Posted on 07/12/2005 6:23:26 PM PDT by Flavius
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The midnight knock at the door is gone. But Iraqis say Saddam Hussein's old Mukhabarat secret police have created a new "republic of fear" two years after his downfall. ADVERTISEMENT
Operating with ruthless efficiency, former Baathist agents are hunting down those who work for, or even voice support for, the new U.S.-backed government, say security experts who monitor the insurgency among Saddam's Sunni Arab minority in Iraq.
"I never take the same road to work and I always spend half an hour checking my car for bombs before I drive," said Abbas, a Baghdad police officer who asked that his family name not be used for fear of reprisals.
"Iraqis know that Saddam's people are still very active and are watching everyone."
Hundreds of officials and security personnel in the new administration have been killed in often sophisticated attacks.
Colonel Amr Mozer, from the Baghdad criminal investigation department, joined them on Tuesday when gunmen in three cars shot up his own vehicle as he was being driven to work.
The campaign has reminded Iraqis of the long reach of those former intelligence agents whose terrorizing of dissidents coined the title of an early expose of the Saddam era, "The Republic of Fear," by Iraqi expatriate Kanan Makiya.
While young zealots may be at the wheel of car bombs driven at the vehicles of senior officials, it is often Saddam's former agents who are planning and funding such attacks, experts say.
U.S. military commanders say the violence of the insurgency can only end when Saddam's former operatives are beaten at their own game -- intelligence gathering.
Yet Iraqis know they risk death by handing over information on the activities of Saddam's Baathist supporters, a cadre modeled on Stalin's Soviet police state which, many believe, has long planned for an underground war against the occupiers.
New security forces charged with restoring stability can barely protect themselves, let alone defeat the Baathists and foreign Muslim militants who officials say are cooperating.
WELL PREPARED
"These are very intelligent people who knew that they could not win the war against the United States so they patiently prepared for an insurgency," said a Western security consultant.
"They took measures like building tunnels and hiding weapons and now it has all evolved."
Saddam's agents were once so pervasive that Iraqis risked jail, or worse, if they uttered even a slightly critical word, even in their own homes. A midnight visit from the Mukhabarat could herald a nightmare for victims and their families.
Many believe the intelligence network is still in place.
"They are able to do a lot of surveillance. They know how to gather a lot of information and analyze it better than anyone else," said a police official who asked to remain anonymous.
Police say lax screening in the rush to build up forces has enabled Saddam loyalists to infiltrate the police and army.
"During Saddam's time people were thoroughly investigated before joining the police department. They were questioned on their family, their history, whether they had any political views," said one serving police officer.
"Now anyone can join. A few hundred dollars can buy you information on officers' movements."
In June, a uniformed former police commando killed at least three men from his former unit, the elite counterinsurgency Wolf Brigade, when he walked into their Baghdad headquarters in a bid to assassinate the brigade's commander.
FRUSTRATED MINORITY
Many Iraqis say they are paying a heavy price for a U.S. decision to disband the Iraqi army after invading Iraq in 2003.
Jobless and frustrated after a privileged life under Saddam, army intelligence officers and others took over the insurgency and offered logistical and financial support to young fighters, according to Iraqi officials.
"The key now is to try and win these people over and give them jobs in security forces and the army or other state institutions or offer them a retirement deal," said Nabil Salim, a professor of international relations at Baghdad University.
That is not easy at a time of rising sectarian tensions.
Senior officials of the new Shi'ite-led government are resisting calls to rehire Sunni senior intelligence agents, saying they have too much blood on their hands. Sunnis say Shi'ite promises to give them a share of power are empty.
Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said this week he believed Saddam loyalists were behind much of Iraq's bloodshed, including last week's kidnapping and killing of the Egyptian envoy to Baghdad, which was claimed by al Qaeda Islamists.
"All Iraqis who work in ministries face a daily threat of death," Zebari said
What puzzles me is why these terrorists think that the people would EVER want them back as their masters. It would seem that as long as the people thought there was a chance of winning their freedom, they would keep fighting. The terrorist message is "let us be your masters and we will kill you a lot slower".
The Nazi hunter approach should be used to grab all the Muks. I'd urge a somewhat more brutal version, however - "wanted - dead..."
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