Iraq Watch: November 17, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the face of mounting criticism over the discovery of a secret prison in the basement of a Iraqi Interior Ministry building, were many of the mostly Sunni detainees were allegedly found tortured and malnourished, the Iraqi government on Thursday played down the incident and blamed Sunni politicians for greatly exaggerating the situation.

Iraq's Interior Minister, Bayn Jabr, a Shiite, said that those prisoners held at the Jadriyah facility were "the most criminal terrorists" and had come to Iraq to "kill your sons." Jabr went on to say that the Iraqi people "can be proud of our [Interior Ministry] forces." Jabr also stated that only seven of the more than 170 detainees found bore signs of torture.

Many of Iraq's minority Sunnis, who form only about 20% of the total population, accuse the nations' newly empowered Shiite sect of deliberately targeting them in revenge for the years of hardship the Shia people were subjected to under the brutal and ruthless rule of deposed leader and Sunni Saddam Hussein.

In an increasingly unsafe and unpredictable country, Iraqi's have turned to local militias for a sense of security. These powerful groups have deep sectarian and tribal roots that date back centuries.

One prominent militia is the Badr Brigade, whose loyalties are endowed to the leading political organization in Iraq today: the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). The Badr Brigade consists of several smaller offshoot groups, with such infamous names as the 'Wolf Brigade' and 'Volcano Brigade', who operate closely or in coordination with the Iraqi Interior Ministry and its aforementioned leader, who was once himself a Badr member.

Horror stories regarding Shiite militia members are common among Sunni's in today's Iraq. Many tell of Shiite brigades, dressed in full Iraqi security forces garb and driving state-licensed police vehicle's, besieging Sunni districts or towns and rounding up many of the populous' males. Many Sunnis are later found executed and dumped in desolate areas. One such case, in which 46 Sunni males were kidnapped and later found killed and left near the Iranian border, was recently reported by The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two U.S. service members on Thursday. One soldier died and four others were injured Thursday in a traffic accident near Bayji while a Marine was killed by an IED yesterday while conducting combat operations in Hadithah.

In further violence Thursday, a former Baath Party member was gunned down in Karbala and the body of Iraqi police Lt. Col. Sulaiman al-Dulaimi was found, along with his son, near Ramadi.