples' minds. "We want our country to finally find peace," says Mahmoud. He's been with the Iraqi police force for seven years, and since the fall of the Saddam regime has been responsible protecting politicians.
Usually in these kinds of attacks, only the bodyguards are killed. Nevertheless, "fear" isn't a word that crops up often in the vocabulary of an Iraqi. For men like Mahmoud, it's hardly even part of the vernacular. "We will be well trained after this program", he says, nodding his head at his team, "Now must we go back and do our jobs." In some other corners of the training camp, though, things sound a little different. "We try to fade out the topic to a large extent", says BKA coach Kerschek, "otherwise we'd probably talk about it all the time."
Ice cream in Dubai instead of bombs in Bagdad
For the Iraqis, training in Al-Ain is almost a vacation from the daily terror of police work in Iraq. During the last three weeks, Mahmoud says, he's slept soundly for the first time in years. Even if much in the dusty military camp reminds him of home, everything is different. Only a few days ago he and several of his colleagues went to glitzy Dubai, which is only a good hour's drive from the camp. They drove through the city with the windows down and the music blaring. They ate ice cream, went to movies and experienced what people in many parts of the world would consider normalcy -- but they're all things that have been missing from the lives of men like Mahmoud for years now.
"It was like a dream," says the earnest young man. "Someday, Iraq will look the same way."