Death squad
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A death squad is an armed group whose temporary or permanent function is to kill other people often in secrecy.
They may also be called on to conduct assassinations, extrajudicial punishment, extraordinary rendition, or kidnapping. Quite often these killings or kidnappings are called cancellation or other euphemisms by people who, while accepting their existence, do not want to speak plainly of what they do.
Death squads are often, but not exclusively, associated with the violent political repression of dictatorships, totalitarian states and similar regimes. They require housing, food, transportation, money, as well as headquarters and dumping sites. They are often a secret police force, paramilitary group or official government units with members drawn from the military or the police.
Their existence and usage often requires state support. (See also state terrorism.) Participation in a death squad requires that its members be hardened and have no difficulty in killing a nonthreatening human being face to face.
While members of death squads may participate in the society around them, it is almost always a requirement of their job that they keep the details of their work secret from the society they live in.
Their victims tend to be opposition groups, dissidents, activists supporting rival groups, suspected sympathizers or members of rebel groups, street children, land reformists, the landless, activists, thieves, and others perceived to be potentially or actively interfering with a social or political status quo.
For historical activities of death squads see death squad history.
[edit] Membership
Persons who enjoy killing at a sub-emotional level are obedient to their immediate authorities, and are comfortable working together against soft targets (prisoners, unarmed men, etc) are most likely to be selected to join a death squad.
In some cases death squads will also be used against women or children. This is usually not acceptable even in territories where they may operate with the support of the general population, therefore especially then they tend to operate in deep secrecy.
[edit] Differences from assassins
Assassins differ from death squads in that the stereotype of the assassin is that assassins like to work alone or with one or two assistants. Assassins travel without immediate backup, work against low to moderate security, have an aversion to killing, kill the target(s) and only the target(s) and then abandon the location without being caught by any security surrounding the target.
Death squads differ from assassins in that the stereotype of the death squad is that they like to work together in groups, they do not like to be deployed against even moderate security (cowardice), they like to dominate and kill human beings, and they may transport the victim to a dumping or holding location instead of abandoning the remains of the target as an assassin customarily does.
In both cases, neither group is used against targets with hard security. This requires special forces or regular soldier units and this, among other difficulties, may lead their controllers to select an easier, if less relevant, target.
[edit] Differences from terrorists
The short explanation is that death squads kill on behalf of the elite, while terrorists kill in opposition to the elite, although this distinction is mostly arbitrary.
The longer explanation is as follows:
They differ from terrorists in that a terrorist seeks to kill a large number of a soft target such as civilians, men, women, or children in a terrorist attack for the purposes of media coverage of their actions in order to use psychological warfare against the actual target -- the general population.
While death squads may also perform similar actions to the above, they tend to undertake their actions on behalf of the authorities instead of groups opposed to them. Their target also tends to be their actual target of killing and not the general population.
The general perception is that terrorists may kill almost anyone in the general population for their goals.
[edit] Perception of death squads
The general perception is that death squads will kill people who are not members of the general population. Their targets are 'them' and not 'us.' That they make 'us' safer by killing 'them'.
This is one of the reasons why the general population such as both the elite and the middle class will accept death squads. Additionally, while international support in the global climate of 2006 may be securely given to regimes whose use of death squads is 'suspected' - the same is not true for support given to regimes whose use of terrorists is 'suspected'.
There is a global network of media and law, which presumes to be against terrorism. Therefore, death squads and their supporters try to separate the media perception of the two. They also attempt to keep members of death squads from being exposed in the media.
The stereotype of the death squad is that they travel together against a near target that may be acceptably killed without directly requiring instructions from leaders at the top of their organizational hierarchy.
This preserves plausible deniability in cultures where death squads may be employed by authorities but where they require either legal or media defense against inquiry into their use.
[edit] Tactical strengths
Death squads when mobile tend to carry short range weapons such as machine guns or small portable bombs. As they are used against a soft target they tend to carry little armor or protection against serious counter-attack.
Units, which are used against hard targets, tend to be drawn from soldiers or militarized police that are more trained in actual combat with armed opponents.
Death squads are or are deliberately mistaken as police or soldier units. This is especially true if they are to arrest or kidnap the target first. If this is not available to them, they will attempt to blend in, such as dressing in local clothing and appearing to be civilians.
More rarely death squads use poison, especially if they intend to delay the kill until they are no longer in the area. As this can be done more unobtrusively (and thus more effectively and extensively) by smaller units carrying less weapons Assassins will tend to be selected for this.
When death squads are used against the target in a controlled confined location (such as a bound prisoner), they tend to use blunt, sharp, or pointed instruments but light arms may also be used if the continued life of the target may be disposed of without repercussion.
More rarely, poison gas or exposure may also be used against their targets.
However, these methods are less forceful and violent than the alternatives and thus are usually not as appealing.
[edit] Tactical weaknesses
Death squads tend to need to get in fairly close to their victims usually anywhere from 300m to 10m or less. They may be ambushed if their presence is suspected. They may be rendered non-functional if they are met with hard security. In which case, combat may ensue which could give the target(s) opportunity to escape.
Death squads also need to know where their victim(s) are. They tend to strike at night or in the morning when the victim is most likely to be at a known location either sleeping or still in their home in the morning. If the target continues to move and does not spend the same night in the same location twice, or leaves before the death squad can arrive at that location and find them, they may escape.
When death squads are used against larger populations than a handful of people, then dissemination of their movements through telecommunication networks may take place and warn targets in time to allow them to scatter. For this reason, telecommunication networks are often taken down in preparation for a raid against targets. Examples of this include the use of proxy militias against the former inhabitants of Darfur in Sudan.
[edit] Logistical strengths
Death squads tend to travel only within the confines of their own or territories where the authorities accept their free travel. It is rare for a death squad to travel into hostile territory. In such cases a black ops team that is more capable of defending themselves may be used as well as local allies.
Occasionally a death squad will be deployed in a disaster area. This is a location where an earthquake or other natural disaster has happened recently. The local area is in a state of chaos and a few more 'accidental' deaths are unlikely to be noticed.
Their preferred mode of transportation tends to be ground vehicles that can easily blend into the ordinary traffic of the area. They do not want to be followed. They may also use helicopters for transportation particularly in areas with poor roads.
Helicopter use is very noticeable and requires ground support. In safe or uninhabited areas this necessity for ground support may be abandoned. However, due to its expense, helicopters tend to be used either for execution of political prisoners (such as binding them and throwing them into the ocean) or for support against the killing of civilian populations in an area with little cover with the support of ground forces.
Trucks and other transportation vehicles such as freight trucks, freight trains, or even vans may also be used depending on the availability and usefulness of local transportation.
More rarely, the use of freight trucks to simultaneously hold, suffocate, and expose to the elements the targets may take place. This occurred against captured Taliban fighters in the first invasion of Afghanistan by the United States Military and their local allies.
[edit] Logistical weaknesses
Death squads have relatively limited mobility and tend to work only within their countries or friendly territories. They tend not to wander on self-guided missions but to strike quickly and in force against a nearby target quickly before retreating.
They require frequent infusions of cash for food, fuel, and bullets. Modern accounting practices may make it difficult but not impossible in order for an otherwise legitimate regime to funnel cash to them. Additionally, if support for their transportation or weapons are denied to them then their effectiveness is much diminished.
If they cannot use their weapons against their target because their target is in terrain that they cannot go into and follow then their usefulness in that situation is ended. Death squads tend not to be used in mountain regions or other places where the targets can fairly easily slip away or defend themselves.
Death squads also cannot be used against mass non-violent movements within the general population if their authorities prize stability. They would risk being outcasts and authorities that tolerate massacring non-violent movements may find a revolution on their hands. This is an impetus for the development of so called non-lethal weapons in order to better control popular movements.
[edit] Strategic strengths
Death squads tend be deployed by their controllers for justifications such as profit, revenge, or power. Another polite way to phrase this is economics, justice, or politics. They are an instrument of control by their controllers. Death is viewed as the ultimate method of control.
Victims can be anyone who does not have hard security or a lack of visibility that the death squad comes in contact with.
[edit] Strategic weaknesses
The use of death squads internally against unimportant people, while accepted by most national governments as a matter of fact between each other, becomes a different matter entirely if this knowledge is distributed to the general population which may become agitated by this and seek to remove the public patrons who support these squads.
One of their weaknesses is exposure through the media. If people know who is in a death squad by sight or what vehicles they travel in, then their effectiveness diminishes immensely. Publicity takes away their element of surprise.
Additionally, if their financial, real estate or personal information is known, they may become targets of legal proceedings, harassment, or even death.
While a member of a death squad may be willing to kill civilians for a living, they are not as willing to deal with legal troubles or harassment off the job.
[edit] Kill lists
Kill lists almost always come before death squads are deployed.
Kill lists are simply lists of persons to be dealt with -- their name, possibly picture, usually their probable location, and possibly how they are to be 'handled'.
Sometimes the controller wants to use various levels of force to deal with 'problems': detention for some, torture for others, 'disappearences' for more. Not all 'problems' are best dealt with torture. Bribery, extortion, threats, and less lethal responses give more options to controllers to exercise power.
A national identification system with a picture is an excellent assistance to the creation of a kill list by a government-supported death squad.
As kill lists are a large indication that death squads are about to be used, any leak of a kill list will enable the potential victims to be aware that they are being tracked and then go underground. This will make it harder to kill them.
It will also potentially enable them to pursue legal or media action against the compiler.
For this reason, compiling kill lists on paper or electronic devices is a potential weakness. They could be leaked.
The existence of kill lists, however, does not necessarily mean that a death squad will be deployed. The non-purge of communists in Italy during the 1970s is an example of this.
However, the existence of kill lists is one of the largest indications that death squads will be deployed in the near future. The wary in the general population will monitor any compilation of lists, especially those of certain people that would be likely to be targeted by a death squad.
[edit] Historic use
For any historic actions of death squads, see death squad history.
[edit] Recent use
As of 2006, death squads have continued to be active in scattered locations. They were on the rise through the 1960s and 1970s. However, they now appear to have been on the decline since about 1981. Some known recent centers of activity include Chechnya, Congo, Colombia, Iraq and Sudan.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Haiti under the Gun, 1996 article by Allan Nairn, first published in The Nation
- CIA linked to FRAPH, coup — from Green Left Weekly
- CIA Support of Death Squads, by Ralph McGehee, ex-CIA
