.Out. Now What?
Ameen Abdul Kareem Mohammed, 21, looks younger than his years; he is smaller than most of the other 30 men standing with him in a hall at the Baquba jail in Diyala Province waiting for the paperwork so that they can walk free.
Until a few days ago the men were detainees at Camp Bucca, the largest of the American detention centers in Iraq.
As the American troops draw down, they are slowly sending home the detainees that have not been charged with any crimes. That means most of them. The detention population has dropped already to not quite 15,000 from a high of close to 26,000. The plan is to release 1,500 each month until there are none left and the Americans can close both Camp Bucca in the southern Iraqi desert and Camp Cropper, on the edge of Baghdad. They hope to leave both by the end of the year.
Mr. Mohammed is one of those being released. Even his family does not yet know he is on his way home. He was allowed only to tell them he was coming to Baghdad for security reasons.
Despite never having been charged with a crime and losing a year of his life while he waited for the Americans to conclude he should no longer be held, he expresses surprisingly little rancor towards his jailers
America’s future credibility in Iraq will depend a lot on people like Mr. Mohammed, and the message they carry home to their family and friends. If he truly believes that on balance detention under the Americans was better than the alternative - that is detention under the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government - then sometime in the future the Americans will have a chance to become trusted brokers between sectarian and ethnic groups.
But if people like Mr. Mohammed believe the Americans humiliated and demeaned him, he will only ratify the worst image of the Americans, making it unlikely there will be much of a place for them in Iraq.
For now, Mr. Mohammed seems to still be working out what he thinks. Much of it was good….but there was that lost year.
“The treatment was good at Bucca; there was no torture or beating. I went to school. When we left they gave each detainee a holy Koran,” he said, as he shyly holds up a plastic bag with the holy book inside it. Several other detainees hold up their Korans as well.
How did he come to be a detainee? “There had been an attack nearby on coalition forces. It was night and my two brothers and I were talking and three soldiers came to the door with an interpreter. The interpreter talked to my father and said ‘we want your eldest son and your youngest son’ The accusation was that we had attacked coalition forces.”
Did he? He shakes his head ‘no’ and smiles faintly as if to say this is one of those benighted American ideas.
Mr. Mohammed is the first to be given the official release form, signed by a Baquba police officer. He can present it to his employer to prove he was in detention and not just a slacker, avoiding work. That should allow him to collect his back salary. He holds it carefully, then slides it into plastic bag with his Koran.
“I was at Bucca for one year and twenty days. I had two visits from my family. There was no evidence. It was a very long time, but what shall I do?” he shrugged.
Baghdad Bureau
Until a few days ago the men were detainees at Camp Bucca, the largest of the American detention centers in Iraq.
As the American troops draw down, they are slowly sending home the detainees that have not been charged with any crimes. That means most of them. The detention population has dropped already to not quite 15,000 from a high of close to 26,000. The plan is to release 1,500 each month until there are none left and the Americans can close both Camp Bucca in the southern Iraqi desert and Camp Cropper, on the edge of Baghdad. They hope to leave both by the end of the year.
Mr. Mohammed is one of those being released. Even his family does not yet know he is on his way home. He was allowed only to tell them he was coming to Baghdad for security reasons.
Despite never having been charged with a crime and losing a year of his life while he waited for the Americans to conclude he should no longer be held, he expresses surprisingly little rancor towards his jailers
America’s future credibility in Iraq will depend a lot on people like Mr. Mohammed, and the message they carry home to their family and friends. If he truly believes that on balance detention under the Americans was better than the alternative - that is detention under the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government - then sometime in the future the Americans will have a chance to become trusted brokers between sectarian and ethnic groups.
But if people like Mr. Mohammed believe the Americans humiliated and demeaned him, he will only ratify the worst image of the Americans, making it unlikely there will be much of a place for them in Iraq.
For now, Mr. Mohammed seems to still be working out what he thinks. Much of it was good….but there was that lost year.
“The treatment was good at Bucca; there was no torture or beating. I went to school. When we left they gave each detainee a holy Koran,” he said, as he shyly holds up a plastic bag with the holy book inside it. Several other detainees hold up their Korans as well.
How did he come to be a detainee? “There had been an attack nearby on coalition forces. It was night and my two brothers and I were talking and three soldiers came to the door with an interpreter. The interpreter talked to my father and said ‘we want your eldest son and your youngest son’ The accusation was that we had attacked coalition forces.”
Did he? He shakes his head ‘no’ and smiles faintly as if to say this is one of those benighted American ideas.
Mr. Mohammed is the first to be given the official release form, signed by a Baquba police officer. He can present it to his employer to prove he was in detention and not just a slacker, avoiding work. That should allow him to collect his back salary. He holds it carefully, then slides it into plastic bag with his Koran.
“I was at Bucca for one year and twenty days. I had two visits from my family. There was no evidence. It was a very long time, but what shall I do?” he shrugged.
Baghdad Bureau
posted by madtom at 11:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home