Police Commando Battalions
The Ministry of the Interior created the Police Commando Battalions on self-initiative in order to provide immediate strike force capability.
Initially stood up in August 2004, two battalions of highly vetted Iraqi officers and rank-and-file servicemen were operational within two weeks and performed with great distinction in anti-Iraqi force counter-operations in Haifa Street and Al Monsour in Baghdad, North Babil, and Samarra – four insurgent hotspots.
The force – still comprised of two operational battalions – as of October 2004 has a third battalion in training with a fourth and fifth recruited the week before that was yet to undergo initial training. The force, through recruiting prior service professionals, however, was designed for immediate employ, putting to work personnel from the former regime’s Special Forces elements and other specialty units.
Ministry of Interior Security Advisor, Iraqi Police Service, Maj. Gen. Adnon Thabit, the architect of the force, personally interviews all officers and commanders for the unit he describes as one focused primarily on building raid operations, counterterrorist missions including anti-airplane hijacker, anti-kidnapping and other similar missions. And according to his multinational force counterpart, U.S. Army Col. James H. Coffman, Jr., a special advisor from the Multinational Security Transition Command – Iraq, the process is an ongoing one aimed at making the unit highly effective.
The force resembles more a paramilitary army-type force complete with heavy weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47 assault rifles, mortars, and 9mm Glock pistol issues.
The force stood at nearly 4,000 personnel including recruits as of October 2004.
