The Common Ills: Oh, so sometimes security wearing security uniforms in Iraq are criminals

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Oh, so sometimes security wearing security uniforms in Iraq are criminals

Hey, remember how men in police uniforms or military uniforms commit kidnappings and murders in Iraq? And how outlets like AFP always rush in to insist that these weren't security forces? Despite the long record of abuse at the Ministry of the Interior?

Iraq Times reports that the security committee of Basra's Provincial Council announced today that 11 people had been arrested for kidnapping, extortion and armed robbery.

The 11 accused?

1's a police officer (lieutenant colonel) the others are security forces working for the Ministry of the Interior or intelligence agency.

They are accused of robbing homes and businesses -- sometimes in uniform -- and of going to homes and carrying out kidnappings while in uniforms and pretending they have arrest warrants.

I'm searching in vain for Reuters, AP or AFP picking up on this story.

They're damn happy to counter eye witness testimony of police and soldiers carrying out crimes by running with 'Police sources say these were al Qaeda wearing fake uniforms . . .'

You would assume having pimped the line over and over, they'd be curious about what the Basra Provincial Council announced.

Iraq Body Count counts 49 deaths yesterday with 419 killed for the month so far (through the 13th).

Today?

National Iraqi News Agency reports 1 person was shot dead outside his Abi Saida home, 1 person was shot dead in Akbashi, a Ramadi attack left 1 police officer dead and another injured, a Hilla sticky bombing left 1 person dead, 1 person was shot dead in al-Jideedah, a Mansour roadside bombing left three police officers injured, 1 Iraqi soldier was shot dead in Mosul, 1 construction worker was shot dead in Mosul, Iraqi soldiers shot dead 2 suspects in Mosul, 3 suspects were shot dead in Falluja, and "Six people killed and fourteen others injured when a car bomb parked near a Husseini Funeral procession went off in al-Risalah neighborhood southwest of Baghdad."

All Iraq News reports cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr decrying Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's backing of militias:

Sadr said answering a the statement of the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, in Basra in which he warned from returning militias saying that ''The time of outlaws gangs has been gone and we should provide protection for Iraqis since everyone should subject to law and constitution.''''If the Government do not want the militias to back, it should quit supporting them officially and should not establish new militias to support the sectarian and its affiliated government,'' he added.

And that's going to be it, I'm tired and we're about to start working on Third. The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley, The New Statesman, Latino USA, the ACLU, the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Pacifica Evening News, Cindy Sheehan and the Guardian -- have updated since yesterdays snapshot went up: