America's North Shore Journal

The Bagh­dad Police Col­lege grad­u­ated 490 new Iraqi Police­women at a cer­e­mony here Jan. 26. The women vol­un­tar­ily stepped for­ward to serve and pro­tect Iraq, its peo­ple and its Con­sti­tu­tion. Among their first duties, the new grad­u­ates will serve front-line roles pro­vid­ing secu­rity for the Jan. 31 election.

“This is some­thing I have waited for…this day. I am very happy to be a police­woman now and to serve our peo­ple,” said Sasha, one of the grad­u­ates of the largest female class ever to grad­u­ate from BPC.

After the cer­e­mony, the new police­women cel­e­brated by chant­ing slo­gans and proudly thrust­ing their arms in the air. The smiles on their faces told the story of their accomplishments.

“We feel proud and happy that we are bring­ing new oppor­tu­nity to Iraqi women today, and more women will fol­low us,” said Aseel, another new police­woman. Another grad­u­ate said she joined the police to serve with her hus­band, also a policeman.

Iraqi Min­is­ter of Inte­rior Jawad Bolani con­grat­u­lated the new grad­u­ates for “tak­ing another step towards rebuild­ing Iraqi secu­rity.” He said they rep­re­sent another sig­nif­i­cant accom­plish­ment for the Min­istry of Inte­rior in con­tin­u­ing to fur­ther improve secu­rity in Iraq.

“These women are now shar­ing duties with the police­men to bring a new day of pros­per­ity to Iraq,” said Bolani. “You are now qual­i­fied to defend Iraq, to pro­tect our lib­er­ties, Iraqi laws, Con­sti­tu­tion and human dignity.”

Bolani also thanked Coali­tion forces and train­ers at Bagh­dad Police Col­lege for their sup­port in mak­ing this course a success.

Iraqi Police Col. Sabah Hashim, Direc­tor of Train­ing at the Police Qual­i­fi­ca­tion Cen­ter, said the women received train­ing in check­point secu­rity, police oper­a­tions, and Iraqi law and are qual­i­fied to serve in the same capac­ity as the men. Hashim went on to say the women will serve through­out the nation with Iraqi Police, Bor­der Police and other direc­torates as required.

U.S. Army Col. Larry Saun­ders, senior advi­sor for the Bagh­dad Police Col­lege Tran­si­tion Team, said the grad­u­a­tion clearly speaks to Min­is­ter Bolani’s com­mit­ment to dis­trib­ute oppor­tu­nity equally among gen­ders in Iraq. He said the women com­pleted the same basic recruit train­ing course as male Shurta with instruc­tion in ethics, human rights, police oper­a­tions and firearms training.

“They grad­u­ated in time to serve in impor­tant roles dur­ing the elec­tion secu­rity process, thus com­bin­ing two very impor­tant sym­bols of free­dom: equal oppor­tu­nity and the right to elect your polit­i­cal lead­ers,” said Saun­ders. The BPC-TT pro­vides vital United States and Coali­tion assis­tance and train­ing to the BPC and the Iraqi police forces, thereby sup­port­ing Iraq in its efforts to main­tain secu­rity and sta­bil­ity in Iraq.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Mike Milano, Deputy Com­mand­ing Gen­eral of Multi-National Secu­rity Tran­si­tion Com­mand Iraq’s Direc­torate of Inte­rior Affairs, which pro­vides train­ing sup­port to the Inte­rior Min­istry, said, “This first, all-female grad­u­at­ing class shows the won­der­ful progress the Min­istry of Inte­rior has made as it works to increase diver­sity in the Iraqi Police.”

Many other dig­ni­taries attended the cer­e­mony, includ­ing the Min­is­ter of Women’s Affairs, Nawal Mageed al Sama­rai, and Par­lia­ment mem­ber Sam­mera al Mos­sawi, head of the Coun­cil of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives’ com­mit­tee on Women’s Rights and Family.

Al Sama­rai thanked the Inte­rior Min­istry for their new plan of pro­vid­ing more female police. She con­grat­u­lated the grad­u­ates and urged them to be hon­est and to respect human rights and women’s rights.

“By your ser­vice, you will cre­ate more oppor­tu­nity for more women to serve their home­land and help bring secu­rity to our coun­try,” said al Samarai.

MNF-I