Baghdad police found the bodies of about 20 men in the back of a truck yesterday. They had not been blown up by a suicide bomber: all had been shot after men posing as Iraq national guardsmen had taken them away the previous day. Pictures on the Associated Press wire show the men's relatives examining the severed heads and bound hands in horror. Some had apparently been tortured, and three were beheaded.
One of the victims was a police colonel, reports the LA Times, and all were Shias. Similar atrocities often go unreported while large-scale suicide bombings dominate the media's attention. As an Amnesty International report published last week, In Cold Blood: Abuses by Armed Groups, says: "Many of those captured and then killed by armed groups, Iraqi and foreigners alike, have been detained in inhumane conditions and tortured and ill-treated before being killed and having their bodies dumped."
According to the report, these murders are increasingly fuelled by extortion demands and the complicity of some clerics, though those who cooperate with the American-led occupation are most likely to be targeted. While the insurgents' stated aim is to drive foreign troops out of the country and overthrow the interim government, most kidnappings are of Iraqis rather than foreigners, and the hostages often come from wealthy and professional families from whom the kidnappers demand a large ransom. "In many cases armed political groups seem to have made the release of their victims conditional on payment of money even when they make political demands such as the withdrawal of foreign troops," says Amnesty.
One Jordanian lorry driver told Amnesty his family were forced to pay US$50,000 for his release. The money keeps the insurgency alive, though its funding and organisation are chaotic. "Most members of armed groups in Iraq reportedly do not know the identity of their leaders or the sources of their financing," says Amnesty.
The report paints a horrifying picture of the rise of the insurgency. It appeals to religious leaders to condemn the violence more explicitly and to the government to bring the perpetrators to justice. It is questionable whether Iraqi politicians, who are racing to finish drafting the country's constitution before the August 15 deadline, will have time to read it.
