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Cars UK gave to Basra police now stolen The Sunday Telegraph, 18 November 2007 By Gethin Chamberlain Two thirds of the cars supplied by Britain to Iraqi security forces in Basra have gone missing, presumed stolen, according to the city's police chief. Major Gen Abdel Jalil Khalif blamed corrupt police officers in the southern city, which is due to be handed over by British forces to Iraqi control next month. He said that of 4,000 vehicles received from the British Army in southern Iraq since the invasion in 2003, only 1,334 could now be accounted for. He claimed he was cracking down on corrupt officers who were co-ordinating robberies, assassinations and terrorist acts in Basra. "Even our intelligence network is infiltrated with elements from the militias and armed groups," he said. The general had claimed earlier that hardly a crime was perpetrated in the city that did not involve a police vehicle or members of the police force. He said that he had told the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and other ministers at a meeting in Basra: "The police service here and its more than 15,427 employees are unable to do any work." The British Ministry of Defence is investigating the car theft reports, although a spokesman disputed the number of vehicles handed to the Iraqi forces. "Coalition nations including the UK have gifted vehicles and other items to the Iraqi security forces," the MoD said. Last week Britain's senior military officer in Iraq, Major Gen Graham Binns, conceded that the Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) militia, loyal to the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was now the dominant militia in Basra. He said the militia's dominance had prevented clashes with the rival Badr Brigade, which is linked with Iraq's largest Shia party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. In answer to a question about why Basra had not seen a spike in militia violence, he said: "That's because the Sadrist militia is all-powerful here, more powerful than Badr. If Badr was allowed to take on JAM in Basra, they'd lose pretty quickly." A spokesman for the MoD said: "His answer stressed that he was not saying the Sadrist militia is more powerful than either UK troops or Iraqi security forces. They are not."
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