BAGHDAD - At least four policemen died and 22 were wounded when insurgents bombed a police academy on Sunday, the latest victims in a campaign to cripple US-backed efforts to set up new Iraqi security forces.
But as the death toll from almost daily attacks on Iraq's fledgling forces continues to mount, those who have the daunting task of facing down insurgents remain resolute.
"Give us the weapons the American troops have, and we'll do better than them," said Baghdad police officer Ayad Abed Mehdi, 45. "We are stronger than the terrorists. We have to fight them face to face."
Sunday's bombing in the northern town of Tikrit followed a car bomb attack the day before that killed nine Iraqi soldiers and wounded 20 people in a blast at Abu Ghraib, home to the notorious prison of the same name.
But despite the risk, new recruit Mohammed Jazel, 22, likes the generous 175-dollar monthly salary which allows him to buy pricey items such as fruit and soft drinks.
"I have my eyes open 24 hours in case there's an attack," said Jazel, who joined Baghdad's police force in March 2004.
"I want to help make the country peaceful, and I like the salary," he added.
"We feel we are strong now, but the government needs to trust us," said Haidar Sendan, 32, another new police recruit who served in the army under former president Saddam Hussein.
"Saddam remained in power for 35 years because he had a strong security force," he said.
"It's dangerous when we leave our jobs at night to go home," said Saad Hamid, 34, another Baghdad officer.
"We are suffering. Our friends have been kidnapped or killed. But now we have an opportunity to work as police."
US President George W. Bush on Saturday hailed what he saw as a new milestone in US efforts to form a viable Iraqi security force, pointing out that for the first time since the beginning of the war two years ago Iraqi troops and police now outnumber US forces in the country.
"Today, more than 150,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained and equipped, and for the first time, the Iraqi army, police, and security forces outnumber US forces in Iraq," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
Forming a security force capable of defending Iraqis against attacks by insurgents is the central element of a US exit strategy.
US plans call for training and equipping 271,000 members of the Iraqi military and police by the middle of next year, enabling them to take over many of the combat duties performed today by US-led coalition forces.
But the US Government Accounting Office has warned that Iraqi security forces remain crippled by poor discipline, questionable loyalties and absenteeism possibly in the tens of thousands.
Iraq's interior ministry spokesman Sabah Kadim was more specific, saying that as many as 35,000 police who have been trained and put on the police payroll "aren't working for a variety of reasons".
"Of the 135,000, about 100,000 are working," Kadim said, adding that he felt the estimate of 155,000 security forces was not accurate. "There are problems with the numbers. They have never been realistic."
A senior US defense official acknowledged the capabilities of Iraqi police and other security forces "vary from unit to unit."
But the official pointed out that between 1,500 and 3,000 soldiers and police were joining the country's forces every week and "the trend is clearly positive."
"What's amazing to me is that despite all these attacks, we still have no trouble recruiting policemen and soldiers to serve in the ISF (Iraqi security forces)," US Colonel Ed Cardon said recently.

04/24/2005 15:39 GMT