Iraqi prisoners escape U.S. custody

On July 15, as part of their ballyhooed “withdrawal” from Iraq, U.S. officials under the command of Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno handed over an infamous U.S. prison, Camp Cropper, to the Iraqi puppet government. Although they ceremoniously gave a large wooden key to the Iraqi military, about 200 of the 1,500 inmates remained under U.S. control, guarded by U.S. soldiers. The 200 include former members of Saddam Hussein’s government and senior foreign and Iraqi insurgents.

A few days later, four “high value” prisoners escaped from the Iraqi-controlled part of the facility, now renamed Camp Karkh. Several Iraqi guards and the new warden also went missing.

Many pundits in the U.S. were aghast and wondered aloud about the quality of the Iraqi military that is supposed to take up the slack left by departing U.S. troops.

Now, the U.S. occupation has a new reason to be embarrassed. On Sept. 9, four more “dangerous” Iraqis escaped from the same prison, only this time it was from the U.S.-controlled section, dubbed Compound 5 and guarded by U.S. soldiers. The U.S. command offered no details on how the escape happened, who was to blame, or who the people were that escaped. An Iraqi military spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, said that the men were facing the death penalty.

A spokesperson for new U.S. Ground Commander Gen. Lloyd Austin, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the “sensitivity” of the matter, said the general had apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki.

As of Sept. 12, none of the escapees had been captured. Residents of the Jihad neighborhood located near the prison reported a virtual lockdown of the area: Local people were banned from driving their cars.

A place for torture

Camp Cropper was originally built to handle captured members of the government of Saddam Hussein. Hussein himself was held there during his illegal trial and execution.

During the so-called surge in Iraq, Camp Cropper became infamous, along with other U.S. prisons in Iraq. While the U.S. media trumpeted the policy of “winning hearts and minds,” U.S. troops indiscriminately swept up civilians in brutal raids and deposited them in prisons like Camp Cropper. ABC-TV in 2007 reported widespread overcrowding with sewage backed up and covering the floor. One inmate reported being unjustly arrested and suffering for two years before being released with no hearing or trial.

Gen. Odierno, an architect of the “surge,” was referred to as a “bash, mash and slash” officer by other members of the military. (Shrapnel online magazine, Aug. 10) Apparently, this was supposed to be a compliment.

In the past Odierno was often noted for opposing an early pullout of U.S, troops. Sympathizers with his position decried the “weak” Iraqi forces fielded by the Iraqi government.

The theme of an imperialist power despising its own puppet allies, often with racist overtones, is a constant one, starting with the Romans and continuing with the British in India and Afghanistan and the U.S. in Vietnam. Seldom if ever does an occupying power consider that their own imperialist policy is the problem in the first place.