Death Squads and Manipulated US Forces in Iraq?

     My,My,My!

    This report has some interesting things to say about some of the happenings in Iraq, such as

“Dirty squad” rumors

There are many unconfirmed rumors of “dirty squads,” composed of Americans and Iraqis who conduct assassinations across the city.

Some attribute these alleged death squads to the activity of private security firms using mercenaries.

Other Baghdadis report rumors of a squad run by American officials directly, that sends a mix of Iraqis and Americans in their hits. One Iraqi described these as rumors of the Americans operating in “the Israeli style,” in a way similar to Israel’s use of Palestinian mercenaries and informants to carry out assassinations of other Palestinians.

Another rumor holds that the alleged “dirty squads” are units of a shadowy Iraqi corps called Brigade 36, led by a Kurdish officer named Fadhil Jamil Burwari.

     and this

US forces manipulated?

Death squad rumors are circulating at high levels as well. In Hayy al-`Adil, an Iraqi MP apparently manipulated US forces into intervening in an Iraqi government raid on his offices by claiming that the Iraqi troops storming his facilities were a death squad.

Iraqi army forces surrounded and entered the offices of `Abd al-Nasir al-Jannabi, a Sunni religious shaykh and member of parliament, finding a cache of weapons. Jannabi called the US Army by telephone, claiming that the Iraqi troops raiding his office were death squads. According to Baghdad sources, US troops intervened on the scene, even forcing the Iraqi units to return confiscated weapons.

PM Maliki and MP Jannabi harbor longstanding animosity. In recent parliamentary remarks, Jannabi attacked Maliki heavily, to which Maliki replied to Jannabi by alleging that the government has a file proving Jannabi’s involvement in kidnappings, saying that an investigation was ongoing. The involvement of US forces in the dispute between them reflects just how dependent the US is on local tips for intelligence, which often allows locals to manipulate US military power to their own ends.

 

Technorati tags: Iraq, Death Squads, US Military, Mercanaries