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

Ba'athists and Saddam loyalists will be expected to hunt down their colleagues currentlyorganizing the insurgency."Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who heads the mammoth U.S. effort to create Iraq's myriad securityforces, called the commandos "a horse to back." And Petraeus has done so by providing it with"money to fix up its base and buy vehicles, ammunition, radios and more weapons."The special police commandos have also received special treatment from the U.S. occupation. AState Department report to Congress from Jan. 5 noted that at the request of the Iraqi Ministry ofthe Interior, "billeting space" was provided for 1,500 commandos in the Baghdad Public SafetyAcademy.Bigger than the BritishIn terms of numbers, a column by David Ignatius in the Feb. 25 Washington Post notes thatThavit "commands a force of about 10,000 men," which would make them larger than the Britishmilitary. The commandos have been used extensively, first last October in the assault on Samarathat was called a "model" for how to retake a city from insurgents (but which is stilled roiled byregular attacks). The commandos have also become a fixture in major cities such as Ramadi andMosul. In Ramadi, The Stars and Stripes describes the commandos as "the Iraqi forces that mightsoon be responsible for security in the city."A report in Dec. 25 issue of The Advisor - a Pentagon publication with the tagline "Iraq'sOfficial Weekly Command Information Reporter" - stated that the "Special Police Commandoshave been deployed all over Iraq to hunt down insurgents."This "hunt" seems to include death squad operations. Retired Gen. Wayne Downing, the formerhead of all U.S. special operations forces, appeared on NBC's Today show on Jan. 10 to discuss aNewsweek report about the Salvador option. The reference is to the extensive use of deathsquads by El Salvador's military during its war against the left in the 1980s. Downing called it a"very valid tactic" that has been employed "since we started the war back in March of 2003."Downing added, "We have special police commandos now of the Iraqi forces which conductthese kind of strike operations."At the highest levels, White House officials consider the special police commandos as theleading edge against the insurgency. In hearings before the Senate on Feb. 16, Secretary ofDefense Donald Rumsfeld said the commandos are among "forces that are going to have thegreatest leverage on suppressing and eliminating the insurgency."By all accounts, the insurgency is still very active, conducting up to 60 strikes a day. But one keyindicator of its effectiveness - U.S. combat deaths - shows a marked decline since the razing ofFallujah last November. In that month, some 126 U.S. troops died in combat, more than four perday on average. By March, combat deaths had declined by more than 75 percent.Sweeping countless thousands of Sunni Arab males off the streets has had an effect. The prisonpopulation under U.S. control alone has exploded to over 10,000. The insurgents have responded74