Legal Commentary

U.S.- Run Iraqi Prisons Fuel al Qaeda

By Jeralyn

The Guardian reports that an increased number detainees released from prisons like Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper in Iraq are re-joining al Qaeda..

Iraqi security officials blame the U.S.-run prisons, saying they have caused a revitalised Sunni insurgency.

Major General Ahmed Obeidi al-Saedi, who leads the sixth division of the Iraqi army in south and west Baghdad, claims as many as 80% of detainees have either aligned, or realigned with militant groups, mostly to al-Qaida in Iraq, or its affiliates. He said 86 former inmates of the US prisons, known as Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca, have been rearrested since 10 March.

...."We ask them, did they finish their time in prison rehabilitated psychologically and they say 'no, it was the perfect environment to reorganise al-Qaida'."

[More...]

The prisons are breeding grounds.

Munaf Abdul-Rahim al-Rawi, has told his jailers that much of the key planning behind the carnage was done in prison. "He said 'we appointed our leaders inside Bucca'," said Saedi. "It was a very useful time for them.

"The head of finance for al-Qaida, Ali Naema al-Salmoon, was also in there with him. We caught him two weeks ago and he had been funding the bombings ever since he was released in 2009."

At one time, 25,000 detainees were held at the prisons. The U.S. has been trying to turn their operation over to Iraq.

The U.S. blames Iraqi officials for the problems.

An adviser to Major General Nelson Cannon, deputy commander of the US detention programme said all US detainees were first handed over to Iraqi authorities before being freed. "All of them are then being released by the Iraqi government on the strength of the cases against them," he said.

Either way, there's more than enough blame to go around. When you treat people like caged animals, how do you expect them to behave when they get out?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 23, 2010 (boomark / email).