Spat? Killing people is more than a spat

Seems the Iraqi takeover of Basra in the south hasn't gone very well, in spite of the best economic base in the country, a homogeneous population of Shi'ites, and no Western troops to inflame nationalist sensibilities. But they're 'disappearing' doctor, teachers, and other professionals, and murdering politicians, sheiks, and the judiciary. Oh, yeah, and more than 100 'impious' women...
From a New York Times on-line article, this: "Iraq’s security forces are the most conspicuous example of the tension between politics and violence in Basra, and the aptly named Serious Crimes Unit of the Basra Police is perhaps the most egregious example. The British Army determined that the unit was a death squad linked to Shiite militias and dispatched Warrior tanks in December 2006 to pound the rogue force’s headquarters to rubble." "Reported killings peaked in May, when 112 people were murdered. By December killings had declined to 38, finishing 2007 with a total of 848 known homicides. Basra also had 383 reported kidnappings in 2007, according to official provincial tallies."
"But we still have militias here. We push them out of the door and they come back through the window.”

While Rico applauds the Brits for 'pounding the rogue force's headquarters to rubble', it's only a start. But the stats on Basra aren't probably all that much different than any US city of the same size...