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Reports From Iraq > Fri., Mar. 26, 2004
More than 10,000 Iraqi's Still Inside Saddam's
Most-Feared Prison
An Iraqi police officer calls out numbers indicating which
families will be allowed to see their loved ones inside
abu Grahb prison. The prison used to be Saddam's most-feared
lock-up. Today American soldiers keep watch over more
than 10,000 political prisoners. |
By Aaron Glantz
ANU GHRAIB, IRAQ--Noon-time and dozens of families have gathered
outside Abu Grahb prison seeking a chance to get an appointment
for the their loved ones. They gather around the razor wire
that surrounds the prison. Each holds a scrap of paper with
a number. If their number is called, they are allowed to go
inside. Ali Ahmed's brother is among those incarcerated here.
He's a farmer from the village Khalas -- picked up in an American
raid for resistance fighters last December.
"They gave me an appointment for July 31st! By then
I will have spent 8 months without seeing him.
Ahmed also notes July 31st comes after the June 30th date
when the American Army is to return power to the Iraqi people.
The U.S. military released 272 detainees Tuesday from Abu
Grahb prison, once Saddam Hussein's most notorious lockup.
In a carefully choreographed event, the prisoners were brought
out in groups from inside the prison. Reporters taken by the
military to witness the event were not allowed to interview
the men being released. But if you visit the prison on any
other day, it's easy to find families waiting out! side since
10,000 Iraqi's are still incarcerated there.
Among those jailed at abu Grahb is Hussein Ali Ahmed's brother
and his brother's wife. Hussein's brother was arrested for
taking part in the resistance. His brothers' wife is incarcerated
for raising money to support attacks on the occupying army.
Both of them are held in open-air tents inside abu Grahb's
walls. The prison -- built to hold political prisoners under
Saddam's regime -- is too small to hold all those arrested
by the American Army.
"There are no terrorists in Iraq," he maintains.
"If I defend my country, I can't be a terrorist. Why
did they come here in the first place? That's what made me
a terrorist."
A slight man sits next to the barbed wire waiting for his
turn. This is the second time he's had an appointment to see
his brother. The first time he came to the prison with an
attorney and was told lawyers were barred from the prison.
So this time he came by himself. Today, he came to the prison
dressed in his work-clothes -- the blue and gold uniform of
ERINYS, the multinational security firm contracted by Halliburton
to guard Iraq's oil infrastructure.
"I had no work," he explains. "I don't like
the Americans. I stopped them once on the street and told
them I don't like them. But, you know, I have four kids. I
live in a rented house and my brother is in prison. What else
can I do?"
American soldiers serving as prison guards at abu Grahb refused
to comment for this story -- saying the only officers authorized
to comment were at an American military base called "Camp
Victory" -- formerly Saddam Hussein! International Airport.
Senior officers there were unavailable.
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