Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Wall Street Journal
April 18, 2008
Pg. 3
Detention Policies Have Been Source Of Public Anger
By Yochi J. Dreazen
WASHINGTON -- U.S. commanders in Iraq have begun releasing thousands of detainees and expect to free more than half of the 23,000 held by American forces, according to senior military commanders.
The moves are part of a broad effort to reshape the military's controversial detention policies, in part because the large number of Iraqis in U.S. custody is a source of public anger there. U.S. officials also believe freeing the primarily Sunni detainees will help persuade the embattled minority to participate more in Iraq's Shiite-heavy political process.
The releases, the largest since the start of the 2003 invasion, are a big test of a new U.S. initiative to determine which detainees pose long-term security risks and which can be safely released. Senior U.S. officials estimate fewer than 10,000 of the detainees will have to remain in custody. Some officials said the number may be as small as 2,500.
Insurgents suspected of posing security threats can be held for years without being brought to trial. The locations of U.S. prison facilities in Iraq -- a heavily fortified base in Baghdad and within a remote stretch of Shiite southern Iraq -- make visits by family members difficult.
The United Nations mandate allowing the U.S. to detain Iraqis expires in December. The military would theoretically have to free all detainees by the end of the year unless Washington and Baghdad strike a bilateral deal giving the U.S. the right to continue holding suspected insurgents.
U.S. officials are optimistic a deal can be reached in time and said they are focused on determining which detainees to free and which to keep in custody.
"When they aren't a security risk, it's our obligation to release them," said Brig. Gen. Mike Nevin, who oversees the U.S. detention facilities in greater Baghdad. "The trick is: how do you know when they're no longer a threat?"
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said in a meeting with reporters last week the military was planning "substantial detainee releases" and now had "the confidence to do that."
The military has begun building a pair of large halfway houses in Taji and Ramadi where detainees will undergo vocational training and moderate Islamic religious education before being freed. U.S. commanders also plan to eventually close down the sprawling prison known as southern Iraq's Camp Bucca, which houses about 19,000 detainees. The new halfway houses are located in the Sunni regions that are home to most of the detainees.
The military is currently releasing an average of 52 detainees a day, more than the few dozen being brought into custody daily. The detainee population has fallen by more than 2,000 in the past two months, military officials say.
U.S. officials said they are cautiously optimistic the rehabilitation efforts are paying off. A total of 8,000 detainees have been freed since September, and only 16 have to date been rearrested, said Maj. Matt Morgan, a spokesman for the detention program.
"We have separated out the irreconcilables from the reconcilables," Gen. Petraeus said last week. Hard-core extremists had previously been intermingled with the general detainee population, "recruiting the terrorist class of 2008," he added.
The military's effort to differentiate between its detainees is painting a surprising portrait of the average insurgent. U.S. officials had long believed that most insurgents were unemployed, unmarried religious extremists, motivated to carry out acts of violence primarily by Islamic fervor.
Military officials said most detainees were married with children, with more than a quarter having at least five sons or daughters. Many of the suspected insurgents don't regularly attend mosque and many told their captors they drank regularly.
"Most detainees do not seem religiously motivated," the military said in a written assessment conducted by the task force responsible for detainee operations in Iraq.
The military also found the suspected insurgents generally held steady, though low-paying, jobs, and saw the insurgency as a way of supplementing their regular income and attaining extra money for cellphones, cars and other consumer goods. Other insurgents were motivated by a desire for revenge. A majority said friends or relatives had been killed or wounded at the hands of U.S. troops, most commonly near convoys of coalition vehicles.
Maj. Morgan, the detention-program spokesman, cited a recent instance where a suspected insurgent surprised his captors by quickly admitting that he fired on U.S. troops. The officers asked him whether he would carry out other attacks if freed.
"His response was, 'would you kill my wife and daughter again?'" Maj. Morgan said. The Iraqi's family had been killed during a U.S. raid, and the detainee had fired back during the assault, Maj. Morgan said.
Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, the Marine officer overseeing U.S. detention operations in Iraq, believes many suspected insurgents can be rehabilitated and integrated back into wider Iraqi society.
At his direction, the U.S. military offers dozens of voluntary courses in civics, basic education and vocational training to detainees, military officials say. Instructors accredited by the Iraqi Ministry of Education teach classes in literacy, science, geography and mathematical skills, and detainees can earn elementary and high school degrees while in U.S. custody, they said.
The military also brings in moderate imams to teach religious courses that highlight the Islamic precepts that bar the killing of innocents and offer alternative interpretations of jihad, which many detainees associate solely with acts of violence against Western forces.
"It washes away the myths and things people have used to manipulate them in the past," Gen. Nevin said.
April 18, 2008
Pg. 3
Detention Policies Have Been Source Of Public Anger
By Yochi J. Dreazen
WASHINGTON -- U.S. commanders in Iraq have begun releasing thousands of detainees and expect to free more than half of the 23,000 held by American forces, according to senior military commanders.
The moves are part of a broad effort to reshape the military's controversial detention policies, in part because the large number of Iraqis in U.S. custody is a source of public anger there. U.S. officials also believe freeing the primarily Sunni detainees will help persuade the embattled minority to participate more in Iraq's Shiite-heavy political process.
The releases, the largest since the start of the 2003 invasion, are a big test of a new U.S. initiative to determine which detainees pose long-term security risks and which can be safely released. Senior U.S. officials estimate fewer than 10,000 of the detainees will have to remain in custody. Some officials said the number may be as small as 2,500.
Insurgents suspected of posing security threats can be held for years without being brought to trial. The locations of U.S. prison facilities in Iraq -- a heavily fortified base in Baghdad and within a remote stretch of Shiite southern Iraq -- make visits by family members difficult.
The United Nations mandate allowing the U.S. to detain Iraqis expires in December. The military would theoretically have to free all detainees by the end of the year unless Washington and Baghdad strike a bilateral deal giving the U.S. the right to continue holding suspected insurgents.
U.S. officials are optimistic a deal can be reached in time and said they are focused on determining which detainees to free and which to keep in custody.
"When they aren't a security risk, it's our obligation to release them," said Brig. Gen. Mike Nevin, who oversees the U.S. detention facilities in greater Baghdad. "The trick is: how do you know when they're no longer a threat?"
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said in a meeting with reporters last week the military was planning "substantial detainee releases" and now had "the confidence to do that."
The military has begun building a pair of large halfway houses in Taji and Ramadi where detainees will undergo vocational training and moderate Islamic religious education before being freed. U.S. commanders also plan to eventually close down the sprawling prison known as southern Iraq's Camp Bucca, which houses about 19,000 detainees. The new halfway houses are located in the Sunni regions that are home to most of the detainees.
The military is currently releasing an average of 52 detainees a day, more than the few dozen being brought into custody daily. The detainee population has fallen by more than 2,000 in the past two months, military officials say.
U.S. officials said they are cautiously optimistic the rehabilitation efforts are paying off. A total of 8,000 detainees have been freed since September, and only 16 have to date been rearrested, said Maj. Matt Morgan, a spokesman for the detention program.
"We have separated out the irreconcilables from the reconcilables," Gen. Petraeus said last week. Hard-core extremists had previously been intermingled with the general detainee population, "recruiting the terrorist class of 2008," he added.
The military's effort to differentiate between its detainees is painting a surprising portrait of the average insurgent. U.S. officials had long believed that most insurgents were unemployed, unmarried religious extremists, motivated to carry out acts of violence primarily by Islamic fervor.
Military officials said most detainees were married with children, with more than a quarter having at least five sons or daughters. Many of the suspected insurgents don't regularly attend mosque and many told their captors they drank regularly.
"Most detainees do not seem religiously motivated," the military said in a written assessment conducted by the task force responsible for detainee operations in Iraq.
The military also found the suspected insurgents generally held steady, though low-paying, jobs, and saw the insurgency as a way of supplementing their regular income and attaining extra money for cellphones, cars and other consumer goods. Other insurgents were motivated by a desire for revenge. A majority said friends or relatives had been killed or wounded at the hands of U.S. troops, most commonly near convoys of coalition vehicles.
Maj. Morgan, the detention-program spokesman, cited a recent instance where a suspected insurgent surprised his captors by quickly admitting that he fired on U.S. troops. The officers asked him whether he would carry out other attacks if freed.
"His response was, 'would you kill my wife and daughter again?'" Maj. Morgan said. The Iraqi's family had been killed during a U.S. raid, and the detainee had fired back during the assault, Maj. Morgan said.
Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, the Marine officer overseeing U.S. detention operations in Iraq, believes many suspected insurgents can be rehabilitated and integrated back into wider Iraqi society.
At his direction, the U.S. military offers dozens of voluntary courses in civics, basic education and vocational training to detainees, military officials say. Instructors accredited by the Iraqi Ministry of Education teach classes in literacy, science, geography and mathematical skills, and detainees can earn elementary and high school degrees while in U.S. custody, they said.
The military also brings in moderate imams to teach religious courses that highlight the Islamic precepts that bar the killing of innocents and offer alternative interpretations of jihad, which many detainees associate solely with acts of violence against Western forces.
"It washes away the myths and things people have used to manipulate them in the past," Gen. Nevin said.