NYT: Armed Groups Propel Iraq Toward Chaos

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/world/middleeast/24security.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Armed Groups Propel Iraq Toward Chaos

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 23 — Even in a country beset by murder and death, the 16th Brigade represented a new frontier.

The brigade, a 1,000-man force set up by Iraq's Ministry of Defense in early 2005, was charged with guarding a stretch of oil pipeline that ran through the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dawra. Heavily armed and lightly supervised, some members of the largely Sunni brigade transformed themselves into a death squad, cooperating with insurgents and executing government collaborators, Iraqi officials say.

"They were killing innocent people, anyone who was affiliated with the government," said Hassan Thuwaini, the director of the Iraqi Oil Ministry's protection force.

Forty-two members of the brigade were arrested in January, according to officials at the Ministry of the Interior and the police department in Dawra.

Since then, Iraqi officials say, individual gunmen have confessed to carrying out dozens of assassinations, including the killing of their own commander, Col. Mohsin Najdi, when he threatened to turn them in.

[crizzo5137]

1. :( n/p

[Tom Joad]

2. "Armed group" most responsible for the chaos is the US military.

Get the hell out now.

[saigon68]

3. They do good work Don't They ?

[Tom Joad]

4. Great recruiters. For the Iraqi Resistance, that is.

[saigon68]

6. Yes, indeed

This photo has helped propel thousands join the Iraqi Resistance Forces



It is kind of a Betty Grable Photo to keep up the resistance morale in their times of struggle against the imperialist crusaders.

[JWS]

7. It's real nice of the US Army to do Al Quaeda's recruiting for them.

[saigon68]

8. It was a "Just few rustics" according to the idiots in charge

You know, the ones who talk about duty, honor, country etc.

Who then go out and lead their subordinates in a crusade, to commit war crimes.

[DixieBlue]

5. Wait, "propel" toward chaos?

Things are looking pretty chaotic there now. And a friend of mine who's been on several tours over there says the whole place is just a mess.

Is there something after chaos one can be propelled toward? I think they've got chaos down.