James Steele meeting with Adnam Thabit (Head of Iraqi militias)
by Carlos Diaz
The Iraq War was officially culminated more than a year ago. As in other conflicts, this is the time when the truth about violations of human rights and other form of misconduct should be sought. The United States government is currently prosecuting Bradley Manning for the release of classified material while he was in Iraq. Since the government is prosecuting Manning for a crime which I consider victimless, it should be prosecuting, or at least investigating, some grave accusations against people like former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and one of his closest advisers in Iraq, retired Colonel James Steele.
The British newspaper The Guardian recently released a documentary it produced with the BBC titled “James Steele: America’s Mystery Man in Iraq”[i]. The aim of this short documentary is to show how the United States funded a deadly paramilitary force in Iraq which was largely responsible for a civil war that, at its peak, was leaving 3,000 bodies in the streets each month. The American government not only funded this force but it provided it with trainers and advisers, chief among them was civilian retired Colonel James Steele. The story of Mr. Steele is relevant because he was one of the American soldiers training the army of El Salvador on counterinsurgency (COIN) tactics during that country’s bloody civil war in the 1980’s, a war which took more than 75,000 lives and became known as a dirty war due to the tactics employed by what became known as death squads trained by Steele. He became the chief American COIN expert on the ground in El Salvador, this allowed him to meet many people who later would seek his expertise. One of these people was the man in charge of COIN strategy in Iraq David Petraeus who stayed at Steele’s house in El Salvador during the 1980’s.
The connection to the dirty and brutal war in El Salvador is no secret. In a debate before the 2004 election vice president Dick Cheney touted El Salvador as a success story that should be applied in both Afghanistan and Iraq[ii]. A few months later journalist Peter Maas wrote an article which appeared in The New York Times Magazine titled “The Salvadorization of Iraq?”[iii]The article mentions Mr. Steele in particular.
Mr. Steele was aware of the violations being committed by the militias he and General Petraeus deemed necessary and helped fund. According to documents released by Wikileaks, James Steele had a direct channel of communication defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The militias were accused of the torture and killing of many, including innocent people. In some cases the American forces transferred prisoners to these militias who answered only to the Iraqi interior ministry. Army medic Neil Smith said “everybody knew and nobody cared” referring to the treatment of prisoners by the Iraqi militias.
Some people had hoped that the Obama administration would investigate this and other allegations. But these charges have been ignored in the same way that in the past violations committed by Henry Kissinger and the Nixon White House were ignored by the subsequent presidents. President Obama said this soon after being inaugurated for the first time, “nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.” This is an extremely despicable statement from someone as smart and knowledgeable as the president is believed to be. If we follow this reasoning we will arrive at the conclusion that the Nuremberg Trials were a waste of time, also the current military style trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his associates, and, for that matter, any other case that seeks to offer clarification to events in the past.
The Pentagon says it is investigating these allegations, although it is hard to believe it is looking into the matter unless the president changed his mind. Trying American officials in the International Criminal Court (ICC) is next to impossible because the “world’s greatest country” is not a party to the International Criminal Court. The reason the United States refuses to join the ICC or dig deeper into accusations of Americans violating human rights is simple. Every administration is protecting its own interests. If the Obama administration prosecutes or allows people like Steele to be prosecuted, what will stop a foreign country or a future administration to do the same to one of its members? For example, John Brennan could be tried for his participation in the use of drones which have killed many people, including innocent civilians.
Eclectic Affinities 