US military plans unannounced inspections of suspect Iraqi prisons

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US military plans unannounced inspections of suspect Iraqi prisons

WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (AFP) - The US military is planning unannounced
inspections of suspected Iraqi detention centers to make sure prisoners are
not being abused in other secret Interior Ministry facilities, a top general
said Friday.

A US-led raid last month freed about 170 mostly Sunni prisoners from an
Interior Ministry jail in Baghdad where at least seven detainees had been
tortured and others deprived of food, water and medical care.

Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey said US military intelligence was drawing
up a list of potential sites to be inspected by US and Iraqi inspector
general teams.

"And it's going to focus initially in and around Baghdad, of course, but I
also think it will take a look more broadly than that," he told reporters
here in a video-teleconference from Iraq.

He said intelligence reports are being analyzed for indications of other
secret facilities like the one uncovered in the November 13 raid. Possible
sites will be added to the list for inspection, he said.

The secret prison put a spotlight on the vulnerability of the 75,000-strong
Iraqi police to subversion by militia groups even as the United States is
planning to turn over greater responsibilities to Iraqi security forces.

In the Baghdad area, a surge in kidnapping and assassinations of Sunnis by
armed men in police uniforms and vehicles have sharpened divisions between
ruling Shiites and Sunnis.

In Shiite-dominated southern Iraq, infiltration of the local police by
militia elements led to a shoot-out in September between police and British
troops trying to rescue two fellow soldiers.

"The seriousness of it is more or less in that it undermines the Iraqi
security forces that we're training and equipping as the sole provider, the
legitimate source of authority and force in Iraq," said Dempsey.

"And so it is a serious problem, and one which we know we all work on," he
said.

Dempsey, who is in charge of training and equipping the Iraqi security
forces, said a major emphasis will be put on reforming the Iraqi police over
the next year.
 
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