'Residual' forces in Iraq expected to train 'Oil Police'

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Iraq oil cops seen ready to guard pipeline by 2011

BAGHDAD, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Iraq's specialized Oil Police will only be ready to take over full responsibility for protecting the nation's oil pipelines from theft and attack by late 2010, a top U.S. official said on Sunday.

"They need training. They need equipment. They need quality of life. They need to grow a little bit to take over," Lieutenant General Frank Helmick, head of U.S. military efforts to train Iraqi police and soldiers, said in an interview.

Iraq's oil infrastructure has suffered repeated insurgent attacks in the lawlessness since 2003. Smuggling has also been a major, and costly, problem. "Right now the Ministry of Defence is on a very strategic piece of the pipeline that was in need of a security force that was credible in 2006/07 ... Oil police will not be able to take over that section of the pipeline until, my guess is, late 2010," Helmick said.

Iraqi soldiers, under Defence Ministry authority, currently guard the most valuable section of the oil pipeline, Helmick said. The Oil Police, which migrated earlier this year from the control of the Oil Ministry to the Interior Ministry, guard other areas.

In total Iraqi forces are seeking to safeguard 7,500 km (4,500 miles) of pipeline across the nation, according to U.S. figures.

Major General Hamid, commander of Iraq's Oil Police, has estimated his forces will be ready to take over full pipeline protection by 2012, according to U.S. officials. Hamid says that goal will be attainable only with sufficient funding.

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