U.S. confirms holding 8 women prisoners in Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18195256.htm

U.S. confirms holding 8 women prisoners in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Jan 18 (Reuters) - U.S. forces in Iraq said on Wednesday they were holding eight women prisoners, after the abductors of an American journalist threatened to kill her if the authorities did not free all Iraqi women within 72 hours.

"We have eight females. They are being held for the same reasons as the others, namely that they are a threat to security," said Lieutenant Aaron Henninger, a spokesman for the U.S. military detentions operation. Some 14,000 men are held at Abu Ghraib and other jails on suspicion of insurgent activity.

Arabic television station Al Jazeera aired a brief video on Tuesday night showing Jill Carroll, 28, a freelance journalist working for the Christian Science Monitor.

It was the first glimpse of Carroll since gunmen kidnapped her in a Baghdad street on Jan. 7 and killed her translator. The video showed Carroll speaking to the camera, although her voice was not broadcast.

[leftchick]

1. if they admit to eight

I am sure it is more.

[daleo]

2. A ratio of 14000 men to 8 women does seem unlikely. n/t

[MountainLaurel]

3. It would be the first time they were honest

And I just don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. Plus, the U.S. operation of prisons over there is so mired in shit I can't believe that eight women are all who are there.

[Disturbed]

4. "they are a threat to security,"

Is that an "official crime"? Why are they not being tried for that charge then?

[QuettaKid]

5. BBC is reporting the US to release them ! ! !

apparently the US is going to release them early to help free the journalist.

""Iraq's ministry of justice has told the BBC that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq are to be released early.

The six will be freed because there is insufficient evidence to charge them, a justice ministry spokesman said.""

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4624716.stm

[Up2Late]

6. US confirms holding 8 women prisoners in Iraq (Reuters)

(This is not good news for poor Jill.)

US confirms holding 8 women prisoners in Iraq

Wed Jan 18, 2006 11:32 PM ET

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces in Iraq said on Wednesday they were holding eight women prisoners, after the abductors of an American journalist threatened to kill her unless the authorities freed all Iraqi women within 72 hours. "We have eight females. They are being held for the same reasons as the others, namely that they are a threat to security," said Lt. Aaron Henninger, a spokesman for the U.S. military detentions operation. Some 14,000 men are held at Abu Ghraib and other jails on suspicion of insurgent activity.

Jill Carroll, 28, a freelance journalist working for the Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped in Baghdad on January 7 and one of the newspapers editors Wednesday called on her abductors to release her unharmed. "We respectfully call on Jill's captors to exercise justice and mercy and let our innocent colleague go free," Washington bureau chief Dave Cook said at a news conference outside the newspaper's office in the U.S. capital. Cook said the newspaper had not heard directly from Carroll's captors.

Members of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, headed for Baghdad late on Wednesday to make a public appeal for Carroll's release. "We feel that by actually making the effort, not just talking about it here, but also going to Iraq and getting that information to the Iraqi news outlets and conveying it in the Arabic language will be a more effective," said Dawud Walid, a spokesman for the civil rights group.

The CAIR delegation planned a news conference late Thursday in Amman, Jordan, and a second news conference in Baghdad on Friday.

(more at link below)

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=10897629&src=rss/topNews>

[Hyernel]

7. Watching female pisoners get tortured is the only way Cheney can get wood.

His video library takes up half Dick's undisclosed spider hole.

[Erika]

8. 8 Arab women detainees are a national security threat to us?

OK, in W's war fantasy.

[stillcool]

9. But what about this one...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4624716.stm
Iraq detainees to be freed early

Iraq detainees to be freed early

Hostage takers demanded on Tuesday that women be freed
Iraq's ministry of justice has told the BBC that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq are to be released early.
The six will be freed because there is insufficient evidence to charge them, a justice ministry spokesman said.

The US forces have refused to confirm the releases, but say they would not be based on any operational activities.

[Erika]

10. Why were they held if there was no evidence?

and now, W is choosing to release them? How convenient.

How long were they detained? Why were they arrested?

W goes around arresting foreign women with a different culture and just locks them up? How democratic.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

13. I guess they weren't that much of a threat after all, eh?

[Up2Late]

11. I don't think 6 of 8 will be good enough.

This is almost worst that totally ignoring their demands.

[stillcool]

12. The whole story does not sound right...

from the one source saying they will not be released...to the other saying 6 of 8 will...and I still haven't seen any news of the group that kidnapped her claiming responsibility.

[TheBaldyMan]

14. US forces holding 8 women - no mention of Iraqi forces detaining women

probably a few in Iraqi run facilities.