US cuts multi-billion dollar training programme for Iraq police

The US is believed to be drastically cutting back a multi-billion dollar training programme for Iraqi police that was supposed to be central to its post-war civilian legacy in the country.

Students from the Iraqi Federal Police perform a demonstration drill during their graduation ceremony in Baghdad  Photo: AFP/GETTY

By Jon Swaine, Washington

10:30PM BST 13 May 2012

Original plans for 350 American law enforcement officers to carry out the scheme, which were promptly scaled back, have now been cut again to just 50 officers, according to The New York Times.

In a statement, the State Department did not dispute the figures but denied a claim that officials were considering scrapping the programme altogether by the end of the year.

"The US Embassy in Baghdad and the Department of State have no plans to shut down the Police Development Program in Iraq that began in October 2011," it said.

The Iraqi interior ministry said at the end of last year that the necessity of the programme – the most expensive run by the 12,000-strong American embassy – would be reviewed at the end of 2012.

The newspaper also reported that US officials had spent more than $100 million (£62 million) on upgrading Baghdad's police academy, before abandoning the project unfinished.