By Patrick Fort
Agence France-Presse, 19 December 2006
One night last month in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, Sunni militants surrounded a remote farmstead housing Shiite families, dragged out the 27 men and shot them dead in a nearby field.
Meanwhile, in the market towns of the restive region, the overwhelmingly Shiite police force routinely tortures Sunni suspects, according to a civilian US lawyer who recently visited local prisons and courts.
"I was told about a guy nicknamed 'Cable Ali' because he tortured and hit guys with a cable," the lawyer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"So I asked the police, 'Does this guy exist?' and they said 'Yes he does, but he only tortures the guilty ones,'" he said.
Earlier this month a high-level US panel of foreign policy experts, the Iraq Study Group, warned of the "grave and deteriorating" situation in Iraq, a country wracked by sectarian violence by rival Sunni and Shiite death squads.
Outside Baghdad, the epicentre of the violence, the starkest evidence of the murderous rage engulfing the country is in Diyala province.
"We were very close once, but times have unfortunately changed," said Sheikh Fadhel al-Nedawi, a Sunni tribal chief, as he gave condolences to his Shiite counterpart Ahmed Abdullah al-Shamari after the murder of the 27 villagers.
Diyala has been called "little Iraq" and if this province with almost equal proportions of Sunnis and Shiites and a smattering of Kurds can't work, then the forecast for a united Iraq is grave.
On one hand, the Shiite villagers of the fertile province are victims of a vicious campaign of sectarian cleansing carried out by Sunni extremists with links to Al-Qaeda.
In return, armed Shiite groups carry out murders of their own, while police, according to several US officials, turn a blind eye.
"Squads kill with the acquiescence or even knowledge of the police," said the lawyer, adding that the police are "completely infiltrated" by sectarian Shiite militias.
Until the government's own reconciliation efforts bear fruit, US forces in the troubled province are struggling to bring about some form of detente.
"There are constant exchanges between US military and political leaders, the sheikhs, religious leaders and high-ranking security officials," said Captain Adam Jacobs of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, based in Baquba.
Last week, some 40 tribal leaders met with the mayor and the local Iraqi and US army commanders to talk about ending the violence in the province.
"The sheikhs are a valuable asset within society," said Colonel David Sutherland of the 3rd Brigade. "They have the ability to influence peace and stability within the province."
US commanders are also hoping to persuade local leaders to sign the "Mecca Pledge", a little heeded effort by Iraqi Sunni and Shiite religious leaders to reconcile the warring communities declared in October.
They are also recommending new provincial elections be organized that would include the Sunnis, who boycotted them last time.
Baquba's Sunni mayor, Khalid al-Sanjari, recognizes the scope of the problem and the sectarian cleansing taking place in the province.
"The Shiites have been kicked out of Baquba," he said, describing a combination of threats and economic decline that has depopulated many areas.
"The Shiites have every right to be angry," he acknowledged.
"But the Sunnis do too," he added. "The police and army do not protect the Sunnis, and when there is a problem: they just don't come."
Sanjari explained there could never be reconciliation in the tortured province until there is some effort to make security forces half Sunni and half Shiite, instead of their current make-up as 85 percent Shiite.
Brigadier Ali, the deputy commander of Diyala's police force and a Kurd, insisted there is no sectarianism in the province's police force but, when pressed, admitted that there was political pressure from the factions.
"I was fired twice -- once for arresting a Shiite, once for arresting a Sunni," he said. "It's all politics and politicians."
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Citation: Patrick Fort. "Iraq's Diyala province -- center of sectarian conflict," Agence France-Presse, 19 December 2006.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061219/wl_mideast_afp/iraqusunrestdiyala
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