Prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison dropped off north of Baghdad

[Robbien]

BY ROBERT MORAN

Knight Ridder Newspapers

TIKRIT, Iraq - (KRT) - Scores of prisoners released from the controversial Abu Ghraib prison Tuesday were forced to take a winding, nearly five-hour journey through central Iraq on three hot, rickety buses escorted by U.S. military Humvees before being deposited without explanation in the middle of a gravel quarry near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

It was unclear why the detainees, at least a hundred of them, were dropped off at the remote location 120 miles north of Baghdad. Some got rides home from relatives who had frantically followed the buses in their vehicles. Others climbed into the back of a dump truck or returned to their buses and got a ride back to Baghdad. A few were still milling about on the dirt road where they were released when a reporter and photographer left the scene.

The bizarre ordeal for the detainees came as the U.S. military continues to reel from the prisoner-abuse scandal that erupted last week. Photographs showed Iraqis at Abu Ghraib being subjected to various humiliations, including being stripped naked and forced to simulate sex acts.

U.S. military officials didn't respond to several requests for comment about the way detainees were released Tuesday. Soldiers who escorted the convoy said briefly that there was some kind of mix-up, then they quickly drove away. One of the Iraqi bus drivers said angrily as he was driving away: "They are playing with their nerves. They are trying to destroy them. This is not the first time."

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/world/8588240.htm

[maddezmom]

1. more humane treatment of the detainees

just pray we don't hear of artillery shelling like last night.

[maddezmom]

5. the new gitmo warden promised to reduce the prison population today

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x530441

[htuttle]

2. Fucks probably wanted the prisoners to think they were about to be shot

What else would they be thinking if the occupation army took a group of them out of prison and drove them out into the desert to a quarry?

One last intimidation?

Bastards.

[Greylady]

8. Maybe they were going to be shot

but the families and reporters following the buses foiled the plan?

[displacedtexan]

3. Mix up? Confused? Struggling with how to proceed?

I've heard Rumsfeld, Sessions, and now this soldier use the weirdest terms to describe the behavior of war criminals today.

And I don't use the term 'war criminal' lightly. Dumping prisoners in the desert is probably no more condoned by the Geneva Convention than torturing a la Abu Ghraib.

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. They were probably the prisoners that.................

could corroborate the torture story. Hurry, let's get rid of any evidence.

[Robbien]

7. The rest of the article says these prisoners were not tortured

So maybe they are releasing ones who will say that they are being treated okay.

[Barrett808]

6. It's very clear: the Pentagon doesn't want them interviewed

Prisoners released from Abu Ghraib have been trucked off before. It's an obvious tactic to keep them from the media.

[Laughing Mirror]

9. Re-read what the bus driver said

"They are playing with their nerves. They are trying to destroy them. This is not the first time."

This explains why.

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. Why do I have this sick feeling that there were other buses/vehicles

.
.
.

That went in a different direction?

They took them right INTO Baghdad, then did a U-turn NORTH?

I'm sorry, but I think we missed "the" busses.

(sigh)

[DrWeird]

11. I'm surprised they didn't pack them into box cars. nt

[methinks2]

12. petition at moveon.org to

demand an impartial investigation into the torture of prisoners. Just signed it.

[Just Me]

13. WTF?!?!?!

What the hell is going on over there?