by: Nick Mottern and Bill Rau, t r u t h o u t | Report
When an Iraqi is pulled off the street by US forces or captured in combat, that person is facing enrollment in the “population engagement program called detention.”
This description of the US imprisonment of thousands of Iraqis was offered by Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, former commander of Task Force 134 (TF-134), the unit in charge of US detention prisons in Iraq, speaking at a Pentagon press briefing in June 2008 at the completion of his 14-month tour in Iraq.
“The detention system in Iraq,” he said, “now functions as a counterinsurgency tool that combats terrorist ideology.”
To more fully understand the nature of the US “counterinsurgency tool” that operates in the US detention system in Iraq, Consumers for Peace submitted questions to TF-134 over the last three months. TF-134′s responses, excerpted below, outline a concerted program of re-education and inducement designed to persuade Iraqis to accept the control of the US-Iraqi occupation government.
TF-134 says Iraqis are detained only because they present a threat of violence. The very existence of the re-education program indicates that decisions about holding people in US detention facilities may also be based on the desire to convert Iraq’s resistance fighters into active or passive supporters of the US-Iraqi government.
According to TF-134, Iraqis are deeply involved in determining how prisoners will be categorized and segregated in prison and in the re-education process.
TF-134 affirms that those who are captured by US forces are not permitted to have the help of legal counsel in seeking their freedom or in any other aspect of their handling. As will be discussed, the final decision on their freedom is in the hands of the US military.
The “In” Process
When an Iraqi is captured, according to a TF-134 spokesperson, he or she (only about 10 of the 17,700 Iraqis currently in US prisons in Iraq are women) will be questioned and either be immediately released or be held for further questioning and appraisal: “The capturing unit has a review and release process that begins at the point of capture and is allowed to continue for up to 21 days before the person is moved into a theater internment facility (TIF) and the custody of MNF-I/TF 134 (Multi-National Force – Iraq/Task Force 134).”
“Most detainees were captured as the result of an Iraqi-generated warrant for some act that would classify them as a threat,” said the TF-134 spokesman. “Unfortunately, often there are false reports that cause a person to be captured unnecessarily. When the capturing coalition security force determines that the person is not a threat, he is released. This determination is sometimes made at the point of capture, and the person is never taken anywhere. Most common is that during the initial interviews the investigators come to the realization that the person should not have been captured.”
“No one has been detained by Coalition forces for something they’ve said in the presence of Coalition forces,” the TF-134 spokesman said in answer to a question about whether a person will be arrested for political statements. But, he said: “Often Iraqis charge one another because of something they’ve heard about someone, causing a warrant to be issued.”
A captured person is permitted to notify his or her family, the spokesperson said, but: “Some choose not to notify anyone that they have been captured, typically because they do not want their family to know that they were involved in activities that would get them detained.”
TF-134 says that about half of those captured are released within the 21-day investigation period. The other half are sent to US prisons in Iraq.
The “ultimate deciding factor” in whether a person goes to a US prison, the spokesperson said, is whether he or she has committed a violent act that “poses an imperative threat to the security and stability of the people of Iraq, its government or the Iraq Security Forces, or Coalition forces.” Another consideration, TF-134′s command brief says, is “affiliation with insurgent groups.”
“Green, Amber and Red” Prisoners in Yellow Clothes
As indicated above, an Iraqi who has not been released after the initial screening is sent to a TIF (theater internment facility) – either Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport, which currently holds about 1,700 Iraqis, according to TF-134, or Camp Bucca, a desert prison camp that covers about 100 acres and now confines about 15,900. These Youtube videos provide a sense of the physical and atmospheric characteristics of Cropper and Bucca.
As discussed in Part I of this series, as of the Fall of 2008, about 25 Iraqis enter US prisons each day and about 75 are released, according to TF-134. The figures were the reverse in early 2007 during the US military “surge.”
The prisoner is assigned to sections or compounds within the prisons, and to a path of “education,” based on how he or she is categorized upon entry into the system. The TF-134 spokesman explained the categorization process as follows:
“All detainees are evaluated during their in-processing to the TIFs by Iraqi clerics and social workers and by military intelligence service members to determine their perceived level of commitment to whatever the event or motivation was that resulted in their capture. The resulting decision is their initial status of green (moderate), amber (somewhat extreme in their beliefs) or red (very extreme or committed).” (One definition of extremist in the US Army-Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual is a person “whose beliefs prevent them from ever reconciling with the government.”)
The spokesman said that, not only at the beginning of confinement but throughout, “continuous assessments are made to ensure that accurate categorization of the detainee is being used.” Many internees are moved to different compounds and recategorized every day, he said.
“The specific methods and criteria for this process vary based upon the interviewers’ level of experience, which is why the categorizations are continuously reevaluated,” the TF-134 spokesman continued, noting: “We have found that generally the most accurate assessments come from Iraqi clerics and social workers.”
Discussing prisoners in the “amber” and “red” categories, the spokesman said:
“Between both Camps Cropper and Bucca, approximately 4,000 internees have been identified as extremists. Their perceived level of extremist behavior determines their initial placement in either an amber or red compound. The detainees are continuously observed and evaluated in the effort to defeat the extremists’ desire to influence and control those detainees who are less of a threat and less extreme in their beliefs. Whenever a detainee is determined to be significantly higher or lower in his or her beliefs and/or behavior, that detainee is moved to the more appropriate compound.
“Individuals in the amber and red categories are considered extremists and are only referred to as amber or red. The exception is that detainees who claim to be members of Jaysh Al Mahdi (JAM) or al-Qaeda are separated into their own compounds while in detention. Another identified group of extremists who are separated are the Takfiri, who demand a very austere lifestyle, void of modern comforts for its members and all Muslims they come in contact with.”
Upon entering prison, the men are clothed in yellow pull-over tops and pants.
This categorization of prisoners for the purpose of assessing risk and type of re-education, as well as color of prison garb, is strikingly similar to what to the British did in their detention camps in Kenya during their attempt to suppress the anti-colonial Mau Mau resistance. Caroline Elkins reports in “Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya” that Kenyan prisoners entering detention were stripped of all belongings and clothes and issued a pair of yellow shorts. They were classified as “black,” “grey” or “white,” depending on their level of commitment to the Mau Mau program, and re-education strategies were devised – some violent – specific to each group.
The British system, like that in the US detention system, involved constant rescreening of prisoners to evaluate their thinking. It also attempted to force prisoners to adopt Christianity as a way of undermining the traditional religion that offered a spiritual base for Mau Mau organizing.
The Prison Curriculum
The summary below outlines the instruction and discussion programs for prisoners in Camps Cropper and Bucca. These programs are promoted by the US as “educational.” For some detainees, the programs, such as teaching in reading and vocations, are likely to offer educational benefits. For many others, however, the informational content of the courses is likely to be irrelevant and simply a means toward pleasing jailers and more quickly being set free. The real purposes of the courses, as General Stone suggests at the outset of this article, clearly go beyond informational content and into remolding beliefs and feelings toward the power and authority of the US and the occupied government of Iraq.
US Iraq Prison Curriculum
The portions of this summary that are in quotation marks are direct quotes from a TF-134 spokesman or from a TF-134 command briefing document.
Camp Cropper – This facility is for prisoners being processed into and out of the prison system and for elderly (over 55 years), those with medical conditions, women and juveniles.
Courses – A twelve-day course including civics and “Islamic Discussion.” This is “a collaborative group guided by Iraqi imams in which both Shia and Sunni peruse and discuss the teaching of the Koran. Participation in the course is triggered by a 45-day release notice, and detainees’ names are taken directly from the release list. Therefore, all detainees should attend the course before release.”
There is a similar voluntary course for juveniles “who were not able to attend school due to disruptive behavior.” There were three classes with 15 students per class as of September 2008, “about 51 percent of the population previously judged too disruptive to attend a formal educational program.”
Staff – “For the adult detainees, we currently have an average of 23 clerics and 23 social worker employed in our various programs. We run several different programs É so not all of them will necessarily be working on religious discussion programs at any given time.” For juveniles, there were in September 2008 three social workers teaching civics and three clerics for Islamic discussion. All are Iraqi. “Certified, trusted and moderate Islamic Iraqi clerics offer detainees a broader understanding of Islam.”
Camp Bucca – This prison is for longer-term confinement.
Courses – Tanweer (enlightenment) – “A six-hour block of civics conducted during transition in for all internees.” Four-day Tanweer Islamic Discussion Program (IDP) – “Internees classified as moderate are allowed to participate in the four-day Tanweer (IDP) program.” As of September 2008, one hundred prisoners complete this program every four days, and a total
Comments are closed | 