Shia death squads are torturing prisoners in Iraq

The US military has raided an Iraqi Interior Ministry building and found evidence of torture and maltreatment of prisoners:

Iraq’s government says it has begun an investigation into the alleged abuse of more than 170 detainees held by Iraqi security forces in Baghdad.

The prisoners, many malnourished and some showing signs of torture, were found when US troops took control of an interior ministry building on Sunday. The US raid followed repeated enquiries by the parents of a missing teenager. Iraq’s prime minister has promised to find those responsible for any abuse. Most of those held were Sunnis.

There have been persistent allegations of abuse by members of the Shia-dominated security forces, she says. But Sunday’s discovery is hard evidence and officials believe it may be the tip of the iceberg.

There are suspicions the building may also have been used as a base for a militia called the Badr Brigade, and that such militias may have infiltrated Iraq’s security services, our correspondent adds.
The prison is reported to be in the central Jadiriya district of Baghdad. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said he had been told that 173 detainees had been held, that they appeared malnourished, and may have been “subjected to some kind of torture”.

Anyone who has read my previous post about the political situation in Iraq is unlikely to be surprised. The facts (as I see them) are:

1. The largest parliamentary group in the Iraqi government is the United Iraqi Alliance, an electoral list of Shia parties.

2. SCIRI — the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq — is one of the most important members of the UIA.

3. SCIRI has its own militia, the Badr Brigades (sometimes referred to in the singular).

4. As well as being in power in the central Iraqi government, the parties of the UIA are in control of most of the provinces of southern Iraq.

5. Members of the Badr Brigades and other militias have joined the Iraqi police and security forces in large numbers; they have probably been encouraged to do so by their leaders.

6. There is something approaching a low-level civil war in Iraq, with the Shia and Kurds on one side and the Sunni Arabs on the other side. (That’s an oversimplification of the fighting in Iraq, which is considerably more complex than that, but it’s an oversimplification that’ll do for our present purposes).

From this I conclude that the Badr brigades are acting as unofficial death squads (and torture squads) for the Iraqi government. Given the less-than-wonderful security situation in the country, that’s probably inevitable right now, but in order for Iraq to have any chance of becoming a modern liberal democracy with a thriving economy, private militias and death squads will have to go.

[Also published in Cabalamat Journal]