It took over a year to finish this reform effort, and this
time it was more far reaching. By the end
of the year 27,000 National Police had been fired, 17 of 27 battalion
commanders and 8 of 9 brigade commanders had been removed. In September 2007 a
congressionally mandated commission issued its findings about the ISF known as
the Jones report, which advocated disbanding the National Police because of its
sectarian nature. The U.S. military rejected this suggestion claiming that the
National Police were necessary to help secure the country. At the same time, it
acknowledged that the National Police were still carrying out attacks upon
Sunnis and needed more work. It therefore launched its third re-training
program, this time by the Italian Carabinieri. The training lasted two months
and went from December 2007 to 2009. The Americansalso created 41 National
Police Transition Teams to monitor the Iraqi units. Although it took several
years to get it right this outside pressure to deal with the militias in the
police was crucial in changing the force. The Shiite parties that led the
government were not interested in the matter because it was their fighters who
were in the units and they were committed to fighting a sectarian war. The U.S.
was one of the only groups within Iraq capable of pushing for re-training the
National Police and getting rid of its commanders who were Badr members. The
Americans could not do this alone, and needed to find Iraqi partners to
accomplish this and they eventually did.

Interior Minister Bolani was essential for clearing out the Badr elements within the National Police (Getty Images)

In May 2006
a new