Mass abduction in Iraq, US general demands action
Source: Reuters
(Updates with release of most captives, Hashemi comments) By Ross Colvin BAGHDAD, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Gunmen in camouflage uniforms kidnapped about 30 Iraqis in a daylight attack in Baghdad on Thursday, highlighting the threat from sectarian death squads which a top U.S. general said must be reined in. Most were released unharmed hours later in the predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Shaab neighbourhood, an Interior Ministry source and police said. No further details were available. The motive for the kidnapping was not clear. "We have to change the dynamics that are going on in Baghdad. There is a lot of sectarian murder in Baghdad," Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno said at a ceremony where he officially assumed day-to-day control of U.S. troops in Iraq. Baghdad is plagued by daily kidnappings, both political and criminal. Men in camouflage uniforms abducted dozens of people from the Higher Education Ministry last month. The ministry said on Thursday 56 were still officially recorded as missing. Odierno, known as a blunt-speaking general, assumes his post as No. 2 commander of the 135,000-strong U.S. force in Iraq as U.S. President George W. Bush weighs options in changing course to tackle the sectarian violence and a Sunni Arab insurgency. Bush, whose Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress in November mid-term elections partly over Iraq, wrapped up a three-day review of policy on Wednesday and is expected to announce a new strategy early in the New Year. Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who met Bush on Wednesday, said on Thursday the United States should not withdraw its troops until it had reformed Iraqi security forces that were heavily infiltrated by sectarian militias. SUNNI ACCUSATIONS Leaders from Iraq's minority Sunni community accuse Shi'ite militias of infiltrating the police to carry out kidnappings and killings. In Khallisa, a religiously mixed town 30 km (19 miles) south of Baghdad, police found the bodies of 15 men near an irrigation canal in a date palm grove. All had been tortured and shot. A group of visiting U.S. senators had blunt words for Iraqi leaders, telling them to put their differences aside to ease the violence that has raised fears of all-out civil war. "We were very straightforward about how important it is for them to act more effectively as a government and stop some of the divisions that we see clearly within the government," said Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican. But the Iraqi government faces huge challenges in trying to rein in violence and is itself often a target. On Thursday gunmen ambushed the convoy of Shi'ite Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi but he escaped unscathed, the Interior Ministry said. Odierno said key to addressing the violence was for the Iraqi government to decide what to do with militias, which U.N. officials said last month were operating with impunity and colluding with police in carrying out death squad killings. The militias, along with Sunni insurgents, have been blamed for fuelling a cycle of tit-for-tat killings that has killed thousands. Several are tied to parties within Prime Minister Nuri Maliki's Shi'ite-led government. "There has to be a policy of what we are going to do with ... the militias, how we can reconcile them back into the Iraqi armed forces or other units. The Iraqi government has to make a decision," Odierno told reporters. "This is not just a military solution. It's a combination of diplomatic, economic and military programmes that have to move forward within Baghdad to get the security fixed."
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