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WASHINGTON D.C. (June 10, 2008) - Officials who manage detention
centers in Iraq are getting a valuable look inside the mind of
al-Qaida in Iraq, a senior U.S. military officer said here
today.
"We have learned so much about who al-Qaida is; we have learned
so much about how they recruit and what their intent is; we have
learned so much about how to counter them and how to engage [the
detainee population] with a very clear program that breaks away
their support base," Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone told
Pentagon reporters.
About 21,000 detainees are being held in detention centers in
Iraq under a United Nations resolution, said Stone, who recently
completed a 14-month duty tour as the deputy commander of detention
operations for Multinational Force Iraq.
Stone said he implemented a system last fall that separated
hard-core extremists from more moderate members of the detention
population. Moderate, well-behaved detainees, he told reporters,
are rewarded with family visitation times, literacy and vocational
training classes and more.
Confirmed extremists, including foreigners who entered Iraq to
wage war against U.S. and Iraqi security forces and against Iraqi
civilians are separated from non-extremists within the detention
population, he said.
Moderate-thinking detainees deemed not to be security threats
want to re-enter Iraqi society as peaceful, productive citizens,
Stone said. The majority of these detainees, he explained, got into
trouble helping insurgents by being lookouts or performing other
low-level tasks -- not because they shared the extremists'
philosophy, but because they were desperate for money.
Voluntary education and vocational programs offered at detention
centers are providing moderate-thinking detainees a conduit to
re-enter society as productive citizens, Stone said.
"We're trying to find moderates, work with the moderates - they
work against the extremists - and move on," Stone explained.
Since 2004, about 50,000 people have been released from
Iraq-based detention centers, Stone said. Currently, he noted,
about 50 people are released from detention each day, while about
30 are brought into the detention system daily.
The detention system in Iraq now functions as a
counterinsurgency tool that combats terrorist ideology, Stone
explained. The concept, he said, originated with Army Gen. David H.
Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq and a proponent of
counterinsurgency doctrine.
"By running this population-engagement program called detention
in a different manner, and with General Petraeus' permission to do
that, we have been very fortunate to understand better the nature
of this enemy," Stone said.
Al-Qaida operatives in Iraq recruit undereducated and
impoverished people as well as mentally impaired citizens, Stone
pointed out. Detention center education and vocational programs, he
noted, are designed to reach out to moderate-thinking detainees and
offer voluntary literacy classes in Arabic and English, as well as
jobs training.
Many former detainees who have benefitted from such programs now
teach civics classes to inmates or at halfway houses, the two-star
general said.
"They're happy, and like I said, we have them coming back to
work with us," Stone said.
The results are encouraging, Stone said, noting that 94 percent
of people who have been released from Iraq-based detention centers
haven't come back.
"We are learning about ways to deal with radicalization -- the
process of it," Stone said. "We are learning, very [clearly] about
what this enemy wants to do, ... how to counter their arguments,
[and] what their arguments are."
In another news conference earlier today, Army Maj. Gen. Mark P.
Hertling, commander of Multinational Division North and the U.S.
Army's 1st Armored Division, said some former detainees who have
benefitted from Stone's detention-center programs are returning to
his sector of Iraq.
"We understand that some of these guys were insurgents early
on," Hertling told reporters. "They since understand that the
political process is growing, so they want to come back and be an
active member of society."
Iraqi leaders in his area have agreed to take responsibility to
assist the former detainees and keep them out of trouble, Hertling
said.
"So far, it's going relatively well, but I will tell you that
early on in the program, the less-dangerous criminals were the
first ones released," Hertling observed. "So, it may be a little
bit too early for me to comment on that." It's imperative, he
added, that more progress be made in creating jobs for Iraqi
citizens, including those returning from stints at detention
centers.
Ultimately, the job of managing detention centers in Iraq will
be transferred to the Iraqi government, Stone predicted.
Meanwhile, al-Qaida continues its efforts to recruit more
Iraqis, Stone said, as part of its vision to eventually subjugate
the population.
"Al-Qaida wants this territory. They want it, and they want
these people, ... and we are finding ways to stop it," Stone
said.
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