The Bush legacy is one that just keeps on giving… or handing out punishment, depending on your point of view. There have been some pretty well documented accusations that Bush has quietly set up militias in Iraq to deal with the insurgency, a la El Salvador in the 80’s. These government militias are death squads, plain and simple, funded, trained and equipped by the US. The plan was supposedly that these militias could go in and brutally root out members of the insurgency by the hundreds where they live and operate. The fact that this technique often misses the mark and hits innocent Iraqis is obviously an acceptable glitch to US planners. Government militias pick up hapless Sunnis, whisk them away to be tortured, and hundreds then turn up dead in Iraqi rivers, alleys, and countryside. These troops trained by the US use electric shock, skin their victims alive and use electric drills, among other lovely techniques.

This nasty plan has taken a turn for the worse in Iraq.

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The Iranian-backed militia the Badr Organization has taken over many of the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s intelligence activities and infiltrated its elite commando units, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

That’s enabled the Shiite Muslim militia to use Interior Ministry vehicles and equipment – much of it bought with American money – to carry out revenge attacks against the minority Sunni Muslims, who persecuted the Shiites under Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, current and former Ministry of Interior employees told Knight Ridder.

The officials, some of whom agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity for fear of violent reprisals, said the Interior Ministry had become what amounted to an Iranian fifth column inside the U.S.-backed Iraqi government, running death squads and operating a network of secret prisons.

Reportedly, Iran is investing millions in southern Iraq in the form of aid to charity orginizations and political parties in order to influence the elections. What the US isn’t saying is that these militias were originally set up to be death squads to go after insurgents and now the Iranians have taken over the operations to murder Sunnis and further their own interests.
So, as Bush keeps cranking out propaganda in the form of speeches on Iraq, and the upcoming election is put forward as a victory in itself, the fact is that another major blunder by the US has virtually guaranteed that Iran will be firmly imbedded in Iraq’s government and affairs from day one.

This should be huge, but probably won’t see the light of day in the major media outlets. The Bush blunders that have been publicised are the tip of the iceburg, a few scratches on the surface of the nightmare that is Bush’s true legacy.