BAGHDAD, Iraq - During this week's uprising, Iraqi police have abandoned stations or stood by while gunmen roamed the streets, raising concerns about their role in a future Iraq.
In the southern city of Najaf, a policeman watched helplessly on Thursday as a pickup truck carrying a dozen heavily armed Shiite militiamen went past his police station - already in the militia's hands.
"Look, how can we control such a situation?" he told an Associated Press reporter.
The policeman, who refused to give his name, said that if a cleric issues a religious ruling calling for it, "I will immediately leave the police service. ... We came to serve this city, but now we have become targets."
In many cities, the unexpected strength of a Shiite Muslim militia known as the al-Mahdi Army - now in full or partial control of at least three cities in the south - has cowed the police force that U.S. administrators are counting on to maintain security in the future Iraq.
The Iraqi interior minister, who is in charge of police, resigned Thursday and complained of the divided loyalties among the nationwide force of 75,000.
"The coalition appoints policemen, clerics appoint policemen, as do political parties and militias. The same thing with promotions. All these things led to a lack of security," Nuri al-Badran told journalists in Baghdad.
Iraq's police force was started from scratch by the U.S.-led coalition after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, but a lack of resources and unity means it remains largely ineffective in the face of better-armed gunmen.
Policemen across the country complain that they don't enjoy the trust of the Americans and that local communities view them with suspicion. In some provincial towns, they're also reluctant to do battle with relatives or fellow tribesmen.
In Sadr city, a Baghdad neighborhood that's home to almost 2 million Shiites, policemen abandoned three stations to regroup in a fourth during clashes between U.S. forces and followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the U.S. commander responsible for security in Baghdad, gave a mixed assessment of the police performance during Sunday's battle, in which he lost eight soldiers.
Some officers showed bravery and fought alongside the Americans, while others chose to stand aside, he said.
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