American-backed killer militias strut across Iraq

[sabra]

Source: UK SundayTimes

<snip>

Members of the Baghdad Brigade receive $300 a man each month from the Americans, who also provide vehicles, uniforms and flak jackets. In return the brigade keeps out Al-Qaeda, dismantles roadside bombs and patrols the area, a task performed with considerable swagger by many of its 4,000 recruits.

...

Officials in the Shi’ite-led government also fear the burgeoning of fresh forces beyond its control. The question being asked in government circles is: have the Americans achieved a short-term gain in security at a cost of long-term pain that may be inflicted by the Sunni militias, which are already threatening to go to war against their Shi’ite counterparts?

...

US-backed Sunni militias have spread eastwards from Anbar across Baghdad. They already number 77,000, known collectively as “concerned local citizens”. This is more than the Shi’ite Mahdi Army and nearly half the number in the Iraqi army.

...

In an Ameriya school last week some of the knights showed that although they may have switched allegiances, they still hold the fundamentalist beliefs that drew them to Al-Qaeda in the first place.

Carrying their weapons, they went from one class to the next, looking for mobile phones with “unIslamic” ringtones. One child with a pop music ringtone was slapped and kicked in the legs as a warning to the others.


Read more: http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2937104.ece

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. "Let Freedom Reign!"

[saigon68]

10. Neat idea from General Betrayus

What an asswipe, wait until his "trained tiger" goes off the rails

[Eugene]

2. Why not? Buying off the militants worked just great in Afghanistan, didn't it?

/sarcasm

[patrice]

3. Many of us knew this was coming. nt

[sabra]

4. "They defeated Al Qaeda because they are Al Qaeda," he said. "They are just wearing new masks."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2310418

<snip>

Convincing them that it is safe to go home to areas where their relatives or neighbors were killed because they belonged to the wrong sect could be difficult.

"Anything could still go wrong," said a Sunni resident of the former Al Qaeda stronghold of Dora, where local insurgents turned against Al Qaeda just in the past month. They lifted the Islamist rules banning smoking and requiring women to wear head scarves, and encouraged shops in the once-shuttered streets to reopen, bringing a semblance of life back to what once was regarded as one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Baghdad.

But the resident didn't want to be named because he is still afraid. He says he recognizes former Al Qaeda members among the Sunnis now working with the Americans, and he has advised his former Shiite and Christian neighbors not to return yet. "They defeated Al Qaeda because they are Al Qaeda," he said. "They are just wearing new masks."

[Dhalgren]

5. Jesus Christ! We are either fools or evil bastards!

And maybe, just maybe, we are both... :grr: :banghead:

[liberal hypnotist]

9. It is all part of the "Master Plan"

I am much more of a cynical pessimist than ever. War is profit for the 1%. Politics keeps the masses occupied. Yes, we are foolish bastards!:scared:

[patrice]

14. "We" need something "we" can call "success" soooooooo badly

that it doesn't matter who has to be paid to get it.

[AlertLurker]

6. "$300 a man each month" - Death at 'bargain basement' prices.

Disgusting.

[rodeodance]

12. and what will happen when US money runs out?

[tularetom]

7. What could possibly go wrong with this idea?

:sarcasm:

[sutz12]

8. IIRC, Saddam was a Sunni....

He may have been a secular Sunni, but he was a Sunni.

[rodeodance]

11. armed militas are OK--They are outside of their army! What a mess!!

[acmavm]

13. Well, we have Blackhawk and other mercs over there running around

killing whomever they want. Maybe the Iraqis think they should have the same privilege since it's their country.

This situation is so out of control it's almost impossible to understand. And that is exactly the way Cheney & Co. want it.