Kurds Complain of Saddam-Era Uniforms
People say they are reminded of oppression and fear when they see police in the old-style outfits.
Kurds Complain of Saddam-Era Uniforms
People say they are reminded of oppression and fear when they see police in the old-style outfits.
“I don’t know why they wear it,” said an exasperated Mustafa Ali, 45, a grain store owner in Sulaimaniyah, of local police uniforms. “It’s the uniform of the Baath party and Saddam Hussein.”
Many Iraqi Kurds, including policemen, are calling for a change in the uniform, which they say reminds them of the bad old days.
“We hate Saddam and we don’t want anything that reminds us of him,” said Ali.
Under Saddam, the main uniform worn by the military, police, security forces and even Baath party members was in a distinctive khaki hue. As a result, many Iraqis associate khaki with oppression, torture and fear.
After Saddam’s fall, the United States-led Coalition initiated a new look for the police consisting of navy blue trousers and sky blue shirts with an armband that reads “IP”, for Iraqi Police.
The newly-created Iraqi Army and National Guards also got revised uniforms with a beige camouflage pattern, similar to the uniforms of US army troopers.
Yet in Sulamaniyah, some police and security officers still wear the khaki outfits redolent of the Saddam era, which many locals find offensive.
“I don’t like that colour,” said Mohammed Hamid Salih, 33, owner of a fast-food restaurant. “It reminds me of the injustices done to the Kurds. It reminds me of mass graves. I want them to change it.”
Complaints come even from police officers in the city. “I am not happy with it,” says Tariq Ali Saaed, 45, a non-commissioned officer. “I have been wearing it for 10 years. It reminds me of the tyrant Saddam.”
Sergeant Shawan Kareem, 38, agreed, adding, “The ministry pledged to change it two years ago but nothing has happened.”
Store owner Mustafa Ali blames the Kurdish government for not updating the uniform since winning autonomy from Saddam’s regime in the early Nineties.
“It was the government’s duty to change this uniform after 1991,” he said. “We don’t want anything to make us remember Saddam.”
But Sulaimaniyah’s police chief, General Mirwan Kamal Omar, defends the uniform, insisting it is part of the British legacy, not of the Baath regime.
He said the Iraqi military has worn the same uniform since 1920, when Britain’s colonial administration brought in the style.
“The Americans changed the uniform, but the new one lacks military character,” Omar said, adding that the old khaki kit does have military style.
“I’m a military man, and to me military means the full dress from cap to foot. The new uniform is not elegant enough. There is no rank shown on the collar and there is no braided decoration for the rank tabs on the shoulders.”
Still, he will introduce the new-style uniforms if he is ordered to. “I am against the lack of elegance, but we will comply with any order for uniform change.”
Zaineb Naji is an IWPR trainee in Baghdad.
