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

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http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2005/050110-iraqi-squads.htmU.S. denies creating Iraqi 'death squads'In-Depth CoverageBy Pamela HessUPIJanuary 10, 2005A Pentagon spokesman Monday denied reports the U.S. military is training "death squads" totarget insurgents in Iraq.Newsweek magazine reported Saturday on the effort in its latest issue."The U.S. military does not take part in or train other forces to undertake illegal actions,assassinations or torture. All training and advising our Special Operations forces conduct withIraqi security forces is done in full compliance with the laws of war," said a Pentagonspokesman."The leadership of the insurgency in Iraq is a legitimate military target. U.S., Coalition and Iraqisecurity forces will continue to capture or kill the command-and-control elements of theinsurgency as a legitimate military tactic. Since 9-11, the U.S. government has made clear a goalto capture or kill those guilty of terrorist acts and we will continue to do so, governed by the lawsof war."The U.S. military's plan for Iraqi security from the start has been to create an Iraqi security forceto police the country. The experience of the last 18 months has shown it to be imperative: Thevery presence of occupation forces inflames the insurgency and public opinion. The only viableway of stopping the insurgent forces is to have Iraqi-trained forces target them, a senior U.S.military official said.Human rights organizations were quick to denounce such plans. "Experience from countries suchas Colombia, Sudan and Russia in Chechnya shows that 'death squads' and paramilitary groupscreated to combat insurgencies take on a life of their own and are often difficult to rein in,"Human Rights Watch said in the statement Monday. "Once established, it is difficult to preventthem from killing whomever they want for whatever reasons they want, opening up thepossibility that civilians will be targeted because of personal or political vendettas in violation ofthe Geneva Conventions."The statement quoted Kenneth Roth, executive director, as saying, "If this plan is real, thePentagon will rue the day it dreamed it up. They are creating a monster that could someday killthe very Iraqi democracy they say they want to build."62
The organization said U.S. and Iraqi forces have been legally arresting insurgent leaders orkilling them when they fight back. However, they noted, "deliberately targeting civilians orexecuting combatants in custody would be a war crime."One of the primary lessons U.S. forces have learned in Iraq, particularly over the last six months,is that non-local Iraqi forces are often best able to target insurgents embedded in certain areas,because they are not compromised by tribal alliances or by fear for their families' safety.Bringing Iraqi forces from one area to operate in another has paid dividends, particularly alongthe Syrian border where some of the worst violence is seen, and where smugglers and fighters --Iraqi and foreign -- cross the border.One unit of Iraq's former Special Forces, organized under an Iraqi general who offered hisservices to the 1st Marine Division, has been especially effective in lawless Husayba, accordingto a senior military official.The Newsweek report says trained Shiite and Kurdish soldiers would be used against the rebels.A senior military official said Sunni soldiers, including those in the 600-man Special Forces unit,would also be used.The officials bristled at the term "death squads," which suggests the Iraqi forces will be sentagainst innocent targets in a scorched-earth policy to rout the rebels, the senior officialcomplained. That is not the intention, he said.Another official said the new forces would be akin to the United States' secret Delta Force, ateam of Special Forces soldiers especially trained for counter-terror operations.Delta Force was created in October 1977 in direct response to worldwide terrorist incidents. Itspecializes in hostage rescue, barricade operations and reconnaissance, according toGlobalSecurity.org.Newsweek noted the presence of now Iraqi Ambassador John Negroponte who served inHonduras in the 1980s. Death squads with connections to the United States governmentoperating in Nicaragua and El Salvador sometimes used Honduras as a home base.63
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guard was called upon. Now people l
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Page 13 and 14: more skilled than American troops I
Page 15 and 16: ‘‘I think it was all an act to
Page 17 and 18: Ministry of Interior Security Force
Page 19 and 20: ‘‘For some, there’s definitel
Page 21 and 22: with prominent Shiite cleric Hussei
Page 23 and 24: The Police Commandos’ penchant fo
Page 25 and 26: effective at responding to the atta
Page 27 and 28: http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Nov2005/da
Page 29 and 30: In another twist, the bodies of 8 m
Page 31 and 32: Subject: [oneheartpeacework] Traine
Page 33 and 34: 3. Maass, Peter, "The Way of the Co
Page 35 and 36: We now have Judith Miller’s New Y
Page 37 and 38: arrangements with the CEO of the Ir
Page 39 and 40: November 6, 2003, was designated fo
Page 41 and 42: March 9, 2006 -- Los Angeles Times
Page 43 and 44: http://www.newyorker.com/printables
Page 45 and 46: The former official says that the B
Page 47 and 48: officials in Colombia. The book “
Page 49 and 50: The majority of the Bush Administra
Page 51 and 52: Part Three:200451
Page 53 and 54: military base on Honduran territory
Page 55 and 56: Not everyone in Chile is opposed to
Page 57 and 58: Secret US Gulfstream jets and Swedi
Page 59 and 60: If ever possible…FOOTNOTES:Seymou
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Page 65 and 66: For starters, what’s been written
Page 67 and 68: http://www.counterpunch.org/hersh01
Page 69 and 70: Fallujah I called him at home. I'm
Page 71 and 72: these people worked as night clerks
Page 73 and 74: http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/d
Page 75 and 76: y shifting their targets, concentra
Page 77 and 78: * Arun Gupta, former editor of The
Page 79 and 80: From Iran-Contra To IraqThe NationB
Page 81 and 82: his actions this time around become
Page 83 and 84: might have been imagined.According
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Page 87 and 88: in/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/arch
Page 89 and 90: However, the analogy is misleading
Page 91 and 92: http://nytimes.com/cfr/internationa
Page 93 and 94: which have raised sectarian tension
Page 95 and 96: http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstr
Page 97 and 98: A grocer in west Baghdad told Salih
Page 99 and 100: use of their experience in mass rep
Page 101 and 102: Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Iraqi
Page 103 and 104: http://www.informationclearinghouse
Page 105 and 106: The slaughter and destruction in we
Page 107 and 108: SEC. RUMSFELD: I'm not going to com
Page 109 and 110: insurgency. The Iraqi forces, the m
Page 111 and 112: Part Five:2006111
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They told soldiers they were taking
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http://www.countercurrents.org/iraq
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One photo showed what appeared to b
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Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, who announ
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Baghdad, the 14 Sunnis seized from
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"You've got the facilities protecti
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Peterson, the U.S. officer in charg
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homes or mosques by men in uniform
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moniker that sounds about as unauth
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there is a general consensus that t
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the government officials, media lac
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experience with Saddam's government
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http://www.globalecho.org/view_arti
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working within the country's interi
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Mr. Karim was originally sentenced
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Close to one million Iraqis, most o
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Neither Republicans nor Democrats s
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Democratic position and that of the
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This year's Democratic primaries an
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http://www.informationclearinghouse
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Of Hariri's assassination, Syrian o
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Sourcewatch information on Aegis:
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RAMOPS RISK MANAGEMENT GROUP (compr
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Section 2: Organization of the FPS1
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The UK was criticized for starting
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http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/
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FPS, proposing to give its members
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http://www.greenleft.org.au/2006/68
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personnel and CIA operators and con
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Although Bush hasn't specifically s
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massive military aid to the Salvado
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The convoy was traveling in the Cam
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/articl
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http://news.independent.co.uk/world
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The Mehdi Army does not always have
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clarification of what happened in S
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http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Bri
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"What our police found in their car
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3. the international cadre of war f
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If you thought the U.S. wouldn't bl
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Regrettably, that is prospect that
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The initial demand from the puppet
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www.prisonplanet.com/articles/septe
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FLASHBACK: Sick strategies for sens
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into the river. That thought alone
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Zarqawi is actually a real person o
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Examples “were found during the M
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Witnesses said about 150 Iraqi pris
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A British military source has said
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Meanwhile, frantic negotiations con
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The British troops believed the two
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Naturally, the sleazy Laurence-emul
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eing arrested by the Iraqi police o
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When viewed in the context of all t
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throw rose petals at the invaders,
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enders’ in the Sunni Community. S
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thus making people believe that cas
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