U.S. troops in Iraq gather evidence

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. troops fighting insurgents in Iraq are going to be required to collect evidence that can be used in Iraqi courts.

A recent report from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division's year-long deployment in Iraq lays out the problem squarely: junior offers and enlisted soldiers in charge of raids against suspected insurgents would often catch their man, but taint the evidence -- or fail to collect it -- so the cases could not be prosecuted.

"Soldiers lack training on the proper methods required to build case for successful prosecution and subsequent incarcerations of those detained," states the May 23 report on lessons learned during the unit's deployment. "Soldiers and staffs struggled to meet ever changing guidance on how to gather evidence and sanitize intelligence means from reporting forwards from (Judge Advocates General) for turnover to Iraqi courts."

These additional requirements have resulted in an untrained force attempting to conduct evidence collection and case-building tasks procedures required by prosecutors in the Iraqi courts but resulting in the subsequent release of detainees without a conviction due to the lack of required evidence or evidence tainted by improper procedures and paperwork," the report states.

Getting the Iraqi courts functioning is one of the main goals of U.S. forces, because successful counter-insurgencies are carried out by a nation's police and justice system rather than military, foreign or otherwise.

U.S. military policy is generally to hold detainees only up to 72 hours. If no criminal charges will be filed - and there is no compelling intelligence benefit of holding the prisoner longer - the detainee is released, in some cases to engage in insurgent activities again.
UPI

Sometimes I think the worst thing about this war, is that by the time we're finished, we're going to actually be good at occupation...