US Training of Death Squads in Iraq? - War Is A Crime .org

SEC. RUMSFELD: I'm not going to comment on hypothetical questions. I've not seenreports that hundreds are being killed by roving death squads at all. We know for a fact that it's aviolent country. We know for a fact that there have been various militias. We know that therehave been some militias that have been Iran-oriented. We also know there's been some militias inthe north that have been very helpful. The Peshmerga have been very constructive in whatthey've done. But I'm not going to get into speculation like that.Q: But, sir, that's not a hypothetical, I don't believe. The Sunnis themselves are charging thathundreds have been assassinated, people shot in the head, found in alleys.SEC. RUMSFELD: What you're talking about are unverified -- to my knowledge, at least --unverified comments. I just don't have any data from the field that I could comment on in aspecific way.While the story only recently made front-page news, it actually first appeared in the press oversix months ago. Investigative journalist Arun Gupta was one of the first to report on the presenceof death squads in Iraq back in April of this year. We interviewed him at the time, he joins usagain in our firehouse studios. Arun is an editor with New York City Independent MediaCenter's newspaper, The Indypendent.* Arun Gupta, investigative journalist who writes frequently for Z Magazine, Left Turn andthe Indypendent newspaper in New York. He is an editor at the Indypendent and a former editorat the Guardian weekly in New York.RUSH TRANSCRIPTThis transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioningfor the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...JUAN GONZALEZ: The President yesterday reiterated that Iraqi troops will eventually takeover from U.S. forces fighting the insurgency.PRESIDENT BUSH: Our goal is to train enough Iraqi forces so they can carry the fight, andthis will take time and patience. And it's worth the time. And it's worth the effort, because Iraqisand Americans share a common enemy. And when that enemy is defeated in Iraq, Americanswill be safer here at home. And as the Iraqi security forces stand up, coalition forces can standdown. And when our mission of defeating the terrorists in Iraq is complete, our troops will returnhome to a proud nation.AMY GOODMAN: President Bush repeatedly linked U.S. withdrawal to improvements in thecapability of the Iraqi forces, but the mainstream media has recently detailed the existence ofdeath squads within the largely Shiite police and special commandos operating through or withthe Iraqi security forces. These militias have abducted, tortured, and executed hundreds, perhapsthousands, of Sunnis. The New York Times reported Tuesday, quote, “Some Sunni males havebeen found dead in ditches and fields with bullet holes in their temples, acid burns on their skin,holes in their bodies, apparently made by electric drills. Many have simply vanished,” the paper107