Chris Floyd: Annals of Liberation: Killers and Extremists in the Pay of Petraeus

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Annals of Liberation: Killers and Extremists in the Pay of Petraeus
Chris Floyd

Empire Burlesque

More news rolls in about the "successful tactics" being employed by the U.S. commandant in Iraq, General David Gaius Julius Petraeus. As we have noted here before, much of the relative drop in the death rate in the still-fertile killing fields of Iraq can be attributed to one of Petraeus' bold "counterinsurgency" innovations: surrendering whole swathes of territory to your enemy – and paying them handsomely for the privilege – in exchange for their promise not to kill your own troops for awhile.

Not since the Civil War days of George McClellan has an American general been so feted and trumpeted for his crushing defeats – although not even McClellan went as far as paying Rebel guerrillas like Bill Quantrill and his murderous bushwhackers to take over chunks of Union territory and run it as a personal fiefdom. But that is exactly what Petraeus is doing in Iraq. He is shelling out millions in taxpayer dollars to groups that only a few weeks ago were killing Americans and launching terrorist attacks with their allies in the extremist bands loosely grouped under the rubric "al Qaeda." (It's obvious that "al Qaeda" is losing its brand specificity and, like "xerox" or "zipper," is becoming a generic term applied to all manner of items beyond the original product.)

Of course, buying off your enemy is an ancient military tactic, and it certainly beats killing each other – and innumerable "collaterals" in the process. But Petraeus is not only paying terrorists and insurgents and death squadders to lay off the roadside bombs and sniper fire in the "Sunni Awakening" movement: he's giving them iron-fisted control over various walled enclaves, where – surprise, surprise! – they are lording it over the locals with brutal abandon, while American forces look the other way, or actively assist.

The latest report comes from the pro-war, Murdoch-owned Sunday Times: "American-backed killer militias strut across Iraq." It is one of a continuing series of stories in the UK press that go behind the glowing "surge" PR now dominating the American media. It begins with the story of Kahiriya Musa, whose husband was killed by ethnic cleansers 18 months ago, and who now refuses to join the trickle of Iraqis returning to their newly pacified neighborhoods. Here are your tax dollars at work:

Asked when she intended to leave this squalor and return to the comfortable family home, Kahiriya Musa, 30, is emphatic. “Never,” she declares. “They will kill me if I return.” While one of her husband’s killers has been arrested, she says, the other two have joined the Baghdad Brigade, a Sunni militia funded by the American forces which now holds sway in her old neighbourhood.

Members of the Baghdad Brigade receive $300 a man each month from the Americans, who also provide vehicles, uniforms and flak jackets. In return the brigade keeps out Al-Qaeda, dismantles roadside bombs and patrols the area, a task performed with considerable swagger by many of its 4,000 recruits.

The US military is delighted with the results achieved by the brigade in Abu Ghraib and by similar groups in other former “hot spots” of sectarian conflict that have seen a sharp decline in violence.

For Shi’ites such as Kahiriya Musa, however, a Sunni militia represents another potential source of terror in a country where millions have been traumatised by ethnic cleansing…

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http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/11/26/annals_of_liberation_killers_and_extremi