Iraqi cops use US sniffer dogs to hunt militants

BAGHDAD (Reuters)

At a sparkling new forensic crime office in Baghdad, trainees in white lab coats drip blood into test tubes in search of genetic clues.

The seven-month-old DNA analysis facility is an important part of efforts by Iraq to bolster its security forces as the United States military hands over responsibility to locals ahead of the withdrawal of combat troops from urban centers this month.

"This is the first step, to analyze DNA in Iraq," said Shafan Khalid, a student from Arbil in the widely autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, looking up from his work.

Training sniffer dogs

The Iraqi police had to start from scratch after the American authorities disbanded Saddam Hussein's security forces shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Now the country has about half a million police officers who are being prepared to take over the security reins as forces gradually withdraw from Iraq.

In the next room at the facility, the "K9" unit is training sniffer dogs to seek out explosives, crucial work in a nation where car bombs and suicide blasts have claimed thousands of lives.

Five policemen stand as a trainee leads a Belgian Shepherd dog past them on a chain. When it reaches the man hiding the fake device, it sits down to alert its handler.

There are 63 bomb sniffing dogs imported from South Africa and the United States now working in Iraq, 33 of them in the capital. There are 11 Iraqi trainers taught by U.S. instructors.

"Now the training depends 100 percent on our Iraqi cadre," said Brigadier-General Mohammed Musshib, the head of the unit, adding that 30 Iraqis are taking part in the eight-week course.

"Even now if the Americans want to leave, it will not be a big deal for us," he added in a corridor lined with dog cages.

U.S. combat forces are due to leave the country by August 2010, although some 50,000 U.S. soldiers will stay on to train and give advice until a 2011 deadline.

As those dates loom, Iraq is stepping up preparations to fill the void in law enforcement and security.

Facilities as mundane as DNA labs will enable professional criminal investigations based on hard evidence instead of current methods that all too often involve rounding up suspects and holding them without charge for extended periods, officials said.
Al Arabiya