"It's true, when they're arrested, suspects expect to be tortured, like they were under the former regime" of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, said Colonel Bashar Abdullah Hussein, who heads the police commandos' "Lions" brigade. "But we resort to psychology, we talk to them for hours and offer them tea to destabilize them.
"Anyway, why should we have to beat them? If we found evidence of them being terrorists, there's a law and they could be sentenced to death," said the 40-year-old Turkmen officer who used to head the old regime's police quick reaction force.
"We don't allow detainees to be beaten. Abusing my power won't help me, it would only give terrorists arguments to use against me," Said Hussein.
"We check the detainees every day for intelligence reasons. There never were major cases of abuse," said US Lieutenant Colonel Gary Smythe, from the special police transition team overseeing the commandos in this predominantly Sunni town 125 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad.
With their red berets and dark green camouflage uniforms, the commandos are instantly recognisable and have acquired a reputation for ruthlessness in dealing with mostly Sunni-based insurgents.
"It bothers me because I work with the guys, I see their sacrifices," said Colonel Jeff Buchanan, speaking of accusations made against the commandos.
"Most of what is attributed to them is the work of gangs, militias, or units under direct interior ministry responsibility, as in Jadriyah," he added.
On November 13, US forces raided an interior ministry compound in Baghdad's Jadriyah district where they found dozens of detainees, some of whom had been tortured.
Police commando units, set up in September 2004, first drew attention when they helped US forces recapture the northern town of Mosul after local police lost control to insurgents there.
Split into four brigades, they today number 9,000 men.
"Collecting human intelligence is one of their main strengths. They can go into a room and tell right away, 'You're from Najaf, or Fallujah, what are you doing in this place?'," the US officer said.
"An airborne commando once told me 'They [commandos] are the greatest natural predator I've ever seen in the Iraqi security forces'. "Truth is, they fight relentlessly, they follow the tracks and hunt them down," Buchanan said.
An Iraqi civilian, who requested anonymity, said the commandos used to be feared because of their lack of both discipline and education.
"Many come from deprived areas in the south of the country, where they were unempowered and wanted revenge, but things are starting to change," he said.
"Orders from our officers are clear. We are told to take care of the detainees," Said Saadi Hamza Gedan, 31, a commando who used to wear the same red beret when he served in Saddam's feared Republican Guards.
"They are wrong about our reputation, at least in this brigade," he said, before adding that "in other brigades, they don't recruit members the same way".
The commandos' second brigade, one of the most feared, recently changed its name from "Wolf Brigade" to "Freedom Brigade" because of its bad reputation.
The make-up of the commandos reflects that of the general population, except for Kurds who are under-represented, Buchanan said. In the first brigade for example, 63 percent of recruits are Shias and 37 percent Sunnis.
"I joined the commandos a year ago because I believe in what they are doing for the country and because they're an elite force," said Ahmed Hashim Khdeir, a 23-year-old sergeant from the Shiite city of Karbala who also served under Saddam.
A police commando's basic pay is the equivalent of $425 a month, a good salary in Iraq.
Colonel Hussein said much of their intelligence now came from tip-offs from local people.
"Two days ago, at 4:30 in the morning, we had a call about a cell leader for Al Qaeda. He only came to Samarra once every three months. We arrested him, he gave us a lot of information," he said.
"I personally walk the streets, I walk in the market, I say hello to each person who owns a shop, I look into their problems," he added
"The community accepts them very well, they are very cordial," said US Major Richard Dunbar.
Which could be part of the reason why the commandos have only lost three men in the town over the past two months.
© 2005 Agence France-Presse
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