Offensives Create Surge of Detainees

[Khephra]

Offensives Create Surge of Detainees
Influx Tests Policies Put in Place In Wake of Scandal at Abu Ghraib

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 27, 2004; Page A01

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq, Nov. 26 -- More aggressive U.S. military operations in Iraq over the past two months have generated a surge in detainees, nearly doubling the number held by U.S. forces to about 8,300, according to the U.S. general in charge of detention operations.

Since early October, the number of detainees in U.S. custody has grown by about 4,000 as a result of assaults on insurgents in Samarra, Fallujah, Mosul, north Babil province and elsewhere, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said Friday. With additional U.S. raids being planned as part of a stepped-up effort to crush the insurgency ahead of national elections in January, the number of detainees is expected to continue to grow in coming weeks.

The large influx of prisoners is putting stress on U.S. detention operations, providing the biggest test yet of new facilities and procedures adopted in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal this past spring, Miller and other officers said in interviews here. So far, the flow has been manageable, they said, but many detainees have not yet made it through the system.

The mistreatment of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers at this facility last autumn was documented in photographs and videos that shocked the world when they surfaced in the spring and prompted a series of investigations. While about 50 military police, intelligence, medical and civilian contract personnel were eventually implicated, investigators also blamed senior leadership for failing to provide clear guidance or exercise adequate oversight.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15425-2004Nov26.html