Iraq's Terror Hot Line

Some have declared it a joke. The Pentagon hails it as a success. Either way Iraq’s terrorism hot line is going to be transitioned soon to Iraqi control, according to a recent contract announement. The Iraqi National Tips 130 Hotline program, or "TIPS 130," kicked off in March 2004; Iraqis can call (or e-mail) tips on terrorism and other criminal activity 24 hours a day. How successful is it? Here’s how the New York Times described the program in 2004:

When armed insurgents moved into her southern Baghdad neighborhood last spring and started threatening Shiite families like hers, Umm Hussein called Iraq’s widely publicized 24-hour terrorism hot line.

Nobody answered.

After several attempts over several days she finally got through and was assured that the police would follow up.

"But nothing happened and no one ever came," recalled Umm Hussein, who told her story on the condition that she be identified only by her Shiite nickname. Several days later she moved her family from their neighborhood, Hor Rijeb, to the relative safety of Zayouna, a mixed neighborhood in central Baghdad.

The hot line, she said, is "a joke."

That same year, however, the military called it a great success, according to this Armed Forces Press Service article:

Billboards throughout Baghdad promote the hotline as a way for the Iraqi people to "fight the war in secret" without fear of reprisal, [Brig. Gen. Jeffrey W. Hammond, the division’s assistant commander for support], said. Because of a campaign of intimidation aimed at Iraqis helping to move their country forward, "people were virtually paralyzed to reach out for help," he noted. Now, thanks to the hotline campaign, "people today are picking up the phone and calling us. They are sharing information," the general said.

Hammond said the hotline and its success have "hit a nerve with the insurgents" who regularly vandalize billboards promoting the campaign. But Hammond said the 200 billboards around Iraq are replaced as quickly as they’re destroyed. "I’m not going to stop," he said.

The Department of Homeland Security’s own terrorism hotline here in the U.S. has attracted it own share of criticism. In Iraq, the plan now is to have a private contractor train Iraqis so that they can take over the call center operations as it’s transitioned to the Iraqi government.