"This story, if correct, merits outrage on several levels. The killings described by Az-Zaman are reminiscent of the “raids” of Saddam’s army against rebellious cities. Ironically, the policemen who undertook the role of the “death squads” seem to be acting as a “militia among others,” as opposed to Saddam’s brutal apparatus of coercion. Tal 'Afar on Wednesday was a display of everything that is wrong with Iraq; and warning signs were ample: the sectarian agitation, the infiltration of security forces by militias, the state institutions that the political parties have parceled out among themselves, not to mention the ferociously sectarian, fanatical and violent political organizations that control political life in today’s Iraq; inside and outside the government."