Iraqi Identity Crisis, Traffic Cop or Brigadier General?

The Washington Post article “U.S Repeatedly Rebuffed Iraq on Blackwater Complaints,” dated 23 September, 2007, by Sudarsan Raghavan and Steve Fainaru, describes a scene in which a traffic cop had a bottle of water thrown at him by a Blackwater USA security guard. According the article, “the officer was so furious that he submitted his resignation, but his superiors turned it down.”

The odd part to me is that this traffic policeman held the rank of brigadier general. I do blame the majority of Iraq’s woes on the U.S. invasion and occupation. Have we messed things up so badly that brigadier generals have to seek work as traffic cops or do Iraqi police forces just have a very odd rank structure?

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