Murderers Advising Murderers

American commanders are planning to increase significantly the number of soldiers advising Iraqi police commando units, in part to curtail abuse that the units are suspected of inflicting on Sunni Arabs, a senior commander in Iraq said Thursday.

… The increase is seen as a way to exert firmer control over the commando units, which are suspected of carrying out widespread atrocities against civilians in Sunni Arab neighborhoods. Human rights groups here say the units may be guilty of murdering and torturing hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Sunni Arab men of military age.

… Indeed, the allegations of atrocities arose only after Americans began to give the Iraqi units more freedom to act on their own [after extensive US training].

… A similar plan is already in place with the Iraqi Army, whose soldiers have a reputation among Iraqis as being more humane than the commandos.

… A police commando unit was thought to be responsible for running the secret underground prison raided by Americans in November. Nearly 170 Iraqis were found inside, some bearing signs of torture.

… American commanders here say that such practices, while abhorrent in their own right, tend to provoke consequences almost precisely the opposite of what is desired.

…"You are making new enemies here," the American commander said. "You've got to be more moderate. You must follow the rule of law."

Dexter Filkins, “G.I.’s to Increase U.S. Supervision of Iraqi Police,” New York Times, 12/30/05.

The illegal US invasion of Iraq and torture of its people has produced a similar reaction in the population resisting US aggression, people who have “attacked an average of 28 times a day,” killing “as many as 18 soldiers a month….” Fortunately, “the number of suicide and car bombings has fallen sharply, from about 20 a week in April and May, to about 6 now.”