Iraqi General: FPS security forces suspected of involvement in brazen kidnap of Iraqi deputy oil minister

Above: Members of the Facilities Protection Service. The FPS force is notorious for participation in sectarian torture and murder. As recently as the end of November the Washington Post labeled it as providing the 'manpower for sectarian party militias and death squads' and Iraq's Interior Minister blamed it for the majority of violence in Baghdad. In December Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who wass in charge of training Iraqi forces, said 25% of the force needed to be expunged. At about the same time, Vice President Hashemi labeled the FPS as "being filled with sectarian militias, terrorists and organized crime gangs". In January, General Petraeus testified in Congress that he would 'consider' using the forces as part of the 'surge'.

Some of the guards at an Oil Ministry compound may have cooperated with the kidnappers of an Iraqi deputy oil minister, an Iraqi general said Monday.

Deputy Oil Minister Abdel Jabar al-Wagaa was kidnapped last week from the state oil marketing compound in Baghdad.

Brig. Gen. Qassim Atta, speaking with reporters in Baghdad, said about 150 guards from the civilian Facilities Protection Service were responsible for securing the compound and had been warned about the entrance of unauthorized vehicles.

“The preliminary investigation said that there are information that there (was) cooperation between the attackers and some of the FPS guards in the compound,” Atta said. He added, “there is an ongoing investigation between the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Oil and the commanding operation of Baghdad.”

Read the rest at UPI

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Iraq's deputy oil minister,others kidnapped from government compound in Baghdad by over 50 gunmen in Iraqi uniforms driving military vehicles