Dobbsworld
28-06-2005, 07:30
I think America is in for a lot longer than they bargained for.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050627/w0627100.html
U.S. military to expand lockups in Iraq to hold 16,000 detainees
02:24 AM EDT Jun 28
FRANK GRIFFITHS
BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. military said Monday it plans to expand its prisons across Iraq to hold as many as 16,000 detainees, as the insurgency shows no sign of letup one year after the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqi authorities.
The plans were announced on a day three U.S. army soldiers were killed - two pilots whose helicopter crashed north of Baghdad and a soldier who was shot in the capital. At least four Iraqis died in a car bomb attack in the capital.
The AH-64 crashed in Mishahda, 30 kilometres north of the capital, and witness Mohammed Naji told Associated Press Television News he saw two helicopters flying toward Mishahda when "a rocket hit one of them and destroyed it completely in the air."
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in London on Monday that two years would be "more than enough" to establish security in his country, a task U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld believes may take up to 12 years.
Following talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, al-Jaafari said factors such as building up Iraq's own security forces, controlling the country's porous borders and pushing ahead with the political process would all play a part in ending the violence.
"I think two years will be enough, and more than enough, to establish security in our country," he told reporters.
The prison population at three military complexes throughout the country - Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper - has nearly doubled from 5,435 in June 2004 to 10,002 now, said Lt.-Col. Guy Rudisill, a spokesman for detainee operations in Iraq. Some 400 non-Iraqis are among the inmates, according to the military.
"We are past the normal capacity for both Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca. We are at surge capacity," Rudisill said. "We are not at normal capacity for Camp Cropper."
The burgeoning prison population has forced the U.S. military to begin renovations on existing facilities, and work has also begun on restoring an old Iraqi military barracks near Sulaimaniyah, about 250 kilometres northeast of Baghdad.
The facility, to be called Fort Suse, is expected to be completed by Sept. 30 and will have room for 2,000 new detainees, Rudisill said.
All renovations should be done by February and are expected to make room for 16,000 detainees in Iraq, he said.
Two weeks ago, the military completed a new 400-detainee compound at Abu Ghraib, which the U.S. government sought to tear down after it became a symbol of an abuse scandal. It was kept in service after the Iraqi government objected. A new compound of the same size should be finished by the end of July at Abu Ghraib, Rudisill said.
The spokesman attributed the rise in the number of prisoners to "successful ongoing military operations against the insurgency and terrorists."
Those operations, however, have not stemmed the daily carnage demoralizing the country of 26 million people. With the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency targeting the Shiite majority, the wave of killings has slowly been pushing the country toward civil war.
Dozens of foreign fighters have been reported killed in U.S.-led offensives in recent months, including Operation Spear at the porous Syrian border last week, but the deaths have had little effect on the resolve and ability of suicide bombers to strike at will.
"Al-Qaida in Iraq," headed by Jordanian-born extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks carried out by such fighters, but there are other insurgent groups - including homegrown factions.
On Monday, the U.S. military raised the death toll in last week's Fallujah attack to six, announcing that three women service members were killed in the ambush on an American convoy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050627/w0627100.html
U.S. military to expand lockups in Iraq to hold 16,000 detainees
02:24 AM EDT Jun 28
FRANK GRIFFITHS
BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. military said Monday it plans to expand its prisons across Iraq to hold as many as 16,000 detainees, as the insurgency shows no sign of letup one year after the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqi authorities.
The plans were announced on a day three U.S. army soldiers were killed - two pilots whose helicopter crashed north of Baghdad and a soldier who was shot in the capital. At least four Iraqis died in a car bomb attack in the capital.
The AH-64 crashed in Mishahda, 30 kilometres north of the capital, and witness Mohammed Naji told Associated Press Television News he saw two helicopters flying toward Mishahda when "a rocket hit one of them and destroyed it completely in the air."
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in London on Monday that two years would be "more than enough" to establish security in his country, a task U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld believes may take up to 12 years.
Following talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, al-Jaafari said factors such as building up Iraq's own security forces, controlling the country's porous borders and pushing ahead with the political process would all play a part in ending the violence.
"I think two years will be enough, and more than enough, to establish security in our country," he told reporters.
The prison population at three military complexes throughout the country - Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper - has nearly doubled from 5,435 in June 2004 to 10,002 now, said Lt.-Col. Guy Rudisill, a spokesman for detainee operations in Iraq. Some 400 non-Iraqis are among the inmates, according to the military.
"We are past the normal capacity for both Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca. We are at surge capacity," Rudisill said. "We are not at normal capacity for Camp Cropper."
The burgeoning prison population has forced the U.S. military to begin renovations on existing facilities, and work has also begun on restoring an old Iraqi military barracks near Sulaimaniyah, about 250 kilometres northeast of Baghdad.
The facility, to be called Fort Suse, is expected to be completed by Sept. 30 and will have room for 2,000 new detainees, Rudisill said.
All renovations should be done by February and are expected to make room for 16,000 detainees in Iraq, he said.
Two weeks ago, the military completed a new 400-detainee compound at Abu Ghraib, which the U.S. government sought to tear down after it became a symbol of an abuse scandal. It was kept in service after the Iraqi government objected. A new compound of the same size should be finished by the end of July at Abu Ghraib, Rudisill said.
The spokesman attributed the rise in the number of prisoners to "successful ongoing military operations against the insurgency and terrorists."
Those operations, however, have not stemmed the daily carnage demoralizing the country of 26 million people. With the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency targeting the Shiite majority, the wave of killings has slowly been pushing the country toward civil war.
Dozens of foreign fighters have been reported killed in U.S.-led offensives in recent months, including Operation Spear at the porous Syrian border last week, but the deaths have had little effect on the resolve and ability of suicide bombers to strike at will.
"Al-Qaida in Iraq," headed by Jordanian-born extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks carried out by such fighters, but there are other insurgent groups - including homegrown factions.
On Monday, the U.S. military raised the death toll in last week's Fallujah attack to six, announcing that three women service members were killed in the ambush on an American convoy.