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

http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Images/gupta0505.htmlSpecial Report:Unravelling Iraq’s Secret MilitiasRuthless US Tactics are Propelling Country Toward Civil WarZ MagazineBy A.K. GuptaMay, 2005In the U.S. war against Iraq it appears that the Pentagon may be gaining the upper hand againstthe armed resistance, but it is doing so at the cost of creating the conditions for civil war. Theclearest indicator of a diminished insurgency comes from the number of U.S. casualties, whichhave declined by 75 percent since their peak of 126 combat deaths in November 2004. Part ofthat is probably due to sweeping thousands of Sunni Arab males off the street—Iraqisimprisoned under U.S. control have more than doubled since last October to 10,500.But even more ruthless methods may be having a greater effect on squeezing the insurgency.According to a report by the Wall Street Journal from February 16, numerous “pop-up militias”thousands strong are proliferating in Iraq. Not only are many of these shadowy militias linked toIraqi politicians, but the Pentagon is arming, training, and funding them for use in counterinsurgencyoperations.Most disturbing, one militia in particular—the “Special Police Commandos”—is being usedextensively and has been singled out by a U.S. general for conducting death squad strikes knownas the “Salvador option.” The Police Commandos also appear to be a reconstituted Husseinsecurity force operating under the same revived government body, the General SecurityDirectorate, that was formerly tasked with suppressing internal dissent.At the highest levels, White House officials consider the Police Commandos as the leading forceagainst the insurgency. In hearings before the Senate Appropriations Committee on February 16Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the commandos are among “forces that are going tohave the greatest leverage on suppressing and eliminating the insurgency.”Greg Jaffe, the Journal reporter, identified at least six such militias, one with “several thousandsoldiers” lavishly armed with “rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, mortar tubes and lots ofammunition.” Yet these militias owe their allegiance not to the Iraqi people or government, butto their self-appointed leaders and associated politicians, such as interim Prime Minister IyadAllawi. Even the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Gen. John P. Abizaid, admittedin testimony before Congress on March 1 that such militias are “destabilizing.”Of these militias, at least three are linked to Allawi. Jaffe writes, “First came the MuthanaBrigade, a unit formed by the order of…Allawi.” The second is the Defenders of Khadamiya,referring to a Shiite shrine on the outskirts of Baghdad, which appears to be “closely aligned20