Bureau of Sabotage
Policing Post-War Iraq: Insurgency, Civilian Police, and the Reconstruction of Society
We argue that the Iraqi insurgency is disproportionately targeted at the new Iraqi civilian police, not because of the role police would fulfill as representatives of the state, but because a well-established and regularly functioning police would represent an important and highly visible indicator of a pacified Iraqi society. First and foremost, we maintain, the insurgency is aimed at the Iraqi police forces in order to prevent a normalization of Iraq’s civil society.
The attacks against police typically involve suicide bombings (on the person or by car) and roadside bombings of police convoys or military convoys escorting police. Some of the attacks combine multiple means, such as rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and car bombs. Animals rigged with explosive devices have also been used (Oppel and Schmitt 2005). Some insurgents have disguised themselves as police officers to carry out attacks.