Basra Militias Put Their Firepower Above the Law

[maddezmom]

By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
Published: October 9, 2005
BASRA, Iraq - The most powerful and feared institution here in Iraq's third-largest city is a shadowy force of 200 to 300 police officers known collectively as the Jameat, who dominate the local police and who are said to murder and torture at will. They answer to the leaders of Basra's sectarian militias.

The militia infiltration in Basra's police force and government goes far beyond the Jameat; even the Basra police chief has said he trusts only a quarter of his own men. But the Jameat may be the most ominous example of the degree to which militias have come to dominate Basra, Iraq's largest southern city.

The extent of its power became clear in September when a force of British troops in armored vehicles tried to rescue two special operations soldiers who had been abducted and taken to the Jameat's headquarters, in a police building in southwestern Basra.

According to three British soldiers there that day, a mob of 1,000 to 2,000 people - not the 200 or so first reported - rapidly gathered near the station, which the British troops had partly demolished in an effort to free the captives. The soldiers were ultimately rescued from a house nearby, where they were being held by Shiite militiamen.

more;http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/international/middleeast/09basra.ready.html?ei=5094&en=832e4ff516ada958&hp=&ex=1128916800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1128842018-oNT7K55epJ1IlqTLvFLjUQ

[MADem]

1. Gee, brings to mind

SOMALIA...

[bemildred]

2. What law? Whose law?

The only law in Basra is the law of the gun.