Baghdad considers security overhaul
After years of various security plans failed to halt terrorist attacks in the Iraqi capital, the Interior Ministry's latest proposal is now under evaluation.
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Cabinet has formed a supreme committee consisting of representatives from a number of ministries and security institutions to develop an integrated surveillance system for Baghdad.
Since 2003, Iraq's successive governments have failed to halt the bloodshed in Baghdad. Terrorist attacks have been ongoing, especially car bombs. The failure of all security plans in the past 13 years and the ongoing terrorist attacks are due to the poor management of the security file.
Security projects have included the 2007 Operation Imposing Law and the Baghdad wall, an idea that was suggested in 2011 and again in 2016. In 2014, the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) proposed a project to monitor vehicles in the capital. The project, which remains incomplete, consisted of electronic tracking devices attached to the vehicles. In early 2016, it was restarted under the name of “Saqr Baghdad,” but implicated in a major BOC corruption case the parliamentary security committee investigated in May.
After all of these ineffective attempts, the government is again endeavoring to solve Baghdad’s security problem. But the new plan, if approved by the government, is unlikely to succeed, in light of the political and sectarian interference in all of the state institutions that are already crippled by financial and administrative corruption.
