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A real reach here, and done completely without access to source material, but by chance were the "swarthy men" who participated in the Siege of Minas Tirith (think that they had axes) a cross between between men and dwarves?
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Keep in mind that Tolkien intended for his works to be seen as an unofficial mythology to the world we know and love (most of the time)--albeit from an English perspective. If you look at any large-scale map of Middle-earth during the Third Age, the similarities to the archaic formations of the original continents becomes apparent. Now we need only look at Mordor's location relevant to the "directions" these people originated from. These "swarthy" men hailed from lands based off our Asia, Middle East, and Africa. I think that explains their appearance more than anything. As for siding with Sauron, their respective civilizations were developing in the wrong places at the wrong time, so to speak, for Sauron to use them as such.
That seems the most logical explanation, but without any definitive quotes, dwarf-men are possible perhaps.