Iraqi police recruits prepare for uncertain war with ISIS
BAGHDAD - The bombings are not only deadly, they risk destabilizing the capital completely. So the Iraqi government is running an aggressive campaign to recruit security forces to fight Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants.
Half the class of police recruits act as angry villagers. The other half get a lesson in crowd control ... until a smoke grenade scatters the mob.
The police academy is on an old American base near Baghdad's airport. One and a half thousand men are enrolled going through the basic training course right now. The number of recruits jumped by 50% when ISIS invaded Iraq.
Col. Fouad Qadem Daoud says they've all seen the videos of ISIS slaughtering Iraqis and they want revenge.
Basic training lasts 45 days. The young recruits are almost done. In two weeks, they'll be sent into combat.
They're called police, but they're trained like the military.
In one exercise sharpshooters surround a house, then the SWAT team bursts in to arrest a kidnapper. But most of the work these men will do is less dramatic and more dangerous.
Man the checkpoints and try to stop suicide bombers like the ones today that killed more than 40 people.
Some recruits are here for the love of their country. Some for the money, about $800 a month. But all of them know they're heading into a vicious war with every chance they won't come back.
If these men with only the most basic training are to perform well in battle, they'll need good leadership which has been a real failure up to now in the Iraqi Security Forces.