More evidence that we've taken the Salvador route and fresh torture allegations from Sunni Iraqis complicate the mission in Iraq and continue to provide evidence of America's shrinking moral relevancy.
Here's the latest report on
Iraqi Death Squads:
The commandos are part of the Iraqi security forces that the Bush administration says will gradually replace American troops in this war. But the commandos are being blamed for a wave of kidnappings and executions around Baghdad since the spring.
They and other new police detachments also have been routinely abusing and torturing detainees in ways reminiscent of the notoriously brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, according to Iraqi government officials, human rights groups and victims of the abuse.
As John Robb explained in an editorial in the NY Times, this is not at all hopeful.
In fact, it appears the American military is embracing it. In recent campaigns in Sunni areas, hastily uniformed peshmerga and Badr militia supplemented American troops; and in Basra, Shiite militias are the de facto military power.
If an open-source counterinsurgency is the only strategic option left, it is a depressing one. The militias will probably create a situation of controlled chaos that will allow the administration to claim victory and exit the country. They will, however, exact a horrible toll on Iraq and may persist for decades. This is a far cry from spreading democracy in the Middle East. Advocates of refashioning the American military for top-down nation-building, the current flavor of the month, should recognize it as a fatal test of the concept.
Democrats need to be on the ball here. The goal of the death squads is to spread enough fear and panic that the main urban areas resemble modern-day Colombia. Outside of these zones will be civil war. If the goal is to make Iraq a democracy, then by embracing this option, we've failed.
As for fresh torture allegations, it appears the main Sunni political party is asking for an international inquiry into abuse and illegal detentions in secret Baghdad prisons.
Heikal of the Iraqi Islamic Party said it was now clear that majority Shiites in the U.S.-backed government were trying to suppress minority Sunnis ahead of the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.
"Our information indicates that this is not the only place where torture is taking place," he said, reading an official party statement. The party "calls on the United Nations, the Arab League and humanitarian bodies to denounce these clear human rights violations, and we demand a fair, international probe so that all those who are involved in such practices will get their just punishment."
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari confirmed Tuesday that more than 173 Interior Ministry prisoners were found malnourished and possibly tortured by government security forces at a Baghdad lockup.
Again, cuts right to the heart of Bush's claims of democracy. They were torturing and detaining in order to keep them from voting (I'm sure African-American southerners can empathize). We have a long road ahead. But we need to keep fighting this. More on the torture of Sunnis here.