Avoiding Iraqi Death Squads For Dummies

"Interior Ministry's 'Death Squads'

More of the same: Abu Ghraib prison photos at Salon. Abuse, torture, and degradation. Why bother to publish them anymore?

I have said it before, and will say again: Iraqis continue to live between the hammer of terrorists, so-called insurgents, and the anvil of American, British and Iraqi security forces.

Note that the detainees in the photos are not necessarily wanted insurgents. Any Iraqi could be caught in a raid and sent to Abu Ghraib, Camp Boca, or worse, to a secret cellar run by Iraqi Interior Ministry forces. No one is safe.

To better understand the extent to which Iraqis do not trust Iraqi security forces, read the following guidelines circulating in Iraq (my translation from Arabic):

1- The mere fact that you are arrested by security militias would mean possible death or deadly injury, even if you were innocent. Therefore, your main goal should be to escape arrest by any means possible.
2- The phrase "We have a few questions, and you'll be back in an hour" usually means your disappearance for months or, God forbid, your death. Therefore, do not be naive to trust security forces.
3- Remember, your presence in detention means 11 dollars a day for prison officers to feed you; a dollar for your food and 10 for the officers. As a result, keeping you in detention is a guaranteed source of profit for security officers, even if you were innocent.

The following security plan to avoid detention depends on organising neigbourhood watch teams, and in the following manner:

1- Look for trustworthy friends in your area and remind them that your cooperation is vital to save many lives in the neighbourhood.
2- Draw a simple map of your area. Put down the main streets and back alleys that would be used by Interior ministry forces to reach your area. Remember that security patrols will not land on your house from a helicopter, but will instead use main streets leading to your house.
3- You can use Internet services such as Google Earth to identify the streets leading to your area. Download it from http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html
4- Coordinate with your neighbourhood team to watch and to patrol surrounding streets, according to the diagram. This should be around usual raid hours.
5- Exchange landline and cellular phone numbers with your team. Upon noticing a patrol (usually modern 4 wheel drive vehicles with no number plates) entering your area, call to notify neighbours and the rest of your team members.
6- Train your family and friends to be alert to movement in the street, strangers or suspicious activities. Regularly discuss the neighbourhood’s situation with your team members.
7- Every person should be trained on the appropriate method to hide or escape. Learn to hide valuable items and jewelry within minutes of a raid. Remember that all cupboards and drawers will be opened. Beds and blankets will be turned over.

Healing Iraq

For those of you that either don't know or can't tell from this post Zeyad is one of the original Iraqi bloggers, and a great friend to democracy and freedom, and an enemy to tyrants, and fanatics everywhere. I am very glade that he has decided to resume blogging on a regular schedule. Hopefully his words will help bring a little perspective to a great many of you that only seem to see what you want to see. One can only hope.