PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Shane Wolfe

wolfes@orha.centcom.mil

(Photos and B-roll available upon request)

Baghdad, Iraq…January 1, 2004 – Nearly 100 more Iraqis formally committed themselves to contributing to their country’s security this week upon graduating from the Diplomatic Protection Service (DPS) training program.

Eighty-six new DPS guards completed the intensive one-week training course at the Baghdad Police Training Academy.

"We ask God to help us continue this great job, because it will reflect the face of the new Iraq," said DPS director LTC Salem Kariem during the graduation ceremony. "Your efforts in securing Iraq’s future will be an example to other Iraqis."

DPS guards provide security within Iraq by guarding the more than 70 embassies and other diplomatic sites situated in the Baghdad area.

The new guards were chosen from a pool of Facilities Protection Service (FPS) guards who volunteered to undergo the additional DPS training focusing on the special skills involved in protecting diplomatic sites.

This week’s graduation is the second in as many weeks.

Upon joining the DPS force, one new guard proudly stated, "As an officer in the Diplomatic Protection Service, I now have an honorable job that allows me to both provide for my family and serve my country."