Bombing at the Interior Ministry

by Patrick Lang (bio below)

The two suicide bombers managed to enter the Interior Ministry compound in east Baghdad, as dignitaries including the U.S. ambassador were at a nearby parade to mark National Police Day.

One was wearing the uniform of an Iraqi police major while the other was dressed as a lieutenant-colonel. Both had security passes that enabled them to go through the compound’s main checkpoint and would have admitted them to the ministry itself.

“We’re dying to know how they got hold of these badges to enter the building,” one police source told Reuters. “This is a disaster. We can’t understand how they managed to get inside without being searched.”

Once inside the checkpoint, guards became suspicious of one of the attackers because of his bulk and shot at him, detonating his explosive belt. The second bomber then blew himself up, causing more carnage. Besides the 28 dead, 25 people were injured.

“Two brothers…got through nine checkpoints that the infidels set up around the building, then one of them piled into dozens of ministry officers,” Al Qaeda said in a statement posted on a Web site generally used by insurgents.

“After fear spread among the apostates, the second brother blew up his belt, bringing great misfortune upon them,” read the statement, whose authenticity could not be verified.” Reuters

“We’re dying to know how they got hold of these badges to enter the building,” one police source told Reuters. “This is a disaster. We can’t understand how they managed to get inside without being searched.”

Really!! You are penetrated, idiot! That’s how! The Iraqi government (with US assistance) has been hiring and promoting policemen on the basis of standardized tests provided by an American industrial psychology company that specializes in testing people for employment in public sector jobs that require quality and reliability screening. The tests were built on models used in other cultural contexts and were further adapted for the Iraq environment.

This company was warned by people familiar with Iraq and the Arab World that the tests would not be predictive of behavior or loyalty. i.e., the candidates will lie either to get a job or to infiltrate the police.

This advice was ignored. Is there a connection between that means of choosing people and today’s events? You figure it out.

There have been enough close calls now for Khalilzad that HE should have “figured out” that eventually….

Pat Lang

Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann (interview), CNN and Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room (interview), PBS’s Newshour, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” (interview), and more .

Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
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“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2