Iraq admits police behind sectarian massacre(had been arrested but now are free)

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

Iraq admits police behind sectarian massacre by Mujahid Mohammed
58 minutes ago



MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq's government admitted on Thursday that policemen were behind the vengeful slaughter of 70 Sunni Arabs in a northern town, heightening concern about its complicity in sectarian killings.

Around 13 policemen have been arrested in connection with Tuesday's killing spree in Tal Afar, a mixed Sunni-Shiite town in northern Iraq that has been devastated by the nation's worst bout of sectarian violence in months

~snip~

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered a full investigation into the shootings and Interior Minister Jawad Bolani confirmed Wednesday that the perpetrators were policemen, of whom an overwhelming majority are Shiites.

"We will take legal action against a group of them after the prime minister ordered an investigation," Bolani, an independent Shiite in Maliki's Shiite-dominated government, told Iraqiya television.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070329/wl_afp/iraq_070329092211

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Iraq official confirms police in reprisal killings

More (Adds governor saying police involved in killings, U.S. envoy)

MOSUL, Iraq, March 29 (Reuters) -Policemen who took part in the reprisal shootings of scores of men in northwest Iraq this week were arrested but then freed again to prevent unrest, the provincial governor said on Thursday.

Hours after truck bombs killed 85 people on Tuesday in a Shi'ite area of Tal Afar, up to 70 Sunni Arab men were shot dead in a town which only a year ago was held up by U.S. President George W. Bush as an example of progress towards peace.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, has ordered an inquiry into reports the gunmen included policemen from his Shi'ite-dominated security forces.

"Yes, there are policemen who are involved," the governor of Nineveh province, Durad Kashmula, told a news conference in the regional capital Mosul.


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29385868.htm

[Altean Wanderer]

1. With police like this, who needs criminals? n/t

[rodeodance]

2. 70 Sunni men shot with bullet to head and 30-40 women wounded

Local doctors and army officers confirmed that 70 Sunni men were shot dead with a bullet in the head. The said another 40 people were missing and a further 30 -- mostly women -- wounded.

[rodeodance]

3. Remember-these are TRAINED by the US!!

[frylock]

11. paging john negroponte..

please pick up the blood-red courtesy phone.

[sabra]

4. k & r

[leftchick]

5. is congress even aware of this shit?

I mean every day is another atrocity and another outrage funded by the USA yet they turn a blind eye to it. It is time to get the troops out. Period.

[DrDan]

6. so these are the folks WE trained and WE armed

hmmmmmm - and junior considers this progress?

[Eugene]

7. So much for the cleaning up the security forces benchmark.

Surge or no surge, things are as bad as they ever were.
Now unformed police are openly running death squads
with impunity.

Baghdad has quieted down a little only because the
fighting has spread all over Iraq.

[Roland99]

8. So *that's* what is meant by "standing up". Oh ok. I gotcha.

:banghead:

[gratuitous]

9. Okay, boys and girls, it's time for a little story

Once upon a time, there was a Very Bad Man who was the dictator of his country. Nobody much liked the Very Bad Man, and there were a variety of reasons. One of the things people held against the Very Bad Man was that he was from a segment of the population that made up about 20% of the total. As such, the Very Bad Man ran the country to the great advantage of the 20% of his compatriots, and against the remaining people of the country, who comprised about 60% and 20% of the population.

Now, the Very Bad Man was in power for many, many years, and the 80% of the population that wasn't well served by the Very Bad Man grew weary of his oppression. Lots of people from all over the world protested the policies of the Very Bad Man, and some people even said that it would be better for everyone concerned if the Very Bad Man was no longer the dictator of the country. People and nations tried all sorts of different approaches to the Very Bad Man, but he clung to power even as most of his country suffered.

Then one day, the leader of the most powerful nation decided to remove the Very Bad Man from power once and for all, and so he did. While a lot of people cheered that the Very Bad Man was no longer the dictator of his country, other people wondered if this was the best way to go about helping the society in the country of the Very Bad Man.

Sure enough, without the Very Bad Man in power anymore, the 80% of the people who had suffered for so long decided to get even with the people who had been rewarded by the Very Bad Man during his long reign as dictator. Now, what do you suppose those 80% would do to the other 20%? Please choose from the list below:

1. Take them off number 1 on their speed dial
2. Quit sending them Christmas cards
3. Inflict on the 20% the same brutality the 80% had suffered for all those years

It's a stumper, but think carefully and the answer is pretty obvious.

[saigon68]

10. lol

[frylock]

12. really, who could've ever predicted something like this could happen?

:eyes:

[Tin Man]

13. ...it was impossible to foresee!

Stories like this immediately bring-to-mind the word "catastrofuck" (props to the Daily Show).