Iraq Removes Leaders of Special Police - New York Times

Iraq Removes Leaders of Special Police - New York Times: "October 18, 2006
Iraq Removes Leaders of Special Police
By SABRINA TAVERNISE

BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 — The Iraqi government removed the country’s two most senior police commanders from their posts on Tuesday, in the first broad move against the top leadership of Iraq’s unruly special police forces.

The two generals had led Iraq’s special police commandos and its public order brigade, both widely criticized as being heavily infiltrated by Shiite militias. Their removal comes at a crucial time for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who has come under intense American pressure to purge Iraq’s security forces of the militias and death squads that operate within their ranks.

Iraqi politicians, both Shiite and Sunni, have grown increasingly anxious in recent weeks that eroding public and Congressional support for the war in the United States might prompt a major shift in American policy, particularly if the November midterm elections bring gains for the Democrats.

Senior American officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on a visit to Baghdad earlier this month, have issued stark warnings to the Maliki government of growing American impatience, especially at the government’s failure to stop the scourge o"