US to Form Iraqi Paramilitary Force

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&e=2&u=/washpost/20031203/ts_washpost/a29753_2003dec2

<snip>
The five parties will contribute a total of 750 to 850 militiamen to create a new counterterrorism battalion within the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps that would initially operate in and around Baghdad, the officials said. They said U.S. Special Forces soldiers would work with the battalion, whose operations would be overseen by the American-led military command here.

The party leaders regard the formation of the paramilitary force, which had initially been resisted by the occupation authority, as an acknowledgement that the Bush administration's strategy of relying on Iraqi police officers and civil defense forces has been insufficient to restore security. The leaders contend Iraq's municipal police departments and civil defense squads are too ineffective to combat resistance fighters.

Although the new battalion is significantly weaker than the force the party leaders had hoped to create, the unit would nevertheless give the five political organizations an unrivaled role in the country's internal security. That advantage has riled some independent members of Iraq's Governing Council, who fear that it could be used after the U.S. occupation ends to suppress political dissent or target enemies.

"This is a very big blunder," said Ghazi Yawar, an independent council member. "We should be dissolving militias, not finding ways to legitimize them. This sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people."

[Randi_Listener]

1. Another target for the PNAC

ala the Taliban and OBL and Saddam

[louis-t]

5. As the photo above clearly shows...

He's steppin' in doody agin.

[maxsolomon]

2. the wrong choice every time

i'm starting to expect nothing less from americans; government, military, or joe public.

the paramilitary road is one we've been down many times & in many countries before, not that the american public remembers or cares.
they don't want to know the unpleasant facts.

[grytpype]

4. There are no good choices now.

The only good choice was not to invade Iraq, and thanks to Bushie, Cheney, Rummy, Condi, Wolfie, Perley, and Scooter, it's way to late for that.

Yet they still have their jobs and are looking forward to four more years of power.

Too many Americans are too stupid to be trusted with self-government.

[Kitsune]

3. Ohhhhhhhh god

Just when I think we couldn't screw this up any more, B*sh has to pull out all the stops and amaze me once more.

[Tempest]

6. "Paramilitary force" a code phrase for right-wing death squads

You have to feel sorry for all the innocent Iraqis who will be murdered by their own people who are willing to sell out their country for 30 pieces of silver.

[mobuto]

7. Not really

France and Italy both have large paramilitary forces (the Italians who were recently blown up in Iraq were from the paramilitary Carabinieri), and I don't think its fair to accuse them of being death squads.

Could these Iraqi paramilitary guys become death squads? Sure, anything is possible. But Iraq needs to return to self-government, and it cannot do so without security. And it cannot provide security if it doesn't have an army.

[Kitsune]

8. "Could these Iraqi paramilitary guys become death squads?"

Do you trust B*sh with anything more dangerous than string cheese?

[mobuto]

9. No I don't

That's why its a good thing whenever the Iraqis take more control over their own affairs, as they appear to be doing here.

[Tempest]

10. Iraqis taking more control?

The "paramilitary force" is being funded and trained by the U.S.

How is that taking more control?

The last "paramilitary force" funded and trained by the U.S. were indicted and convicted of gross human rights violations.

[tom_paine]

12. So will this one...

I'm sure the Busheviks are digging up the notes on Iran's SAVAK.

[Barrett808]

11. But under the Bush family, "paramilitary" does mean "death squad"

Historically, esp. in Latin America. I have suspected for awhile now that the Bush mob solution to Iraq will be the installation of another strong man. It's all they know how to do.

[Tempest]

14. They tried it when they installed Chabali

But he turned out to be less popular than Saddam.

[Say_What]

17. The US record in Central and South America re DEATH SQUADS

Colombia and El Salvador are perfect examples.

<clips>
U.S. Military Aid and Oil Interests in Colombia

...Occidental’s Vice President for Public Affairs has made it clear that drug trafficking and attacks by guerrilla forces have disrupted the company’s normal operations. But according to the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), Occidental has also fueled the violence by employing drug-funded paramilitary groups to forcibly remove Colombia’s indigenous populations from potentially oil-rich lands. Paramilitary forces, which benefit from the drug trade and commit 70 percent of the human rights violations, have been utilized to combat the guerrillas who want the oil production in Colombia to be nationalized.

Occidental lobbying in Washington, D.C.
Between 1996 and 2000, Occidental spent more than $8.6 million (U.S.) lobbying the U.S. government for military aid to Colombia and aid to protect the Caño-Limón pipeline. Recently, the Bush administration allotted $98 million to protect the pipeline.

The real costs of pipeline protection
According to a report from Witness for Peace, the potential outcomes of the Bush administration’s proposal to spend $98 million on protecting the pipeline are alarming:

http://www.afsc.org/latinamerica/peace/military-aid-oil.htm


U.S. Policy in El Salvador 1970-2000

The new Republican administration soon declared El Salvador a principal battleground in its war against what it described as expansionist Communism. Ronald Reagan in a speech to the National Association of Manufacturers sketched his views on the strategic importance of El Salvador and Central America. "Central America", he said, "is simply too close, and the strategic stakes are too high, for us to ignore the danger of governments seizing power there with ideological and military ties to the Soviet Union. ... Soviet military theorists want to destroy our capacity to resupply Western Europe in case of an emergency. They want to tie down our attention and forces on our own southern border ..."

Reagan released massive amounts of military aid to El Salvador, helped create the Contras, an anti-Sandinista guerrilla front, and built up the Honduran army as a firewall against the further spread of revolution in the region. Guatemala's genocidal army was given covert support in its war against its indigenous population and secret military bases were set up in pacific Costa Rica to support the war effort against Nicaragua.

Harvard Professor John Coatsworth in his study of U.S. policies in Central America wrote that: "No U.S. government has ever devoted as much of its own political capital and the nation's resources to Central America as did the Reagan administration... . None had such profoundly traumatic effects on the region. None left office with such little control over events in the region."

http://www.icomm.ca/carecen/page75.html

[Say_What]

13. Who will hand pick the DEATH SQADS??

What happened in Central America is now happening in Colombia and will shortly happen in Iraq as well. Heaven help the Iraqi population. I have not doubted that this sh*t has been going on in Iraq, they're just making it public. All because of OIL. I feel sick... :puke:

Colombia background

[Tempest]

15. It's also happening in the Philippines

The U.S. is funding and training paramilitary squads in the Philippines.

[Say_What]

18. Try to post some information about this--it is important that

people know what Uncle Sam is doing and what the press refuses to print.

[Tempest]

21. Google search result for articles

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Philippines+paramilitary+US&btnG=Google+Search

[MrPrax]

16. So, if not death squad's, warlords?

The inclusion of Chambla's phoney Iraqi Congress is ridiculous. I understand where the loyalities of the other groups lie, but ex-pats whose who role is behooven to continued American support?

He has the ear of the administration which will ensure it's 'portion' of the SAVAK like org will prevail.

Bush won't figure out that the 'Sham' is the 'Shah' and IS part of the problem.

Sounds like a precursor structure to partitioning the country...

[JawJaw]

19. Hey Freshers!

The School Of The Americas Welcomes You....

[Cocoa]

20. the "Fedayeen Bremer"

I predict blowback. 10 years is my guess, we're going to be going to war against the F.B.

[Say_What]

22. Bush's Dirty Wars --Iraq's future

What's happening now in Colombia will happen in Iraq not for *democracy* but for OIL. With Uncle Sam, history repeats itself over the decades--the pattern is easily recognized.

<clips>

...The army works alongside Colombia's ultra-right paramilitaries, who are responsible for the assassination of thousands of trades union and peasant leaders and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. As one of Colombia's official human rights ombudsmen has noted: "The paramilitary phenomenon... is the spearhead of Plan Colombia: to create territorial control and to control the civilian population. This is a terror tactic." The US, with the help of the Colombian government, is waging yet another dirty war in Latin America.

...When their livelihood has been destroyed, the peasant farmers and indigenous people have no means of survival but to flee further into the jungle and start growing drugs. Since the aerial spraying program began, the area devoted to drugs cultivation in Colombia has tripled.

...But Plan Colombia is not a war against drugs: it is a war against people. Its ultimate purpose, as several international observers have pointed out, is to eliminate both leftwing guerrillas and grassroots democratic movements, in order to facilitate the seizure of the country's most valuable land. The US envisages a new inter-oceanic canal through the north of the country, to bypass the congested Panama canal. Its companies have identified billions of dollars' worth of oil and mineral deposits. So, for the past five months, soldiers and paramilitaries have been murdering community leaders and expelling local people. The places identified for economic development by Plan Colombia are the places now being savaged by the paramilitaries.

http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=664