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Iraqi SWAT Taking Votes on ISIS Execution NSFW

Here's something you don't see everyday. Apparently Iraqi military personnel are taking votes via social media whether or not to execute captured Daesh members. There have been at least 3 posts in which an Iraqi SWAT member — or more likely someone purporting to be with a unit referred to as “Iraqi SWAT” — has been posting to Instagram (@iraqiswat) and inviting people following to vote on whether to kill or release the captives.

Iraqi Troops Take Votes on Executing Daesh Member 2

The image you see above was posted 8 hours ago (as of this writing) with the comment, “Time to hunt some of isis in Mosul After hunting we will ask you to vote” [sic].

Whether these guys are legitimate Iraqi SWAT, ISOF (Iraqi Special Operations Forces), ICTF (Iraqi Counter Terrorism Force) or some other unit affiliated with ICTS (Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service) is of course something we cannot immediately confirm. Chances are better than good the Iraqi SWAT moniker is a euphemism for elements of (or perhaps a single individual from) an organization in the CTS chain of command…or maybe some clever fellow in a basement somewhere with a source of pictures taken from different places in the AO.

Warning: NSFW violent imagery below.


Iraqi Troops Take Votes on Executing Daesh Member 1

Iraqi Troops Take Votes on Executing Daesh Member 3Iraqi Troops Take Votes on Executing Daesh Member 4

The ICTF was originally formed from Shi'a, Sunni and Kurdish volunteers, trained by US and Jordanian Special Forces personnel, with their first graduating Operator Training Course class taking the field in 2004. The unit was then under the command of CJSOTF-AP (Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Arabian Peninsula) and by many accounts performed extremely well operating alongside or in support of allied SOF units (particularly those of Task Force Black). Iraqi Troops Take Votes on Executing Daesh Member 5Iraqi Troops Take Votes on Executing Daesh Member 7

They continued to develop at ISWCS (Iraqi Special Warfare Center and School) under US and coalition mentorship. In the years since the US military's withdrawal, however, there have been numerous reports of increased politicization within various Iraqi SOF and CT units, even accusations that CTS has become the Iraqi Prime Minister's political tool, modeled on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. CTS units evolved at the Iraqi government's behest (probably unwisely) into more of a regular, albeit elite, line formation vs. its original counterterror unit role. There have also been reports that some of the original, most highly trained and experienced CTS units have suffered disproportionately high casualties over the last 2 to 3 years as compared to more recent units possibly recruited and equipped by virtue of cronyism and political expediency. The truth of all this is not entirely clear, particularly at this remove, but Iraqi units are currently conducting operations against ISIS.

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