Posted on 08/21/2006 8:38:40 AM PDT by pissant
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces detained two suspected death squad leaders, one of them accused of torturing victims at a Shi'ite mosque, in a raid in southern Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said.
The two men "exercise control over all death squad cell activity" in three Baghdad neighborhoods, including the notoriously violent Doura district, the military said.
"One of these individuals also allegedly controls a Baghdad husseiniya (Shi'ite mosque) where he tortures and kills Iraqi citizens," their statement said.
Iraqi troops supported by U.S. advisers captured the men during a raid on a house in the southern Rasheed district, part of a U.S. and Iraqi crackdown on death squads that American officials say are fuelling sectarian violence ravaging Baghdad.
Washington has poured thousands of troop reinforcements into the city in recent weeks, after the surging violence frustrated plans to start withdrawing some of the 130,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq before the end of the year.
The violence, much of it blamed by U.S. officials on Shi'ite death squads, poses the greatest threat to the three-month-old government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose national reconciliation plan has so far failed to contain sectarian tensions between Shi'ites and minority Sunnis.
Sunnis accuse militias controlled by radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr of carrying out many of the killings, a charge he denies.
The U.S. military said in a separate statement that a raid on one of Sadr's offices in northwestern Baghdad on Friday had found rockets, one rigged with a makeshift bomb, a mortar, bomb-making materials and assault rifles.
It did not say whether any arrests had been made. U.S. forces have targeted leaders of Sadr's Mehdi Army, based in his Sadr City stronghold in eastern Baghdad, in recent operations.
Al Sadr,we should have taken this cretin out when we had the chance.Now were paying the price.
True. We wiped out alot of Sadrites during two confrontations so he no longer wants to tangle with the US military. And the good news is he doesn't want to tangle with the Iraq army at this point either.
That's good news,but we need to get to the leadership.Al Sadr will simply move underground,re-group and re-supply.Then(like a rat)come back out when the heat is off.
There was a lot of skepticism about how much only a few thousand additional American troops could do to curb the violence in Baghdad. Now, every day we're reading about militia and cell leaders being captured or killed. We hear of neighborhoods going from 20 murders per day to zero. Sounds like those additional troops are making a huge difference.
It's not so much the numbers of troops, though that helps. It was Maliki getting off his duff and allowing our men and the Iraqi Army to start this overdue purge.
I can't believe Reuters reported any good news of our troops!
They love military press releases detailing the latest arrest and charges against American troops, and believe every word.
But military press releases detailing American military successes are deeply suspect and considered mere propaganda.
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