Minister says freeze on police hires won’t harm withdrawal- paper

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Ministry of Interior has frozen the hiring of 66,000 new members of the security forces because of the drop in global oil prices, a cutback that Minister Jawad al-Bolani said will not endanger U.S. troop withdrawal plans, according to Bloomberg. “The condition of insurgents and members of al-Qaeda is very poor and they can’t face or challenge Iraqi security or coalition forces,” the newspaper quoted Bolani as saying in an interview in Beirut on March 21. “We don’t deny the threat or challenges, but they are under control,” Bolani added. “Bolani said that since he took over the ministry in 2006, he has purged 58 top officers as part of a drive to increase the professionalism of the security forces.” “The Iraqi plan to recruit new members of the security forces was frozen after oil prices tumbled almost $100 from their high of $147.27 in July,” Bolani noted. “We were aiming to recruit 66,000 people during 2009 to 2010 and that is now on hold, Bolani said. “The issue is critical as President Barack Obama presses forward with plans to pull out U.S. combat troops over the next 18 months. Violence has been on the rise recently, with at least 70 people killed in three separate attacks in early March. The death toll in February was 35 percent higher than the previous month,” according to Bloomberg. The rise in violence “won’t affect plans of the Iraqi government or those of the U.S.” for a withdrawal, Bolani said. SS (S) 1