News-Info-Alerts

Re: 7,000 Iraqi POWs Released by US

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: May 10, 2003

"U.S. releases 7,000 Iraqi POWs
By John Mintz and Vernon Loeb WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON - U.S. military forces have released 7,000 Iraqi prisoners captured in the three-week war, including more than 3,700 men who were let go after signing a "parole" document in which they swore not to engage in hostile actions against American soldiers, defense officials said Thursday.

U.S. military police still hold about 2,000 Iraqi prisoners whose backgrounds they are investigating.

Among them are 200 foreign fighters who had come to attack U.S. soldiers, 178 common criminals, a number of mid-ranking Iraqi military officers and some members of the Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary forces, the U.S. officials told reporters at a briefing in Kuwait.

These large groups of detainees, most of them held in a temporary jail in the southern Iraq city of Umm Qasar, are separate from the 20 highly placed aides to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein who have been captured.

These prisoners, who are among the 55 senior officials wanted by the United States, are being housed and interrogated in solitary confinement at a prison in Baghdad, officials said.

"They're being well-cared for," Army Col. John Della Jacono, a top commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said of the top-level prisoners. "They're being treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, with dignity and respect."

The 200 foreigners in custody include men from Jordan, Iran, Syria, Kuwait and a number of other nations, Della Jacono said.

Asked what the American plans are for the group of 20 as well as the 2,000 lower-level prisoners being held, U.S. military officials declined to be specific, except to say interrogators are asking them questions to determine their legal status.

"We're going through a vetting process," Della Jacono said. "We have gone through a deliberate screening of the over 7,000 that we held at one time."

Of those still being held, he said, "no determination has been made as towards the disposition of these individuals."

Besides being released, other possibilities for them include facing U.S. military tribunals, trials by international legal panels or facing prosecution in an Iraqi court, officials said.

U.S. military officers in Iraq said American interrogators often find it difficult to establish the backgrounds and military activities of many mid-ranking officers, as well as foreign and fedayeen fighters, because many shed their identity cards and uniforms before capture.

"These are smart individuals," Della Jacono said. "They know what we're trying to do."

Special hearings called for under the Geneva Conventions that govern treatment of prisoners of war have been held for up to 100 of the Iraqi prisoners when there were questions about whether they were regular military combatants and therefore deserve prisoner of war status under international law.

POW status limits the extent that a detainee can be interrogated and confers some privileges in detention.

A substantial number of the 7,000 Iraqis released had been found to be civilians. They were "just at the wrong place at the wrong time," Della Jacono said.

In the agreement signed by the 3,700 or so Iraqi soldiers allowing their release, they said they understood they could return home or return to their military units, but can only perform administrative or medical duties.

They risk being rearrested if found without the agreement on their person.

U.S. forces transported the released soldiers to their hometowns or central dropoff points, and gave them $5 as well as clothing and food."