US commanders in Iraq are expressing grave concerns that the overcrowded Abu Ghraib prison has become a breeding ground for extremist leaders and a school for terrorist foot soldiers.
The reason is that the confinement allows detainees to forge relationships and exchange lessons of combat against the US and the new Iraq government. "Abu Ghraib is a graduate-level training ground for the insurgency," said an US commander in Iraq.
The US military has halted transferring detainees to Iraqi jailers until the Iraqis improve their prisoner care. But concerns about the growing detainee population under US control have prompted a number of officers to stop sending every suspect rounded up in raids to Abu Ghraib and other prisons.
Many inmates might instead be released if initial questioning indicated that they were not hardened fighters against the US troops and the Iraqi government.
"These decisions have to be intelligence driven, on holding those who are extreme threats or who can lead us to those who are," another US officer in Iraq said. "We don't want to be putting everybody caught up in a sweep into `Jihad University.'"
The perception of the prison as an incubator for more violence is the latest shift in how Abu Ghraib has been seen -- once a feared torture dungeon of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's government, then the center of the storm over prisoner abuse by the US and ever since a festering symbol of the unsolved problems of handling criminals, terrorists, rebels and holdovers from the Baathist era.
Pentagon officials say the latest questions about the prison have been raised by General George W. Casey Jr, the senior US commander in Iraq, and by Major General John Gardner, commander of the US-run prison system there.
Gardner has ordered a number of measures to deal with the problem to isolate suspected terrorist ringleaders from the broader detainee population and to limit clandestine communications among those in custody.
Plans to turn over Abu Ghraib, three other prisons and their inmates to the new Iraqi government have been stalled despite US commanders' concerns that overseeing the detainees saps personnel and continues to blot the US image.
After a series of raids on Iraqi-run detention centers late last year uncovered scores of abused prisoners, commanders at US and allied prisons said neither detainees nor the centers would be handed over to Iraqi jailers until US officials were satisfied that the Iraqis were meeting international standards for detainee care.
Concerns voiced by military officers in Iraq have intensified in recent weeks, with a growing prison population at the four major detention centers under US and allied control. The overall detainee population stood at 14,767 this week, an increase from 10,135 in June and a significant jump even from the end of December, when the number was 14,055, according to US military statistics.
Abu Ghraib held 4,850 detainees as of Jan. 31, a steep increase from 3,563 in June but a slight dip from 4,924 in late December.
At present, Iraqis may be freed from the US-run detention centers after review by a special panel, the Combined Release Board. Detained Iraqis are turned over to Iraqi jailers only if they are convicted by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, US officials said.
The problem of insurgent networking and instruction in the detention system is part of a broader problem in the US counterterrorism effort. US military and intelligence officers say Iraq has become a magnet for violent extremists from across the Islamic world. The officials warn that violent extremists who are not killed, captured and held or persuaded to give up the struggle will emerge battle tested, and more proficient at carrying out terror attacks elsewhere.
Some officers warn of a parallel to the Soviet experience in Afghanistan, when radical Islamic fighters drawn to fight the Soviet occupiers forged strong relationships with religious extremists from within Afghanistan and across the Islamic world.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS