Death squads don Iraqi uniforms

[leftchick]

BAGHDAD - Shiite Muslim militia members have infiltrated Iraq's police force and are carrying out sectarian killings under the color of law, according to documents and scores of interviews.

The abuses raise the specter of organized retaliation against Sunni-led insurgents who have killed thousands of Shiites, who endured decades of subjugation under Saddam Hussein.

The abuses also undermine the U.S. effort to stabilize the nation and to train Iraq's security forces -- the Bush administration's prerequisites for a U.S. troop withdrawal.

Hundreds of accounts of Sunni killings and abductions by Iraqi men in uniform have emerged in recent weeks.

The Baghdad morgue reports that dozens of bodies arrive at the same time on a weekly basis, including scores of corpses with wrists bound by police handcuffs.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/722/5751722.html

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Will all the parties responsible for Iraq arriving at this juncture please

report to the Hague immediately.... yes, that includes the ones who started the whole frigging mess. Have your visas ready and be ready for a full body search sirs.

[enough]

2. Good thing we're staying in there to preserve democracy and rule of law.

[leftchick]

3. Sunnis Living In Fear Of Shiite-Led Iraq

http://cbs2.com/topstories/topstories_story_333080014.html

(CBS) BAGHDAD Sunni Muslim civilians are increasingly claiming that men in their families have been abducted and in many cases, tortured and killed, by men they say appeared to be officers of the Shiite-led Iraqi government.

According to the New York Times, one of Baghdad's largest mosques has begun collecting data on disappeared Sunnis and so far has the names of 700 men allegedly missing or killed in such incidents within the past four months. The Iraqi Interior Ministry says reports of government involvement are "totally wrong."

"There is no question that bodies are turning up," one human rights investigator told the Times, speaking anonymously, citing safety concerns. "Quite a few have been handcuffed and shot in the back of the head."

The tension between the Sunnis - many of whom have been involved in the insurgency - and the Shiites is not new.

[PurityOfEssence]

4. Misleading headline; it leads one to believe they're masquerading

as members of the police and military, instead of actually being part of the forces.

So Junior, the biggest full-spectrum fuck-up in modern history, is creating a Shiite theocracy in Iraq which will expand Iran's influence and spark such instability in the Muslim world that the oh-so-coveted oil will be even more expensive and erratically delivered.

As an unwitting tool of the neocons to buttress Israel at all costs, his sloppy and on-the-cheap imperial bunglings will bring more ill will to Israel than having done nothing. Much as the PNACers want to now stomp Syria, many in the Israeli government want nothing to do with it.

Yet, in the face of all these mysterious developments, they're all quite obvious--if not specifically, then generally. How many voices on the left, on this board, and from every sensible corner of the globe predicted that destabilizing such a complex country would bring forth mayhem? Many. Even so, it's somehow quite a surprise to the geniuses who claimed to be the grown-ups.

Mutter mutter mutter.

[Briar]

6. Good point

In the British zone, at least, shiite militias were deliberately included in the police force. It wouldn't surprise me if that weren't the case elsewhere as well.

[donkeyotay]

7. "the biggest full-spectrum fuck-up in modern history"

is taking us into uncharted territory. By privatizing America's government and its military, we now have very rich bands of private militias roaming free and bringing democracy. I think there may be a connection between the colonel who was suicided while overseeing the contractor, USIS and the recent revelation of the supposedly Iraqi-run torture facility. Seems that previously there was an article about how special forces were being used. Bush's clusterfuck here is completely off the charts. And yes, they're not making Israel any safer (and most Israeli's wouldn't support) and they're not making American any safer (and with a free press, most American's would not have supported this), but they are making Halliburton and the whole Abramoff wing of K Street governance quite a bit wealthier.

mutter. mutter. mutter.

[Just Me]

5. Um, didn't Bush say we'll "win" as long as the Shiites and Turks,....

,...are on our side? :eyes:

[LeftCoast]

8. Deathsquads, hmm...where have we heard about them before?

Oh, I know...Nicaragua. Let's see. What's the common theme between Iraq and Nicaragua? John Negroponte

[Barrett808]

9. "Infiltrated"? The militias were *invited* to join! n/t