Counter-gangs in Iraq?

Back in October, John Robb predicted on his Global Guerrillas weblog that the US would turn to Loyalist Paramilitaries to fight the insurgency in Iraq.

Now he’s got a link to a Newsweek story suggesting that the Pentagon is considering training Kurdish and Shi’ite fighters to go after insurgents.

The story notes that the current US ambassador to Iraq was ambassador to Honduras during the Reagan years, when pro-American death squads were operating in several Central American countries.

Another precedent, of course, is the counter-gangs strategy devised by the British Army’s Frank Kitson, and the subsequent manipulation of the UDA and UVF during the Northern Ireland conflict.