U.S. To Iraq: Curb Use Of Shiite Militias

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 11-17-2005 | Robert H. Reid

[blam]

U.S. to Iraq: Curb Use of Shiite Militias

Thursday November 17, 2005 11:46 PM

By ROBERT H. REID

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Iraqi government has promised to investigate detention facilities across the country to ensure prisoners are not tortured, the United States said Thursday, sharply warning Iraqi officials against allowing Shiite militias a role in the security services following allegations of torture of Sunni Arabs.

The Interior Minister, who is in charge of the facilities and security forces, said torture claims were exaggerated.

Sectarian rhetoric sharpened four days after U.S. troops found up to 173 malnourished detainees - some showing signs of torture - in an Interior Ministry building in the capital's Jadriyah district. Most were believed to be Sunni Arabs, the main group in the insurgency.

A leader of a major Sunni party, Tariq al-Hashimi, told Iraq's Sharqiyah television that his group had submitted 50 complaints of prisoner abuse to the government, ``but we did not receive a timely response.''

[Milhous]

Hard for me to believe any single sourced story propagated by The Guardian given its reputation as a rabid moonbat member of Olds Media. So The Guardian wants us to believe in The U.S. statement. The person hiding behind the pseudonym The U.S. statement seems like someone who fits into the culture of the State Department. If The Guardian wants me to take their story seriously they need to give me a real person's name instead of using The U.S. statement as a pseudonym.