I really hope this comes to something. But I'm not optimistic. According to Aswat al-Iraq [Arabic] during Caldwell's weekly press conference to today he announced that the Iraqi Ministry of Interior has decided to investigate the possible involvement of the 8th Brigade 2nd National Police with the death squads. "the decision to open the investigation came in response to a joint assessment by General Peterson responsible for the training of brigades with Iraqi leaders and found that the training of the battalion is inadequate and will be transferred to outside Baghdad, as well as investigating the possible involvement or participation in the operations carried out by death squads. " I'm getting this error message when I try to connect to the briefing: Multi-National Force - Iraq | This site is temporarily unavailable.
Please bear with us while we work on the problem.2 |
Feh - tables, this AP story from Yahoo News has a bit more. If, and it's a very big "if," there actually is going to be a serious effort to get to grips with the death squads that are running rife through the green zone government's forces. Then that is unambiguously good news. I'm going to keep an eye on this one and suggest you do likewise. I'm not optimistic, not on the basis of past performance, nevertheless it's worth keeping an eye on.
markfromireland Update: Well well well ... who'd a thunked it - from Al Zaman [English]* this one was well and truly signalled as being in the works. More than 7,000 security personnel sacked for 'corruption' By Ali Al-Mawsawi Azzaman, September 27, 2006 More than 7,000 security personnel sacked for 'corruption' By Ali Al-Mawsawi Azzaman, September 27, 2006 The Ministry of Interior has fired more than 7,000 of its employees for involvement in 'corruptin.' It is the largest purge in the ministry following accusations that Iraq's newly formed security forces are more corruptive than counterparts under former leader Saddam Hussein. The purge comes in the aftermath of U.N. reports accusing the ministry's organs and forces of massive human rights violations. [snip] Some of the ministry's forces have been blamed for large-scale atrocities reported in Sunni-dominated areas. [snip] Hashem did not say whether the purge covered elements in the ministry who were reportedly involved in human rights violations and violence against the Sunnis. But he said the purge included high-ranking officers some of them carrying the rank of lieutenant-general.
Emphasis added. They saved the kicker for the last paragraph: Despite the seriousness of the allegation on the basis of which the sackings were made, it is apparent that none of them would face prosecution.
Yeah .... right. Sigh .............. Oh well .......... It was too good to be true. Fuck. mfi *Note to self: Check their English pages more often. | 
