US trained and equiped the militia we are now fighting in Iraq

[Hamlette]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002463.php

After U.S. units pounded al-Sadr's men in August 2004, the cleric apparently decided that instead of facing American tanks, he'd use the Americans' plans to build Iraqi security forces to rebuild his own militia.

So while Iraq's other main Shiite militia, the Badr Brigade, concentrated in 2005 on packing Iraqi intelligence bureaus with high-level officers who could coordinate sectarian assassinations, al-Sadr went after the rank and file.

His recruits began flooding into the Iraqi army and police, receiving training, uniforms and equipment either directly from the U.S. military or from the American-backed Iraqi Defense Ministry.

snip

"Half of them are . They'll wave at us during the day and shoot at us during the night," said 1st Lt. Dan Quinn, a platoon leader in the Army's 1st Infantry Division.... "People (in America) think it's bad, but that we control the city . That's not the way it is. They control it, and they let us drive around. It's hostile territory."

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16600612.htm

GET US OUT NOW. (Wow, I just did a deja vu to 1968! Same fight song, different war. edited to make subject line more clear)

[bigtree]

1. absolutely

k&r