11,000 Iraqi’s still being held by US Government

From Jurist:

The US-led Multi-National Force in Iraq said Tuesday that it is still holding 11,057 Iraqi prisoners in three separate camps throughout the country. The prisoners currently held in the three US camps, Camp Taji, Camp Cropper, and Camp Bucca, will either be released or transferred to Iraqi authorities as the military works to transfer control of the prisons to the Iraqi government. Camp Bucca, in southern Iraq, is expected to be the first to close when the total prison population drops below 8,000. The other two facilities will close by August 2010, in accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that went into effect in January and requires all US troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2001. A fourth US-run prison, Abu Ghraib, was transferred back to Iraqi control in 2006 following the release of photographs depicting prisoner abuse by US military personnel.

In November, Iraqi human rights activists said they were concerned about the treatment of detainees due to be transferred from US military custody to Iraqi authorities under the then-proposed SOFA. In August, the US military said that it has released more than 10,000 Iraqi detainees over the past year. In November 2007, US military forces in Iraq released 500 detainees at a joint ceremony with the Iraqi government at Camp Victory outside Baghdad.

The Iraq government isn’t known for it’s judicial system. Of course our methods, via the military tribunals, were horrific as well. The prisoners will most likely be dealt with according to whether they are Shiite or Sunni. This doesn’t bode well for any Sunni prisoners.

A lesson in self-government, Iraq-style

If, as the NYT article says, its all going to hell in the proverbial handbasket..then when will we be able to leave Iraq with a strong government?

Because supposedly, that is all we are waiting for now right? Our soldiers get to stand down when the Iraqi’s stand up. From the opening paragraph in the NYT article linked above:

This southern port city has been, in effect, on its own since September, when British forces here moved to the outskirts, yielding authority to local leaders. British and American officials say Basra’s experiment in self-rule could serve as a model for Iraq’s future, but if so — many locals and outside advisers say — that future remains dark.

For five months Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, has been under self-rule. Its not going well..to put it bluntly, its quite the nightmare. Even under optimal conditions such as the best economy, the least amount of ethnic in-fighting and no Westerners running the show Basra is still a horror. How much daily horror you might ask..well the NYT article will enlighten you:

Disappearances of doctors, teachers and other professionals are common, as are some clashes among competing militias, most of which are linked to political parties. Murder victims include judicial investigators, politicians and tribal sheiks. One especially disturbing trend is the slaying of at least 100 women in the last year, according to the police. The Iraqi authorities have blamed Shiite militiamen for many of those killing, saying the militants had probably deemed the women to be impious.

Well, pardon me for pointing out the obvious..but this is the same shit just a different city. Once left to their own device’s, the Iraqi’s still can’t figure out how to get along with each other and ..not only that but everyone their father wants to be the party in charge. Murder and mayhem still rule the day and Basra has taken another giant step backward into the days of tents and warlords gunning down rival leaders in order to assert their brand of power and religion over the entire region.

Its a long, exhausting writeup..but an important piece of information in how the war in Iraq is really going. And its not going well my dear reader..not by a long-friggin-shot. I don’t care what the Idiot-in-Chief tells you.

Telling us there are less dead people today than yesterday, or last month or last year doesn’t cut it. Its all bs and bravado dressed up to represent whatever will sell best to the American public in order to continue the insane amount of our money and soldiers being poured into this country.

Well..I ain’t buying. Nope..

Crossposted at UnCapitalist Journal