Ex-Scottsdale chief finds training Iraqi police is an uphill struggle

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=42535

More than two years after the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled, former Scottsdale Police Chief Michael Heidingsfield, speaking from the center of the desert storm, is not the voice of sunny optimism.

<snip>

When the (Memphis) Commercial Appeal’s Bartholomew Sullivan caught up with Heidingsfield, six members of his Texas-based DynCorp staff had been killed and nearly 100 others wounded in the past year.

<snip>

"My greatest concern is that Iraq, if it is not stabilized, will never get beyond where we are today," he told Sullivan. "And if the level of insurgency were to continue, it will be a daunting challenge to reshape the Iraqi police into an organization that understands that they’re critical to the future of the country. That’s what worries me."

He described the insurgency as alive and well, expressed the frustration he feels when he hears overly optimistic views of the situation, and at one point said, "It could go on like this forever."