U.S. frees 500 prisoners from Abu Ghraib
2 hours, 3 minutes ago
Five hundred prisoners walked free from the U.S. military's Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq on Tuesday, released in a goodwill gesture to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The detainees were presented with a Koran and $25 on their release which marked Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Their release was in addition to 1,000 prisoners set free in October at the start of the month of fasting.
All 1,500, who also received traditional white shirts, were released after their cases went before an Iraqi-led review board and were found not to have committed serious or violent crimes, the U.S. military said in a statement.
"These detainees have confessed to their crimes, renounced violence and pledged to be good citizens of Iraq," it said.
Deputy Prime Minister Abed Mutlak al-Jibouri and other ministers were present for the release, requested by the Iraqi government, but media were not invited to Abu Ghraib, a vast complex about 15 km (10 miles) west of Baghdad.
U.S. forces are holding 13,885 detainees, including 5,074 at Abu Ghraib, behind barbed wire at several facilities across Iraq, up from a total of about 11,800 a month ago, a spokesman for the U.S. military's prison operations said.
Iraqi critics say U.S. military detentions are too arbitrary and too long.
Abu Ghraib became notorious for the images of U.S. soldiers mocking, physically abusing and torturing Iraqi prisoners that emerged last year. U.S. military officials and Iraqi authorities have since been at pains to show Abu Ghraib now being run as a model prison.
news.yahoo.com
Let's see if I have this correct. The only reason that we released these 1,500 people that had committed no serious or violent crime was because it was Ramadan, sic a goodwill gesture.
I think I see a plan emerging....let's incarcerate [or "detain" if you wish] the entire Iraqi population and then release them as a goodwill gesture. I think it'll work! We can even skip the incarceration ["These detainees have confessed to their crimes, renounced violence and pledged to be good citizens of Iraq," it said.]
25 million Iraqis times $25/head ...cost of a Koran and some clothes ... another $25/head should cover that. Total $50/head.......$1.25B
Sounds like a bargain to me. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than waging a war.
Have the Iraqis get in line, confess [to something] sign pledges to be good citizens. Give them $50 and let them spend it how they want, thus saving the Administrative costs. We declare victory and leave ASAP.
Have Bush put on a flight suit; have a ticker tape parade and wave the American flag.
jttmab |
