Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway: “If you roll up 150 guys in a village and you don’t have probable cause, you’ve just created 150 little terrorists.”
December 23, 2007 4:21 pm IraqGordon Lubold, Do U.S. prisons in Iraq breed insurgents? | csmonitor.com, December 20, 2007
Washington - American officials have detained thousands of insurgents in the months since the surge of forces began this spring, in an effort that most agree has improved security in Iraq. But now the commander of the American detention facilities in Iraq is wondering aloud if holding all those detainees is breeding a “micro-insurgency” and asking whether it’s time to begin releasing thousands of people.
The two main detention facilities operated by the US military in Iraq, at Camp Bucca near Basra and Camp Cropper in Baghdad, have swollen to hold nearly 30,000 detainees. That’s not the 40,000 individuals Army Gen. David Petraeus allotted for when American forces began to implement the Baghdad security plan this spring. But it may be too many, says Marine Maj. Gen. Doug Stone, who oversees detainees for the US-led force.
Holding thousands of “moderate” detainees runs counter to the notion of winning over a population in a classic counterinsurgency, he says….
He made an impassioned plea recently when Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway paid a visit to Bucca in November. General Conway came away impressed with the programs Stone has implemented there and is concerned that the growing number of detainees doesn’t make sense anymore.”If you roll up 150 guys in a village and you don’t have probable cause, you’ve just created 150 little terrorists,” says Conway, who says the US must review the process.