Before the War, CIA Reportedly Trained a Team of Iraqis to Aid U.S. -WP

[Rose Siding]

By Dana Priest and Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 3, 2005; Page A12

Before the war in Iraq began, the CIA recruited and trained an Iraqi paramilitary group, code-named the Scorpions, to foment rebellion, conduct sabotage, and help CIA paramilitaries who entered Baghdad and other cities target buildings and individuals, according to three current and former intelligence officials with knowledge of the unit.

The CIA spent millions of dollars on the Scorpions, whose existence has not been previously disclosed, even giving them former Soviet Hind helicopters. But most of the unit's prewar missions -- spray-painting graffiti on walls; cutting electricity; "sowing confusion," as one said -- were delayed or canceled because of poor training or planning, said officials briefed on the unit. The speed of the invasion negated the need for most of their missions, others said.

After Baghdad fell, the CIA used the Scorpions to try to infiltrate the insurgency, to help out in interrogations, and, from time to time, to do "the dirty work," as one intelligence official put it.

In one case, members of the unit, wearing masks and carrying clubs and pipes, beat up an Iraqi general in the presence of CIA and military personnel, according to investigative documents reviewed by The Washington Post and according to several defense and intelligence officials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201579.html

[wildwww2]

1. The CIA is so screwed up. They cannot even keep the jerk whom

they helped steal the 2000 election from outing one of their undercover covert agents. And I`m supposed to believe they are capable of training Iraqi`s properly to help Bu$h Inc. with their war crime? They are so messed up. It`s a good thing they work for a moron like Bu$h. Dense minds think alike.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[Miss Chybil]

2. More money wasted on Iraq...

Millions to train them to paint grafitti and get the electricity turned off. They could have spent a few weeks in a couple of American cities and learned those things for free.

[Rose Siding]

3. OMG-They were in on the INTERROGATIONS

and someone's already trying to establish plausible deniability. Could this tie in with the latest torture stories?

snip>
CIA control over the unit became weaker as chaos grew in Iraq. "Even though they were set up by us, they weren't well supervised," said an intelligence official.

"At some point, and it's not really clear how this happened, they started being used in interrogations . . . because they spoke the local dialect" and were caught roughing up detainees, Curtis E. Ryan, an Army investigator, told a military court in Colorado where four soldiers are charged in connection with the death of Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush in 2003.

[Rose Siding]

4. ties with companion article- Documents Tell of Brutal Improvisation by GIs

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201941.html

[bribri16]

5. And you don't know how many bombings and killings of innocents

were carried out by these thugs and blamed on the insurgents. like the UN headquarters bombing and schools for example. This is our CIA MO as history tells us.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. Good job

:eyes:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. Who want's to be that the Scorpions ARE the

insurgency now?

[StrafingMoose]

12. I'd bet on this anytime

[DeepModem Mom]

8. WP: Before the War, CIA Reportedly Trained Team of Iraqis to Aid US (new!)

Before the War, CIA Reportedly Trained a Team of Iraqis to Aid U.S.
By Dana Priest and Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 3, 2005; Page A12


Before the war in Iraq began, the CIA recruited and trained an Iraqi paramilitary group, code-named the Scorpions, to foment rebellion, conduct sabotage, and help CIA paramilitaries who entered Baghdad and other cities target buildings and individuals, according to three current and former intelligence officials with knowledge of the unit.

The CIA spent millions of dollars on the Scorpions, whose existence has not been previously disclosed, even giving them former Soviet Hind helicopters. But most of the unit's prewar missions -- spray-painting graffiti on walls; cutting electricity; "sowing confusion," as one said -- were delayed or canceled because of poor training or planning, said officials briefed on the unit. The speed of the invasion negated the need for most of their missions, others said.

After Baghdad fell, the CIA used the Scorpions to try to infiltrate the insurgency, to help out in interrogations, and, from time to time, to do "the dirty work," as one intelligence official put it.

In one case, members of the unit, wearing masks and carrying clubs and pipes, beat up an Iraqi general in the presence of CIA and military personnel, according to investigative documents reviewed by The Washington Post and according to several defense and intelligence officials.

Post inquiries about the case prompted the CIA to brief the House and Senate intelligence committees on the unit, said several members of Congress and two defense officials....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201579.html?sub=AR

[90-percent]

9. Gee

Could this be the first time in history that a covert CIA operation unintentionally caused some "blowback"?

-85%

[tibbiit]

10. maybe they killed

nick berg
tib

[StrafingMoose]

11. Incredible...

I predict that in 6 months, if you look juuuust enough in the MSM, you'll see that the CIA ___is___ those terrorists who blow up "suicide cars" and do the "dirty job" of the "dirty insurgency".

[htuttle]

13. '...and from time to time, to do "the dirty work," '

A euphemism for death squads and other illegal activity.

How fortunate they wrapped it up in a nice, TV-friendly term -- "the dirty work".

[Supersedeas]

14. ah, dirty work....the pretty face of Rovian democracy

[Up2Late]

15. MEOnline: CIA trained Scorpion to create pre-war Iraq unrest

(Here's a report on this article, which is mostly going unreported today, from an Arabic language Newspaper. Could these also be the "Freedom Loving Iraqis" who started most of the looting and violence?)


First Published 2005-08-03, Last Updated 2005-08-03 11:30:39

CIA trained Scorpion to create pre-war Iraq unrest

Washington Post reports CIA created Iraqi paramilitaries to foment rebellion in pre-war Iraq as part of regime change.


WASHINGTON - Before the start of the US-led war in Iraq in March 2003, the CIA recruited and trained a paramilitary group named the Scorpions to foment rebellion, The Washington Post said Wednesday.

Authorized by President George W. Bush in March 2002 as part of a policy of "regime change" in Iraq, the Scorpions were made up mostly of exiles recruited by the Kurds who were sent to Iraqi cities including Baghdad, Fallujah and Qaim to give the impression that a rebellion was under way, current and former US intelligence officials told the daily.

Trained with millions of dollars to conduct light sabotage, the covert unit was even given former Soviet Hind helicopters, but most of its missions were delayed and it ended up merely "sowing confusion", by painting graffiti on walls or cutting electricity. The speed of the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, intelligence officials said, negated most of the Scorpions' missions.

So after the war, the CIA used the Scorpions to try to infiltrate the insurgency, to act as translators, to help out in interrogations and, from time to time, to do "the dirty work," one official said.

<http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=14187>
(more at link above)

[Goblyn]

16. IS this part of shrub's

Diplomacy.

And cautious judgement?

/sarcasm off

[leftchick]

17. Leslie Blitzer just reported on their part in interrogations

Imagine that! Pigs Fly! :wow: