No quick fix for Baghdad crime

"To add a whole bunch of (US) military personnel is not the solution," the former New York police commissioner told his first press conference since taking up the post of senior adviser to the interior ministry last week.

"The only answer is to identify where the crime is," and concentrate police resources there to apprehend the criminals, he said.

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That required Iraqis to respect their own police force, which could only be won back by weeding out officers guilty of past brutality or corruption, and massive retraining to eliminate abuses which were the norm during the 24 years of Saddam Hussein's rule.

"Policing over the years in Baghdad has been oppressive, that has to change," said Kerik.

"We have to make sure that (policing) complies with international rules and human rights. That was not how it was done in the past.

"We have to make sure that the police understand that the days of torture during interrogation or interview are no longer."

Kerik said there could be no room in the police for those responsible for past abuses although he acknowledged that in the short term "some" might "slip through the cracks."