A sign of reconciliation in Iraq:
Some 800 Sunni Muslims are among 2,000 newly trained recruits in the Iraqi National Police, a force that a Pentagon report a year ago called a brutal organization infiltrated by Shiite militias and even death squads. Another 2,000 Sunnis are expected to be trained and to join the National Police in coming months, a U.S. general in Iraq said Thursday... [Army Brigadier General David Phillips] said the efforts to include more Sunnis in the National Police would be used to help newly trained units "stand up" in such crucial areas as Mosul, Salahuddin, Samarra and al Anbar province, at various times the scenes of bitter sectarian battles and attacks on U.S. forces.
I believe this is the Pentagon report referenced by McClatchy. It's actually an independent assessment prepared by a team of experts at the mandate of Congress, and released in September 2007. The report painted a grim picture of how the National Police Force was regarded less than a year ago, and concluded (page 115):
The National Police have proven operationally ineffective. Sectarianism in its units undermines its ability to provide security; the force is not viable in its current form. The National Police should be disbanded and reorganized.
The unit has come a long way in a year.