BAGHDAD, April 26, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Three years after the US invasion-turned-occupation, military uniforms, weapons and even armored vehicles are now available in the Iraqi markets for anyone seeking to form his own "death squad" to terrorize opponents.

"I don't care who comes to buy them. As long as they give me the money, I give them the products," Tariq, who runs a store selling police and military supplies at Baghdad's Bab al-Sharjee market, told Reuters.

Police and military supplies and police uniforms are available at about 15 shops in the market for 35,000 Dinars (about $24).

Ordinary police uniform are also sold at only $15.

With no question asked or identity checks required, badges of rank from captain to major-general are available at $2.

"One person came yesterday and took 12 full commando uniforms. Another took 15 army uniforms and ski masks with holes for the eyes," said Tariq, adding that the most popular items were police commando uniforms.

Although some uniforms such as a plain blue Iraqi police shirt are relatively simple for any tailor to produce, it was unclear where Tariq and others get the complicated camouflage uniforms from.

The New York Times reported recently that Iraq has turned into a "weapons bazaar," with most Iraqis racing to buy pieces of pistols, carbines or rifles to defend themselves against tit-for-tat sectarian assaults.

Paul Bremer, the former US overseer in Iraq, had issued an order allowing obtaining firearms including an AK-47, the world's most popular killing machine, for everyone 25 and older with a "good reputation and character."

Just a few kilometers nearby, police vehicles are sold at the Nahdha car showrooms for $12,000.

"There is a possibility some people buy these cars with violent intent, but we can't go around checking after them," car salesman Abu Mohammed said.

"Our job is to sell cars and make money."

He also sells bullet-proof cars for a cost up to $340,000.

"I can get anything you can think of, even an American Humvee if the price is right."

For an extra few hundred dollars, people can also buy sirens and police markings at the central Sinak market.

The Iraqi markets are also awash with plenty of other smaller items such as laser pointers for weapons, face-hiding ski masks and handcuffs.

Fake IDs are also available in the Mureydi market in the Shiite Sadr City.

Major-General Mehdi al-Gharrawi, the head of the Iraqi interior ministry's special law and order unit, said the military uniforms were being used by what he called criminals to stain the image of the ministry's forces.

He said the police and commandos would also change their uniforms within two weeks to a style that will be hard to copy, a promise they have failed to act on in the past.

One of the critical tasks Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki faces is to clean up the Shiite-dominated interior ministry, which has been accused of condoning death squads who hunt down Sunni Arabs.

Sunnis accuse the interim Shiite-led government of sanctioning militia 'death squads' over the past year.

Many demand Iraq's militias be disbanded, something Maliki has promised to make a priority by drafting them into the armed forces.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday, March 25, that militias, many with strong ties to powerful Shiite leaders and well entrenched in security and police forces, are killing more Iraqis than "terrorists".

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report issued on Monday, February 27, that only the introduction of significant changes to the Iraqi "sectarian" constitution and disbanding government-condoned militias can help ward off a deadly civil.

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