refuse_resist
24th April 2005, 08:55
We talk to Arun Gupta of The Indypendent on the proliferation of illegal militias in Iraq. The U.S. government is not only aware of these militias but is arming, training and funding them for use in their counter-insurgency operations. We are joined in our studio by Arun Gupta who has been reporting on the proliferation of militias in Iraq. Arun is an editor with the New York City Independent Media Center's newspaper, The Indypendent.
He writes in his article, "Let A Thousand Militias Bloom" (see http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/147880/index.php ) that the U.S. government is not only aware of these illegal militias but is arming, training and funding them for use in their counter-insurgency operations. His article will be in the May issue of Z magazine.
The article begins:
In devising a strategy to defeat Iraqs insurgents, the Pentagon may be gaining the upper hand but at the cost of pushing Iraq toward civil war. A report by the Wall Street Journal from Feb. 16 revealed that pop-up militias are proliferating in Iraq. Not only is the U.S. aware of these illegal militias, but the Pentagon is arming, training and funding them for use them in counter-insurgency operations.
Most disturbing, one militia in particular the special police commandos is being used throughout Iraq and has been singled out by a U.S. general as conducting death squad strikes known as the Salvador option.
Greg Jaffe, the Journal reporter, identified at least six such militias. Yet these militias owe their allegiance not to the Iraqi people or state, but to their self-appointed leaders and associated politicians such as interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Even the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Gen. John P. Abizaid, admitted to Congress on March 1 that such militias are destabilizing.
Of these militias, at least three are linked to Allawi. Jaffe writes, First came the Muthana Brigade, a unit formed by the order of Allawi. The second is the Defenders of Khadamiya, referring to a Shiite shrine on the outskirts of Baghdad, which appears to be closely aligned with prominent Shiite cleric Hussein al Sadr, who ran on Allawis ticket in the January elections.
* Arun Gupta, former editor of The Guardian, one of the most respected independent newspapers in recent U.S. history. He is currently an editor with the New York City Independent Media Center's newspaper, The Indypendent ( http://indypendent.typepad.com/ ).
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/21/1418219
He writes in his article, "Let A Thousand Militias Bloom" (see http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/147880/index.php ) that the U.S. government is not only aware of these illegal militias but is arming, training and funding them for use in their counter-insurgency operations. His article will be in the May issue of Z magazine.
The article begins:
In devising a strategy to defeat Iraqs insurgents, the Pentagon may be gaining the upper hand but at the cost of pushing Iraq toward civil war. A report by the Wall Street Journal from Feb. 16 revealed that pop-up militias are proliferating in Iraq. Not only is the U.S. aware of these illegal militias, but the Pentagon is arming, training and funding them for use them in counter-insurgency operations.
Most disturbing, one militia in particular the special police commandos is being used throughout Iraq and has been singled out by a U.S. general as conducting death squad strikes known as the Salvador option.
Greg Jaffe, the Journal reporter, identified at least six such militias. Yet these militias owe their allegiance not to the Iraqi people or state, but to their self-appointed leaders and associated politicians such as interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Even the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Gen. John P. Abizaid, admitted to Congress on March 1 that such militias are destabilizing.
Of these militias, at least three are linked to Allawi. Jaffe writes, First came the Muthana Brigade, a unit formed by the order of Allawi. The second is the Defenders of Khadamiya, referring to a Shiite shrine on the outskirts of Baghdad, which appears to be closely aligned with prominent Shiite cleric Hussein al Sadr, who ran on Allawis ticket in the January elections.
* Arun Gupta, former editor of The Guardian, one of the most respected independent newspapers in recent U.S. history. He is currently an editor with the New York City Independent Media Center's newspaper, The Indypendent ( http://indypendent.typepad.com/ ).
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/21/1418219