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U.S. cedes last detention center to Iraq Handover prompts
worries about abuse in nation’s prisons
by Leila Fadel
baghdad — A U.S. general on Thursday handed an oversize key to Iraq’s justice minister and relinquished control of the na- tion’s last American-run deten- tion center. That moment closed a contro- versial chapter of the U.S.-led oc- cupation, after seven years in which tens of thousands of Iraqis have passed through American detention centers. Often they were never charged with a crime. At Abu Ghraib, some were in- famously abused and humiliated. Now human rights groups and
Iraqis worry that detainees will be subjected to abuse in Iraq’s crowded prison system. Torture was rampant during the reign of Saddam Hussein, deposed in the U.S.-led invasion. In the past two years, hundreds of torture cases in Iraqi facilities were confirmed by the country’s Human Rights Ministry. This year, a secret pris- on was uncovered where inmates had been beaten and sodomized. “Unfortunately, Iraq is prone
to detention and torture abuses, whether it’s the former regime, the occupying powers or now the Iraqi government,” said Samer Muscati, an Iraq expert at Hu- man Rights Watch. “Under inter- national law, you’re not sup- posed to transfer detainees if they will get tortured. But how long can the Americans hold on to them? There is no ideal solu- tion, but the Americans have a responsibility.” The top U.S. military com- mander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odier- no, said his forces would contin- ue to train Iraqi security officials and prison guards to respect hu- man rights. He called past abuses by U.S. forces mistakes that re-
sulted from a lack of training and preparation. “Abu Ghraib is a les- son that we weren’t prepared,” he said in a briefing this week. “We made some real errors. We’ve learned from it and we’ve moved on from it, and that’s the most important thing.” Even after the U.S. military
transferred Camp Cropper and its 1,500 detainees to the Iraqi government on Thursday, it will retain control of about 260 de- tainees who are considered espe- cially dangerous. Among the men at Cropper are eight officials from Hussein’s government who are on death row. At the ceremony, Iraqi Justice
Minister Dara Noor al-Din pledged that the prisoners now in Iraqi custody would be treated with respect and would not be abused. He warned that political parties had no right to interfere in the prison system, which has been a problem in the new Iraq. “The days of mistreating and abusing prisoners are gone,” he said. “I ask that you treat every prisoner with dignity and honor.” Maj. Gen. Jerry Cannon, the
deputy commander for detainee operations, said that the U.S. military would continue to train its Iraqi counterparts on interna- tional standards for human rights and that it is prepared to look at cases of alleged abuse. “We’ve given detainees world- class care,” Cannon said Thurs- day, adding that it would take time for Iraqis to offer the same standard of care as American- run facilities. “If you want to be in custody, you’d probably want to be in our custody,” he added. The transfer of detainee opera- tions is part of a broader shift in responsibility as the U.S. draws down its forces in Iraq, with all combat troops expected to be out of the country by the end of Au- gust. That move is broadly popu- lar among Americans. In a new Washington Post-ABC News sur- vey, 71 percent approve of the re-
- ABC News poll
moval of combat forces, and 60 percent agree with the decision to keep 50,000 noncombat troops in Iraq in a supporting role. In Iraq, views of the transition are mixed, with many deeply ap- prehensive about the future of the fledgling democracy. Even Iraqis who have spent years de- manding a return to sovereignty and the exit of foreign forces con- cede, reluctantly, that the U.S. de- tention system post-Abu Ghraib had its advantages. “When someone is in U.S. cus-
tody, at least we know where they are. With the Iraqi prisons, we have no idea what will hap- pen to them,” said Hayder Ali, 25, a security guard in Baghdad. His cousin spent months in U.S. de- tention centers and is now in a Baghdad prison. “There is no tor- ture in U.S. prisons now, not like our prisons.”
But men who spent years in yellow jumpsuits at U.S. deten- tion centers and were never charged with a crime said they would never forget, or forgive. Abu Mariam is one of those men. U.S. and Iraqi forces de- tained him in a controversial raid of a Shiite mosque in 2006 that left more than a dozen people dead. In 2007, Abu Mariam, a fol- lower of fiery Shiite cleric Moq- tada al-Sadr, was acquitted in an Iraqi court of charges related to several killings. Despite his ac- quittal, the U.S. military kept him for two more years because it deemed him a security threat. “I was isolated from the world.
I am dead inside. They killed me 100 times,” said Abu Mariam, who would allow only his nom de guerre to be used because he is worried about being detained again. “Now Iraqi forces learn from them.”
fadell@washpost.com
Special correspondents Jinan Hussein and Aziz Alwan contributed to this report.
On Iraq and Afghanistan, broad support for troop drawdown
Most Americans favor the withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq by the end of August, and a majority say troops in Afghanistan should be drawn down by President Obama’s summer 2011 target date or sooner. But opinion on his handling of the conflicts is divided.
Q:
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Obama is handling . . .
His duties as commander in chief of the military The situation in Iraq
The situation in Afghanistan IRAQ Q:
As you may know, the United States will be removing all combat troops from Iraq by the end of August, and keeping no more than 50,000 noncombat troops there in a supporting role. Do you support or oppose . . .*
. . . the removal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of next month?
Oppose Support 26% 71% 2% No opinion AFGHANISTAN Q:
Obama has said U.S. forces will start withdrawing from Afghanistan in summer 2011. Do you think they should start withdrawing sooner than that, later than that, or is this schedule about right?
ALL Later
About right Sooner
Withdraw now No opinion
18% 45 31 1
5
Democrats 7%
57 32 1
4
Independents Republicans 17% 41 36 1
35% 40 20 1
5 4 3% No opinion
This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone July 7-11, 2010, among a random national sample of 1,288 adults including users of both conventional and cellular phones. Results from the full survey have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS of Horsham, Pa.
Some numbers are rounded. Complete data from the poll can be found at
www.washingtonpost.com/polls THE WASHINGTON POST Q:
Do you think the war in Afghanistan has or has not contributed to the long-term security of the United States?
53% Has
A great deal 25%
Somewhat 28%
78% 77 52
Percentage saying “support” among:
Democrats Independents Republicans
*Each asked of half of respondents.
62% 55 67
. . . keeping up to 50,000 noncombat troops in Iraq in a supporting role?
Support Oppose 60% 37% No opinion 3% Q:
Do you think the war in Iraq has or has not contributed to the long-term security of the United States?
50% Has
A great deal 25%
Somewhat 25%
55% NET
45% 48%
33% 23% 20%
APPROVE DISAPPROVE STRONGLY
STRONGLY
26% 30%
31% NET
45% 42% 44%
FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010
Has not 46%
4% No opinion
Has not 44%
Wary Afghan elders slow to show support for fight with Taliban zhari from A1
moved forward this week when the Afghan government ap- proved a U.S.-backed plan to cre-
ate local defense forces in rural areas.
But that plan and the accompa-
nying effort to bolster local gov- ernments are hampered by villag-
ers’ conflicted loyalties, the Tali- ban’s stranglehold on the population and Afghans’ anger at the U.S. military presence. NATO officials say nowhere could it be
more difficult to promote govern- ance than in Zhari, a tribal patch- work west of Kandahar that was the birthplace of the Taliban movement. Coalition forces there have never been large enough to implement real change. For now, Jan is the government of Zhari, a lush agricultural belt the Taliban uses as a key com- mand and supply center. Jan’s 20 or so district cabinet positions re- main unfilled because the pro- vincial government is slow to ap- prove candidates, and most are too afraid to take the jobs anyway, U.S. officials said. Jan, the former police chief in
Senjaray, won his job after his predecessor resigned to run for parliament. A 60-man council of Zhari elders quickly appointed Jan, a member of the district’s largest tribe, and he vowed to be fair to all.
For U.S., cautious hope
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U.S. officials express cautious hope that Jan will stick to that pledge. Lt. Col. Johnny K. Davis, the battalion commander who oversees much of the infantry in Zhari, said he thinks Jan prob- ably communicates with insur- gents — perhaps as a survival tac- tic — but is at least “80 percent with the coalition.”
Since taking the job, Jan has
negotiated property disputes and a blood feud. A jovial fellow with a thick mustache, he says he wants to open a cinema showing James Bond and Jean-Claude Van Damme movies to show con- stituents how advanced the West is.
But given the level of Taliban
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activity here, that is a fantasy, as is the mere notion of Jan’s trav- eling much beyond his office ad- joined to a U.S. base. Soldiers at small combat out- posts, who for the time being serve as the government’s pri- mary ambassadors, face regular rocket attacks and ambushes. The elders of villages in the dis- trict’s western reaches, where Tal- iban rule is unquestioned and government representatives have not stepped foot for years, live full time in Kandahar. On a recent day in Khadakalay, a town off the main highway, farmer Rozi Khan said he knew Jan’s name but had no intention of turning to him. “If we had any connection with the district government, it would be so bad for us,” said Khan, a man with a salt-and-pepper beard. “If we even talked with the police at the checkpoint on the highway, the Taliban would cut off our heads.” Jan’s counterpart in neighbor- ing Arghandab district was assas- sinated last month, and Jan’s ar- mored convoy has already been ambushed and bombed. In an in- terview in his blue-curtained of- fice, he said he has “accepted that
KARIN BRULLIARD/THE WASHINGTON POST
Elders at the shura called by Karim Jan were skeptical of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and did not deliver promised help.
0 MILES TURKMEN.
Mazar-e Sharif
Herat IRAN
GENE THORP/THE WASHINGTON POST Kandahar
I will die at the point of the gun of the enemy.” If Jan holds sway anywhere in Zhari, it is in Senjaray, a town of 10,000 people that is the district’s main population center. But even though he insisted people there are weary of the Taliban, U.S. sol- diers say Senjaray leaders sit squarely on the fence. From their expanding perch on the hill, the troops have a view of their narrow cat-and-mouse game. On one patch of town sits an inert, American-built school that has been repeatedly attacked and is now a “strong point” for U.S. and Afghan forces. Not far away is a large mosque that is a Taliban hub. In between are the mud-brick compounds that U.S. soldiers vis- it in hopes of making inroads with influential elders. Recently, though, the structures became launching pads for grenades, some tossed by children. It is a new tactic that sows fear, Stout said. “You throw a grenade in there,
it’s going to hit something,” he said, peering down on the town. After the fifth attack, Jan ac- companied the patrol and threat- ened to burn down collaborators’ houses, U.S. soldiers said. Days later, another patrol pursuing a suspect in the previous attack was targeted by a grenade.
Meeting the elders
It did not detonate, but Stout was outraged. Jan quickly orga-
Kabul AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN
Kunduz Baghlan
200 UZBEK. TAJIK.
nized the meeting, or shura, of Senjaray elders, at which he counseled that only by helping coalition forces secure the town would they get hospitals and schools and fertilizer. Davis, the battalion commander, praised Is- lam, then condemned the Taliban for endangering children. “My unit has come here to sup-
port the district governor. To help strengthen and train your army. To help train the Afghan police,” Davis said. “And I ask you to help.”
Elders fingering prayer beads shouted comments, most of which revolved around one theme: U.S. forces should leave. “I’m not going to let the enemy or you in my village. I’m going to take care of security myself,” said Haji Jalat, the most vocal of the elders. “I’m sure they had a little shura with the Taliban before coming here,” Davis whispered as he watched Jan work the room. Finally, the elders came up with a solution that made the U.S. soldiers’ eyes light up. They would nominate a group among them to join the patrols. Three days later, however, Jan said he had heard nothing more about that idea. “They could have been intimidated by the Taliban,” he surmised. The next day, there was an- other grenade attack. Two days later, another. As of Thursday, nine U.S. soldiers had been wounded in the strikes, four seri- ously enough to be sent to the United States to recover. The el- ders never presented nominees for patrol duty. “When it came time to decide,
everyone stepped back,” Stout, the company commander, said in an e-mail on Thursday. “Karim Jan is continuing to pressure the elders of Senjaray to take action, but we have yet to witness this in the town.”
brulliardk@washpost.com
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