Amerikanerne vil ikke lenger ha noe å gjøre med en avdeling irakisk trafikkpoliti etter at det ble avslørt at den fungerer som dødsskvadron.

A 1,500-member Iraqi police force with close ties to Shiite militia groups has emerged as a focus of investigations into suspected death squads working within the country’s Interior Ministry.

Iraq’s national highway patrol was established largely to stave off insurgent attacks on roadways. But U.S. military officials, interviewed over the last several days, say they suspect the patrol of being deeply involved in illegal detentions, torture and extrajudicial killings.
The officials said that in recent months the U.S. has withdrawn financial and advisory support from the patrol in an effort to distance the American training effort from what they perceived to be a renegade force.
Last month, Iraqi army soldiers stopped a 22-member squad of uniformed highway patrol officers at a nighttime checkpoint in northern Baghdad and discovered a man in their custody who told them the police planned to kill him. His contention was supported by confessions of officers in the squad, U.S. advisors said.

Police Tied to Death Squads
U.S. military officials say they suspect Iraq’s highway patrol, staffed largely by Shiites, is deeply involved in torture and killings.