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One day I will tell you all more about this program.. 
A bold new program in Iraq uses Islam to teach insurgents the error of their murderous ways.
By Babak Dehghanpisheh
Newsweek International
Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue - Wiry and lean, Abdullah looks on with a glassy stare as the instructor explains the subject for the day: revenge. The case study is the first gulf war, and the instructor lists religious and moral reasons why it was wrong for Iraqi soldiers to loot and kill in Kuwait. Abdullah, 17, and the nine other teenagers sitting with him on wooden benches in the class nod impassively. This isn't an ordinary high school. The teens, decked out in prison uniforms, are detainees at Camp Cropper, the high-security facility in Iraq that once held Saddam Hussein.
Some of the kids may have tried to kill American or Iraqi soldiers; others have been picked up for smaller offenses like breaking curfew. But the group, all Sunnis, have one thing in common: they've been brainwashed for jihad. "If they let them out, they would all become suicide bombers," says Sheik Abdul Jabbar, 37, an Iraqi cleric working with the teens.
That's what the religious-education program at Cropper is trying to prevent. Started two months ago, the classes are taught by imams, psychiatrists and counselors—all Iraqis who are trying to bring hardened youth back into the fold. Due in large part to the surge, the number of detainees in U.S. custody has increased by 56 percent since January to a whopping 23,083. Roughly 85 percent are Sunni. Detainees are now being brought into Cropper at the rate of about 60 a day. As the prisoners come in, the insurgents already in custody fan out, looking for new recruits. Many detainees may leave the facility more radicalized than the day they came in. That's a real concern for Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, the deputy commanding general for detainee ops: "I'm trying to kill the idea of Al Qaeda," he says.
Thanks to the Abu Ghraib scandal, U.S. detention programs until now have had an almost entirely negative effect on hearts and minds in Iraq. These days, it's the Iraqi security forces who are often accused of abusing detainees. Still, Stone maintains that things are changing. The religious-education classes are part of a wider reform effort that includes work programs and in-person case reviews. "Certainly there's an improvement," says an independent monitor who has inspected Iraqi-run detention facilities, and who asked for anonymity in order to maintain access to prisons. "But if everything is getting better, why don't they open up the facilities to more scrutiny?"
Part of the reason could be the security risk. Many of those held at Cropper are hardened jihadists, who break off bits of razor wire to fashion crude knives, and use pants strings and torn-up volleyballs to make homemade slingshots. "Chai rocks"—dirt mixed with tea, shaped into hardened balls—are used as ammo. In one area of the camp, heavily armed guards patrol on catwalks above pens encased in concertina wire—many with a concrete mortar shelter in the middle. Detainees in banana-yellow uniforms lounge about in the brutal 50 degree C heat.
There are about 3,800 detainees at Cropper, 747 of them juveniles. For now, the religious-education classes target a focus group of 10 young men. General Stone, who says he reads the Qur'an every day, modeled the classes on other deprogramming experiments, including one in Saudi Arabia. The imams use the Qur'an and Hadith to teach extremist detainees that their beliefs are not supported by Islam. Sheik Jabbar, who teaches here on contract, says he was "shocked" at first by the bile many of the teens spew at him. Some of the students can't read and know little about the Qur'an, but there is no shaking their conviction. Still, Jabbar perseveres, trying to "show them that jihad means doing something good for the people."
It's an uphill battle. Many of the detainees are steeped in sectarian hate, and the detention system separates them by sect. Sunni and Shiite juveniles mix only during the 90-minute general-education classes, which makes the divide more apparent. The one thing they seem to share: a fondness for Harry Potter movies. Otherwise, they sit apart and never talk to each other in class. The teacher, a young Iraqi woman named Huda, says she even tries to force interactions, like a game of chess, but the kids refuse. Fights are common. When a tape of the recent Asia Cup football final was aired for the class, the Shia kids were jumping up and down and singing. Some of the Sunni kids refused to even look at the TV (the Iraqi national team is mostly Shia). "They hate. They hate. They hate," says Huda, clearly frustrated. Even General Stone admits that the jury is out on the religious classes. Still, more imams are on the way. Standing on the side of the classroom, Sheik Jabbar looks on with a worried expression. He says he has noticed a positive change in the way some of the juveniles interact with the American guards, but he's not sure it's going to last. "This is not only a problem for Iraq, it can be a problem for Europe or the U.S.," Jabbar says. "We have to succeed to show them what is the real Islam." The future of his country just might hang in the balance.
A bold new program in Iraq uses Islam to teach insurgents the error of their murderous ways.
By Babak Dehghanpisheh
Newsweek International
Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue - Wiry and lean, Abdullah looks on with a glassy stare as the instructor explains the subject for the day: revenge. The case study is the first gulf war, and the instructor lists religious and moral reasons why it was wrong for Iraqi soldiers to loot and kill in Kuwait. Abdullah, 17, and the nine other teenagers sitting with him on wooden benches in the class nod impassively. This isn't an ordinary high school. The teens, decked out in prison uniforms, are detainees at Camp Cropper, the high-security facility in Iraq that once held Saddam Hussein.
Some of the kids may have tried to kill American or Iraqi soldiers; others have been picked up for smaller offenses like breaking curfew. But the group, all Sunnis, have one thing in common: they've been brainwashed for jihad. "If they let them out, they would all become suicide bombers," says Sheik Abdul Jabbar, 37, an Iraqi cleric working with the teens.
That's what the religious-education program at Cropper is trying to prevent. Started two months ago, the classes are taught by imams, psychiatrists and counselors—all Iraqis who are trying to bring hardened youth back into the fold. Due in large part to the surge, the number of detainees in U.S. custody has increased by 56 percent since January to a whopping 23,083. Roughly 85 percent are Sunni. Detainees are now being brought into Cropper at the rate of about 60 a day. As the prisoners come in, the insurgents already in custody fan out, looking for new recruits. Many detainees may leave the facility more radicalized than the day they came in. That's a real concern for Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, the deputy commanding general for detainee ops: "I'm trying to kill the idea of Al Qaeda," he says.
Thanks to the Abu Ghraib scandal, U.S. detention programs until now have had an almost entirely negative effect on hearts and minds in Iraq. These days, it's the Iraqi security forces who are often accused of abusing detainees. Still, Stone maintains that things are changing. The religious-education classes are part of a wider reform effort that includes work programs and in-person case reviews. "Certainly there's an improvement," says an independent monitor who has inspected Iraqi-run detention facilities, and who asked for anonymity in order to maintain access to prisons. "But if everything is getting better, why don't they open up the facilities to more scrutiny?"
Part of the reason could be the security risk. Many of those held at Cropper are hardened jihadists, who break off bits of razor wire to fashion crude knives, and use pants strings and torn-up volleyballs to make homemade slingshots. "Chai rocks"—dirt mixed with tea, shaped into hardened balls—are used as ammo. In one area of the camp, heavily armed guards patrol on catwalks above pens encased in concertina wire—many with a concrete mortar shelter in the middle. Detainees in banana-yellow uniforms lounge about in the brutal 50 degree C heat.
There are about 3,800 detainees at Cropper, 747 of them juveniles. For now, the religious-education classes target a focus group of 10 young men. General Stone, who says he reads the Qur'an every day, modeled the classes on other deprogramming experiments, including one in Saudi Arabia. The imams use the Qur'an and Hadith to teach extremist detainees that their beliefs are not supported by Islam. Sheik Jabbar, who teaches here on contract, says he was "shocked" at first by the bile many of the teens spew at him. Some of the students can't read and know little about the Qur'an, but there is no shaking their conviction. Still, Jabbar perseveres, trying to "show them that jihad means doing something good for the people."
It's an uphill battle. Many of the detainees are steeped in sectarian hate, and the detention system separates them by sect. Sunni and Shiite juveniles mix only during the 90-minute general-education classes, which makes the divide more apparent. The one thing they seem to share: a fondness for Harry Potter movies. Otherwise, they sit apart and never talk to each other in class. The teacher, a young Iraqi woman named Huda, says she even tries to force interactions, like a game of chess, but the kids refuse. Fights are common. When a tape of the recent Asia Cup football final was aired for the class, the Shia kids were jumping up and down and singing. Some of the Sunni kids refused to even look at the TV (the Iraqi national team is mostly Shia). "They hate. They hate. They hate," says Huda, clearly frustrated. Even General Stone admits that the jury is out on the religious classes. Still, more imams are on the way. Standing on the side of the classroom, Sheik Jabbar looks on with a worried expression. He says he has noticed a positive change in the way some of the juveniles interact with the American guards, but he's not sure it's going to last. "This is not only a problem for Iraq, it can be a problem for Europe or the U.S.," Jabbar says. "We have to succeed to show them what is the real Islam." The future of his country just might hang in the balance.
