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Twenty months after toppling Saddam Hussein, US troops still battling his followers in the heartland of Iraq's old arms industry are hitting back with a new weapon: ex-members of Hussein's special forces. For five months, Iraqi police commandos calling themselves the Black Scorpions have been based with US marines in the region along the Euphrates south of Baghdad. Roadside bombs, ambushes and kidnaps have turned the area into a no-go zone and earned it the melodramatic description "triangle of death". "All of them were previously officers in the Iraqi army or special forces," said Scorpions commander Colonel Salaam Trad. "But...

U.S. Sends in Secret Weapon: Saddam's Old Commandos By Alastair Macdonald NEAR ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Twenty months after toppling Saddam Hussein, U.S. troops still battling his followers in the heartland of Iraq's old arms industry are hitting back with a new weapon -- ex-members of Saddam's special forces. For five months, Iraqi police commandos calling themselves the Black Scorpions have been based with U.S. Marines in the region along the Euphrates south of Baghdad, which roadside bombs, ambushes and kidnaps have turned into a no-go areas and earned it the melodramatic description "triangle of death." "All of them were...