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Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

Government Accused of Death Squads in Iraq
(Sinan Salaheddin, The Associated Press, 07 October 2005)
The 22 bodies, lined up in coffins in a mosque courtyard Friday, are as shriveled as ancient mummies after lying a month in the desert where they were dumped, bound and bullet-ridden. They were Sunni Arabs, rounded up from their Baghdad homes one night by men in police uniforms. . . . Relatives and neighbors in mourning are convinced they were killed by government-linked Shiite death squads they say are behind corpses that turn up nearly every day in and around the capital - two more on Friday. Now some Sunnis are vowing to take action to protect themselves. . . . At least 539 bodies have been found since Iraq's interim government was formed April 28 - 2004 in Baghdad - according to an Associated Press count. . . . The count may be low since one or two bodies are found almost daily and are never reported. . . . Both minority-Sunnis and Shiites accuse one another of using death squads - and the accusations are deepening the Sunni-Shiite divide at a time when mistrust is already high over a new constitution that Iraqis will vote on in eight days. Shiites overwhelmingly support the charter, Sunnis oppose it, saying it will fragment Iraq. . . . Shiite deaths are generally attributed to Sunni insurgents, who hit Shiite sites with suicide attacks, bombings and shootings, but also carry out targeted slayings, leaving groups of Shiite bodies to be found later. Insurgents have disguised themselves as police - most recently in an attack last week south of Baghdad in which they dragged five Shiite teachers and their driver into a school and shot them to death. . . . But there have been several cases of Sunni Arabs who turn up dead in large groups after being taken by men claiming to be Interior Ministry forces. The largest group of bodies found outside Baghdad was 36 Sunnis discovered Aug. 25 in a dry riverbed near Badrah, close to the Iranian border, after being kidnapped in Baghdad. . . . The grisly finds have led Sunnis to believe that Shiite Muslims who dominate the government and the Interior Ministry are waging a quiet, deadly campaign against them. . . . Maj. Gen. Adnan Thabit, the commander of the Interior Ministry's special forces - including the special counterterrorism Wolf Brigade - denied any government role in any slayings. He said insurgents were donning police uniforms and carrying out the killings to enflame divisions. . . . "The ministry is studying new measures to control the work of the shops which deal with military and police uniforms in Baghdad" to ensure they don't fall into insurgents' hands, he told AP. He also said ministry forces would take local clerics or respected figures with them when they carry out raids in sensitive areas. . . . But the idea of self-defense among Sunnis appears to be catching on. After the killings of Dawood's relatives, Sheik Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie - head of the Sunni Endowment, the government agency in charge of the upkeep of Sunni mosques and shrines - called for forming local forces in Baghdad's neighborhoods to defend them against suspicious interlopers. . . . That raises the prospect of yet another semi-organized armed force in Iraq's patchwork of gunmen - one that could easily turn from self-defense to revenge. . . . "We swear we will retaliate for the killing of my brother and my cousins," said Saadon al-Azawi, whose brother was among those killed in Hurriyah.

posted by LoZo 5:16 PM