In Iraq Jail, Resistance Goes Underground

Washington Post ^ | 08/24/05 | Steve Fainaru and Anthony Shadid

[conservative in nyc]

In the darkest hours before dawn, groups of 10 detainees toiled 15 feet beneath Compound 5 of America's largest prison in Iraq. The men worked in five-minute shifts, digging with shovels fashioned from tent poles and hauling the dirt to the surface with five-gallon water jugs tethered to 200 feet of rope. They bagged it in sacks that had been used to deliver their bread rations and spread it surreptitiously across a soccer field where fellow inmates churned it during daily matches, guards and detainees recalled.

The 105th Military Police Battalion, charged with running Camp Bucca in the scorching desert of southernmost Iraq, knew something was amiss: Undetectable to the naked eye, the field's changing color was picked up by satellite imagery. The excavated dirt was also clogging the showers and two dozen portable toilets. The dirt was showing up under the floorboards of tents; some guards sensed that the floor itself seemed to be rising. Mysteriously, water use in the compound had spiked.

Hours before the planned prison break on March 24, an informant tipped off the Americans, who then drove a bulldozer across Compound 5. What they discovered was breathtaking: a fully completed tunnel that stretched 357 feet, longer than a football field. Inside were flashlights built from radio diodes and five larger spaces to provide ventilation. The tunnel's walls were as smooth and strong as concrete, sculpted with water and, the Americans believe, milk. The exit, beyond the compound's fence, was camouflaged with sand-colored cardboard. It opened into a partially concealed trench that would lead the detainees to freedom.

The discovery of what came to be known as "The Great Escape" tunnel was a seminal moment for the Americans charged with guarding Iraq's exploding prison population.

[conservative in nyc]

It's a long story, and there's a lot more at the link, including the story of prison riot where the "insurgents" (a.k.a. terrorists) hurled pieces of cinderblock chiseled from the concrete base of tent poles at our N.C. Army National Guard MPs from the 105th Military Police Battalion.

And guess where they stockpiled their crude weapons before the riot?

Click on the link for more.

[skinkinthegrass]

Hmmm, Too bad, A few terrorists weren't crushed by the bulldozer.

...of course, ABCCNNBCBS would have had their video cameras/reporters @ the ready to interview the terrorists as they crawled out the tunnel.

[Eagles6]

"It was an engineering miracle," said Muthanna Mahmoud, a 30-year-old inmate.

Yeah, I guess to a caveman who hasn't discovered toilet paper this would be an engineering miracle. Personally, I would reserve that title for an AED, a heart lung machine or some such. Then again, I'm not surprised that the sun comes up every day.

[river rat]

The "Washington Compost" sounds sadden by the failure of these murderous bastards escape...

How much longer can our Republic survive, with so damned many fools and traitors?

Semper Fi

[TaxRelief]

You'll need to click on the link to get the NC part of the story that describes how imprisoned terrorists bombarded the N.C. Army National Guard MPs from the 105th Military Police Battalion with cinderblock pieces during a prison riot.

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day, Alia OR TaxRelief if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[Wiz]

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