And the Washington Post is reporting that the U.S. military has quietly given its support to Kurdish forces to carry out hundreds of political kidnappings in northern Iraq. A confidential State Department cable — obtained by The Washington Post — said the so-called “extra-judicial detentions” were part of a “concerted and widespread initiative” by Kurdish political parties to “exercise authority in Kirkuk in an increasingly provocative manner.” The U.S. military said it had logged 180 such kidnappings but Arab and Turkmen politicians put the number at more than 600 and said many families feared retribution for coming forward. Publicly the U.S. military claims the practice has stopped and is now condoned, but kidnappings were reported as recently as last week. The kidnapped men are seized in violation of Iraqi law and jailed for months at a time. Some have reportedly been tortured.