Security fear as thousands of Iraqi prisoners set to go free

IRAQ'S parliament is due to pass a long-negotiated security pact with the United States tomorrow, creating a new problem for the American military – how to deal with 5,000 dangerous detainees it will now have to charge or release.

The deal is primarily intended to set a timetable for US troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. But it also calls for control of security matters to shift to the Iraqi authorities. If passed, it will mean US troops could no longer hold people without charge, as they have since the 2003 invasion.

All detentions would have to be based on evidence, and the US would have to prosecute prisoners in Iraqi courts, or let them go. "At the end of the day, if there's not enough facts to justify a court case, then we'll have to release," Brigadier-General David Quantock, commander of the US detention system in Iraq, said.

The Americans have evidence against only "a few hundred" of the most dangerous detainees, he said, leaving open the possibility thousands may soon find themselves back on Iraq's streets.

Part of the challenge stems from differences between the American and Iraqi legal systems. In the US, forensic evidence is widely used in the courts. Not so in Iraq.

"We've got a number of guys that are covered in TNT (explosive residue). However, that's not admissible in Iraqi court," Brigadier-Gen Quantock said. "What wins the day in Iraqi courts today is two eyewitness statements or a confession."

The US is training Iraqi forensic specialists and pushing to make such evidence more acceptable in court. Iraqi judges are slowly bending, but it is expected to take time before forensic evidence is widely approved.

There has been a marked improvement in security, and that has boosted the confidence of Iraq's government and allowed security-based detention to give way to a civilian justice system. If the pact with the US is agreed, it will also mark a major step towards shutting down a detention system that was tainted by the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, outside Baghdad, where US guards abused detainees.

The vast majority of those in US custody are not considered dangerous, so the military is focusing its legal efforts on the 5,000 it deems a threat.

Iraq's government will receive the names and other details of those in US custody so it can issue arrest warrants for some of them. Brigadier-Gen Quantock said he was confident that either the US or Iraqi government will muster enough evidence to keep many of the most dangerous individuals behind bars.

But releasing the other 11,000, who are not considered a serious threat, also poses a challenge.

The security agreement stipulates that detainees be let go "in a safe and orderly manner".

US and Iraqi officials are mindful of the dangers posed by dumping thousands of suspected insurgents into communities already grappling with high unemployment.

"The fact that they are going back to their cities and homes might complicate the security situation," said Haider al-Ibadi, a Shiite MP with close ties to the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. "But we can do nothing to stop this, because the authorities cannot arrest or keep any person in custody without evidence."

The US set up the detention system after toppling Saddam Hussein as a way to hold suspected insurgents. Those considered a security risk could be held without charge as long as the US deemed necessary. Since the war began, some 100,000 have passed through the system, with the prisoner population peaking at 26,000 in mid-2007.


BACKGROUND

UNITED States' forces in Iraq are holding some 16,500 detainees in all.

The largest jail, with 12,900 prisoners, is at Camp Bucca, near Basra, 340 miles south-east of Baghdad.

Camp Cropper, on the sprawling US base near Baghdad international airport, is the logistical headquarters and houses 2,000 prisoners. All detainees entering and leaving US custody pass through it.

The US has already released about 16,000 detainees over the past year and plans to continue freeing prisoners at an average rate of 50 a day.

"We think the communities can absorb it at about that rate – any faster would put us at risk," Brigadier-General David Quantock said.