US military closes major prison facility in southern Iraq

THE US military has closed Camp Bucca, once its largest prison facility in Iraq located in the south near the Kuwait border.

The closure of Camp Bucca, in accordance with the status of forces agreement signed by Baghdad and Washington in 2008, is a major step in the dismantling of US detention facilities, which have housed more than 100,000 Iraqi prisoners since the occupation of the country in 2003.

Under the agreement, Iraqi forces are set to assume responsibility for security as US forces prepare to withdraw by the end of 2011.

Camp Bucca, named after a New York city fire marshal killed in the attack on New York on September 11th, 2001, opened in March 2003 as a small tent encampment for prisoners of war.

It grew into a 40-acre facility consisting of razor-wire compounds containing trailer and plywood barracks monitored by wardens in watchtowers.

Men were held for long periods while families tried to locate them through US and Iraqi rights groupings.

Mistreatment was common, although Bucca did not attain international notoriety for torture and humiliation as did Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad. Bucca’s population reached 22,000 in 2007 during the US campaign to crush the insurgency which took a high toll among foreign forces and Iraqi civilians.

The last 180 Bucca detainees were transferred to two remaining US prisons, Taji and Cropper near Baghdad, 65 to await execution and the rest for trial in Iraqi courts.

Some 5,800 Bucca detainees have been freed since the beginning of the year due to the lack of evidence to secure convictions, while 1,400 have been transferred to Iraqi custody.

The Obama administration committed to the closure of Bucca, along with the prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan and Guantanamo in Cuba.

About 8,400 prisoners remain in US hands at Taji and Cropper, the facility at Baghdad’s international airport that houses senior members of the ousted Iraqi government. Taji is set to be handed over on January 10th and Cropper next August.

International human rights organisations have expressed misgivings over the transfer of Iraqi detainees to overcrowded government prisons where abuse is rife and to a court system where accused are denied basic rights.

Nevertheless, Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has pressed the US to honour the terms of the 2008 agreement. Although Iraqi forces were not ready to assume control and attacks continued on troops and civilians, he insisted that US troops redeploy from the country’s towns and cities at the end of June.

Mr Maliki also argued that US forces keep a low profile, seek permission from local Iraqi commanders before leaving US bases and follow an Iraqi lead in joint patrols and operations.

Mr Maliki, who wants to be re-elected prime minister following next year’s parliamentary election, has held the US to a strict interpretation of the status of forces agreement because the presence of foreign troops on Iraqi soil is deeply resented by the majority of Iraqis.