Death squads roam Baghdad - Why our soldiers can't see them [View All]

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1883854,00.html

US: Iraq failing to tackle death squads

Peter Beaumont in Baghdad
Friday September 29, 2006
The Guardian


<snip>The lack of progress on disarming the militia death squads has been a source of growing tension between the US military and the Iraqi government. That frustration has focused in particular on an agreement between Mr Maliki's government and Jaish al-Mahdi, the militia of the Shia Sadr organisation, whose members are blamed for widespread sectarian murders.

Under the understanding, US forces have been instructed not to conduct aggressive military operations in Sadr City, Jaish al-Mahdi's stronghold, leading to accusations that a safe haven has been created for death squads.

Anecdotal evidence has emerged that within Sadr City, clerics and secretive sharia committees have been involved in "legitimising" the killings of Sunnis suspected of being involved in anti-Shia terror. It is said they are at times presiding over kangaroo courts before executions.

According to US officers interviewed by the Guardian, the decision not to confront the major source of the death squads was supported initially by the US because of fears of a full-scale battle with the militia in Sadr City.