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

Baghdad, the 14 Sunnis seized from their mosque and later killed and the abduction of the mayorof Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, Peterson said."We continue to believe there are more of these out there," Peterson said of death squads. "Andthe minister's focused on trying to capture them."Stamping out abuses will be a top priority for the next government, said Basam Ridha, an aide toPrime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari."We've learned from the process and are taking extra measures," Ridha said.Al-Jaafari was elected by the ruling Shiite coalition to serve another term as prime minister.Negotiations are underway to form a government following December elections.The U.S. military said it is also working to address the issue of abuses.Iraqi police cadets going through the required 10-week training course receive 32 hours ofhuman rights and rule-of-law training, Peterson said."Our perspective is we're trying to institute the rule of law," Peterson said during a recentinterview. "We're training a culture here."The U.S. military will finish training the target number of 200,000 policemen and InteriorMinistry officials by the end of the year, Peterson said. About 84,000 are trained now.The U.S. military also plans to add an extra 2,000 American military advisers to the 1,500currently supervising and assessing Iraq's police force.121