Iraqi Police Death Squads???

Knight Ridder gives us this piece of investigative journalism on the "possibility" that the Iraqi police are operating death squads.

In a Heculean effort at objectivity, the authors note that U.S. officials claim "the murders are the work of insurgents posing as police."

But then we also have this telling admission:

"Iraqi and American officials said the murders aren't being investigated systematically, but in dozens of interviews with families and Iraqi officials, and a review of medical records, a Knight Ridder reporter and two special correspondents found more than 30 examples of this type of killing in less than a week. They include 12 cases with specific dates, times, names and witnesses who said they might come forward if asked by law enforcement."

Moreover, the authors present a mountain of evidence that points pretty conclusively in one direction --- it is not the Sunni insurgents who are torturing and executing these Sunni civilians but almost surely the Iraqi police (though I wouldn't rule out the Shiite militias either).

Are we looking at the new boss being the same as the old boss?

And one more question - Why do death squads seem to follow John Negroponte like children following the pied piper?