Media White Wash: U.S.-Backed "Dirty Brigade" Operating in Iraq

So, there is an "elite" group of commandos known by the Iraqi public as the "dirty brigade." Its commanders claim that the brigade is made up of soldiers embodying the height of professionalism, but they're perceived to be a hand-picked crew, outside the chain of command, that targets the Maliki regime's political enemies. They're trained and equipped by the U.S. 

The story should come as little surprise. During the 2004 campaign, conservatives in the U.S. talked a lot about deploying the "El Salvador model" in Iraq, and in 2007 Pentagon planners in fact acknowledged, as Reuters put it, "that the El Salvador model had influenced planning."