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

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-02-16-iraq-death-squads_x.htmIraqi cops face abuse probeBy Rick JervisUSA TODAYFebruary 17, 2006BAGHDAD — Iraq's government is taking action to root out renegade police and securityofficials who may be operating death squads and abusing detainees, the U.S. commander incharge of training Iraqi police said.Iraq's government is taking action to root out renegade police and security officials who may beoperating death squads and abusing detainees, the U.S. commander in charge of training Iraqipolice said.The investigations, however, won't slow the pace of training Iraqi police who are being groomedto assume the primary role of providing security in Iraq, Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson said.Iraq's government is "not tolerating" the abuses, Peterson said. "It's occurring, but they're doingsomething about it."Iraq's Shiite-dominated government has been dogged by allegations that its security forces areabusing detainees and running death squads aimed mostly at Sunnis. Sunni Arabs dominated thegovernment for decades in Iraq and now form the backbone of the insurgency."The government is pushing hard toward a civil war," Khalaf al-Ilyan, a leading Sunni politician,told reporters this month after the bodies of 14 Sunni men were found in the back of a truck innorthern Baghdad. Al-Ilyan said the men had been seized at a Sunni mosque by uniformedgunmen.The Interior Ministry said Thursday that it is setting up a committee to investigate the recentarrests of 22 highway patrolmen who were captured last month allegedly on their way to executea prisoner. The men were in the uniforms of police commandos.Eighteen of the men are being held in an Iraqi jail. Four of them, believed to be the ringleaders,were transferred to the U.S. prison at Abu Ghraib, Peterson said.Other developments include:• Iraqi police said Wednesday that they found four bodies in the Shuala district of Baghdad, theirhands cuffed behind their backs and showing signs of torture.• Last week, Interior Minister Bayan Jabr ordered an investigation into human rights abuses atthe ministry, including the discovery of bodies found at the Rustumiya sewage plant in southern120