17 Aug 2005 22:08:58 GMT
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. military will send 700 Army paratroopers to Iraq to help provide security at detention centers, officials said on Wednesday, as it prepares to open a fourth major prison and eventually leave the Abu Ghraib jail, the site of last year's prisoner abuse scandal.
An infantry battalion from the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, will go to Iraq over the next two months on an open-ended deployment to help provide security at the U.S.-run detention facilities, defense officials said.
"There's an expansion in the detention operations going on," said Air Force Lt. Col. John Skinner, a Pentagon spokesman on detainee issues.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last month the longer-term plan was to turn over responsibility for the detainees to the Iraqi government.
The prisoner population doubled from last fall to this spring amid a series of offensives against the Iraqi insurgency and a greater role by Iraqi security forces.
The U.S. military is enlarging its three main detention facilities in Iraq -- Abu Ghraib on the outskirts of Baghdad, Camp Bucca in the southern desert close to the border with Kuwait, and Camp Cropper near Baghdad international airport, home to "high-value" prisoners, officials said. The expansion of the other facilities in part is in preparation for ending the use of Abu Ghraib, officials said.
The United States faced international condemnation last year following revelations of sexual humiliation and physical abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. More recently, human rights activists have expressed concern about possible new abuses as the detainee population in Iraq rises.
Late next month, the U.S. military is also expected to complete a new detention facility called Fort Suse to hold 2,000 detainees at a Russian-built former military barracks near Sulaimaniya in northern Iraq, officials said.
There now are about 12,000 prisoners jailed in U.S. military detention facilities in Iraq, officials said. About 10,800 are at Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper, with the rest detained at smaller facilities operated by various U.S. military brigades and divisions, officials added.
The paratroopers might serve in a site-protection role at the main prisons, provide security in transporting prisoners from one place to another, Army officials said, while a small number could serve as prison guards.
Defense officials said the deployment was not a sign U.S. forces are over-burdened by a growing prison population, and maintained that sending paratroopers to assist in detention operations should not be seen as unusual.
Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said the paratroopers had undergone training at Fort Bragg to prepare to work in detention operations.
About 6,000 detainees are held at Camp Bucca, which is being expanded to house 1,400 more, officials said. There are about 4,000 detainees at Abu Ghraib, which was expanded to house another 800, officials said. Camp Cropper holds about 100 detainees and is being expanded to hold 2,000.
The Pentagon offered no timetable for turning over responsibility for the detainees to the Iraqi government.
"We've been engaged with the Iraqi government on the process of having them ultimately assume control of detainees. We have a planning team that is meeting regularly to work through the details," Skinner said.
Rumsfeld, during his visit to Iraq on July 27, said the United States was asking Iraqi leaders to provide people to train and equip for operating detention facilities. Rumsfeld said he would like to hand responsibility for detainees to the Iraqi government "as soon as is feasible."
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