Region | Iraq
US military rushes to build cases against dangerous detainees
The US military is rushing to build criminal cases against some 5,000 detainees it deems dangerous - including suspected members of Al Qaida in Iraq.
- AP
- Published: 00:34 December 1, 2008
- Detainees are seen outside their cell block at the US detention facility at Camp Cropper in Baghdad, Iraq.
- Image Credit: AP
Camp Cropper, Iraq: The US military is rushing to build criminal cases against some 5,000 detainees it deems dangerous - including suspected members of Al Qaida in Iraq - because the proposed security pact with Iraq would end its right to hold prisoners without charge.
The agreement, which is to be voted on by Iraqi lawmakers on Wednesday, is primarily intended to set a timetable calling for American troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. But it also calls for control of security matters to shift to Iraqi authorities.
If passed, the deal would mean US troops could no longer hold people without charge as they have since the 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussain.
Beginning on January 1, all detentions would have to be based on evidence, and the US would have to prosecute prisoners in Iraqi courts or let them go.
"At the end of the day, if there's not enough facts to justify a court case, then we'll have to release," said Brigadier General David Quantock, the commander of the US detention system in Iraq.
The Americans have evidence against only "a few hundred" of the most dangerous detainees, Quantock said, leaving open the possibility that thousands could find themselves back on Iraq's streets soon.
Lot of work
"We have a lot of work to do," he said.
Part of the challenge stems from differences between the US and Iraqi legal systems. In the United States, forensic evidence is widely used in the courts. Not so in Iraq.
"We've got a number of guys right now that are covered in TNT [explosive residue]. However, that's not admissible in Iraqi court," Quantock said.
"What wins the day in Iraqi courts today is two eyewitness statements or a confession." The US is training Iraqi forensic specialists and pushing to make such evidence more acceptable in court.
Iraqi judges are slowly bending, but it is expected to take time before forensic evidence wins wide approval.
The transition comes amid a marked improvement in security that has boosted the confidence of Iraq's government and allowed security-based detention to give way to a civilian justice system.
It would also mark a major step toward shutting down a detention system that was tainted by the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, where US guards abused detainees.
US forces are holding around 16,500 detainees in all.
Recent trip
The largest facility, with some 12,900 prisoners, is at Camp Bucca near the city of Basra, some 544km southeast of Baghdad.
Camp Cropper, on the sprawling US base near Baghdad International Airport outside the capital, serves as the system's logistical headquarters and houses some 2,000 prisoners. All detainees entering and leaving US custody pass through Cropper.
On a recent trip to the base, journalists saw detainees dressed in yellow pants and shirts or traditional robes chatting outside low-slung, peach-coloured barracks.
Some ritually washed their hands and feet before afternoon prayers, while others set out laundry to dry in the midday sun. Guards kept watch from towers looming over a double row of barbed-wire fences.
Iraq's government will receive the names and other details of those in US custody so it can issue arrest warrants for some of them.
Quantock said he is confident that either the US or Iraqi government will muster enough evidence to keep many of the most dangerous individuals behind bars.
But releasing the other 11,000 prisoners, who are not considered a serious threat, also poses a challenge.
The security agreement before Iraq's parliament stipulates that detainees be let go "in a safe and orderly manner".
US and Iraqi officials are mindful of the dangers posed by dumping thousands of suspected insurgents, even if minor players, into communities already grappling with high unemployment.
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