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Documents: US army seized insurgents' wives as tactic in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-28 09:13
The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of
suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender,
U.S. military documents show.
In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing
baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee,
one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking
a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife."
The issue of female detentions in Iraq has taken on a higher profile since
kidnappers seized American journalist Jill Carroll on Jan. 7 and threatened to
kill her unless all Iraqi women detainees are freed.
The U.S. military on Thursday freed five of what it said were 11 women among
the 14,000 detainees currently held in the 2 1/2-year-old insurgency. All were
accused of "aiding terrorists or planting explosives," but an Iraqi government
commission found that evidence was lacking.
Iraqi human rights activist Hind al-Salehi contends that U.S. anti-insurgent
units, coming up empty-handed in raids on suspects' houses, have at times
detained wives to pressure men into turning themselves in.
Iraq's deputy justice minister, Busho Ibrahim Ali, dismissed such claims,
saying hostage-holding was a tactic used under the ousted Saddam Hussein
dictatorship, and "we are not Saddam." A U.S. command spokesman in Baghdad, Lt.
Col. Barry Johnson, said only Iraqis who pose an "imperative threat" are held in
long-term U.S.-run detention facilities.
But documents describing two 2004 episodes tell a different story as far as
short-term detentions by local U.S. units. The documents are among hundreds the
Pentagon has released periodically under U.S. court order to meet an American
Civil Liberties Union request for information on detention practices.
In one memo, a civilian Pentagon intelligence officer described what happened
when he took part in a raid on an Iraqi suspect's house in Tarmiya, northwest of
Baghdad, on May 9, 2004. The raid involved Task Force (TF) 6-26, a secretive
military unit formed to handle high-profile targets.
"During the pre-operation brief it was recommended by TF personnel that if
the wife were present, she be detained and held in order to leverage the primary
target's surrender," wrote the 14-year veteran officer.
He said he objected, but when they raided the house the team leader, a senior
sergeant, seized her anyway.
"The 28-year-old woman had three young children at the house, one being as
young as six months and still nursing," the intelligence officer wrote. She was
held for two days and was released after he complained, he said.
Like most names in the released documents, the officer's signature is blacked
out on this for-the-record memorandum about his complaint.
Of this case, command spokesman Johnson said he could not judge, months
later, the factors that led to the woman's detention.
The second episode, in June 2004, is found in sketchy detail in e-mail
exchanges among six U.S. Army colonels, discussing an undisclosed number of
female detainees held in northern Iraq by the Stryker Brigade of the 2nd
Infantry Division.
The first message, from a military police colonel, advised staff officers of
the U.S. northern command that the Iraqi police would not take control of the
jailed women without charges being brought against them.
In a second e-mail, a command staff officer asked an officer of the unit
holding the women, "What are you guys doing to try to get the husband — have you
tacked a note on the door and challenged him to come get his wife?"
Two days later, the brigade's deputy commander advised the higher command,
"As each day goes by, I get more input that these gals have some info and/or
will result in getting the husband."
He went on, "These ladies fought back extremely hard during the original
detention. They have shown indications of deceit and misinformation."
The command staff colonel wrote in reply, referring to a commanding general,
"CG wants the husband."
The released e-mails stop there, and the women's eventual status could not be
immediately determined.
Of this episode, Johnson said, "It is clear the unit believed the females
detained had substantial knowledge of insurgent activity and warranted being
held."
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