One Veteran Story

Abu

I did a tour there, (my only one) in 2005. One of the issues that truly infuriates me is the media and the left's love affair with the abuse scandal. Understand I am glad the soldiers who committed the abuse were jailed, I read the Taguba report the and the breakdown from top to bottom with this missions was a disgrace. But this is what it was like when I was there:

• Detainees received health care including free glasses and dental work.
• They received three meals a day, cooked and with plenty to spare.
• They were able to have family visitation while in the prison.
• They were able to lodge formal complaints.
• The Tents were air conditioned and heated to deal with the weather.
• For all intensive purposes they were left alone. People do not understand that in the big camps the detainees essentially loved among themselves with only marginal dealings with US Soldiers.
• On election day in regards to ratifying their new Constitution they were all entitled to vote.
• Phones were being installed when I left so detainees could call home.
• They were provided with radios so they could listen to talk shows and music. The talk shows often included "shout outs" from their families who would call in.
• When released they were given fresh cloths and some petty cash as well as a free ride back to what part of the country they were from.
• Absolute religious freedom to the point that we would lend our Bull Horns to the detainees so they could do the call to prayer for the whole camp to see.

Should all of this been done in the first place? Absolutely, my complaint is the failure to underplay the reforms and success that occurred in detainee operations after the initial failure. By the way after the scandal the prison inside the compound was turned over to Iraqi control, we called this the "hard site". For us the prison was built on whole compound and was comprised of tents, towers, fences, concertina wire, and blast walls. All of this surrounded by Massive wall to keep detainees in and insurgents out.

By SAM DAGHER

Published: February 20, 2009

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government has renamed and partly renovated the infamous Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad, and it plans to transfer about 3,000 convicts there shortly, the first to occupy the facility in any numbers since it was handed over by the Americans in 2006.

The government says it sorely needs Abu Ghraib — now Baghdad Central Prison — and other detention centers around the country being refurbished with American money because of overcrowding at prisons and continued threats to security, said Safaa el-Deen al-Safi, who was the acting justice minister for almost two years, until Thursday.

And why are they keeping it open:

But the Iraqi government is determined to operate it as a prison. “It’s not so easy for us to waste a state resource,” said Mr. Safi, who is also minister of state for parliamentary affairs and a confidant of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. “Yes, this prison has a bad reputation, but this is not an excuse in itself to demolish this prison, given that we need it.”

Mr. Safi said that renaming Abu Ghraib as the Baghdad Central Prison and changing its mission to rehabilitation would help remove some of the stigma.

Mr. Safi said that he personally oversaw the renovation of the cellblocks where the worst of the abuses were committed by American soldiers and contractors, and that the prison now had classrooms, a library, plots of land for gardening and hothouse farming, and workshops where inmates would be taught sewing, hairdressing and computer skills.

On one issue I agree, justice delayed is justice denied and a speedier justice system and quicker transfer of detainees to Iraqi jurisdiction or release should be a must.