Around 1,000 to be freed from Abu Ghraib as gesture (to mark Ramadan)

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L26256824.htm

Around 1,000 to be freed from Abu Ghraib as gesture

BAGHDAD, Sept 26 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 prisoners held at Abu Ghraib jail will be released this week after a request by Iraqi authorities for a goodwill gesture to mark Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, the U.S. military said on Monday.

The release will take place in stages over the coming week, with 500 prisoners to be set free on Monday, a statement said.

"These detainees were selected for release following a careful and thorough review of their files by a special Iraqi-led review board which determined they had not committed serious crimes," the military said.

Ramadan, a month of fasting that is the pinnacle of the Muslim religious calendar, starts around Oct. 4 this year.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. yeah, we're finished with them. Only so much torture, photography, rape

and abuse we can pile on. It gets boring after a while. So, yeah, they were innocent, let's send them home and watch them turn into rabid anti-american activitists.

Alberto Gonzales and his crew deserve international war crimes trials, convictions and punishment.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Which begs the question - Why are they in there in the 1st place?

Have all of them been found not guilty and they're just waiting for this PR opportunity?

Sounds like another Rovian operation.

[Don1]

3. Stop asking smart questions.

Please report for re-education. You need to watch Fox news for the next two weeks.

[Theres-a]

5. Boggles the mind

Doesn't it?

[gratuitous]

7. Precisely

Are we releasing dangerous criminals on an imperial whim, or were we detaining Iraqi citizens without charge or trial on an imperial whim?

I breathlessly await Wolf Blitzer's hard-hitting reportage on this.

Mmph. Brph. Bwahahahahahaha! Nope, nope, I'm sorry. I couldn't type that with a straight face! Bwahahahahaha!!

[Barrett808]

11. If you had any doubts that the US is holding hostages...

...this should dispel them.

[info being]

25. Another question: who's Mark Ramadan?

LOL

[Canuckistanian]

26. Wasn't he shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers 1952-53?

[tanyev]

4. Hmmm. Didn't the Romans release prisoners as goodwill gestures too?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. even the US military has admitted that more than 1/3 of all detainees

were there by accident. Caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, looking cross-eyed at an armed, scared, 18 yr old marine, having relatives who were Baathists, or worse.

Many of those tortured included these complete innocents. (among those being held include an 80 yr old man who walks with crutches, a 12 yr old boy and other examples that make you want to vomit.

[Inland]

6. These detainees were being held hostage to an imperial PR campaign

What do you prove by this sort of gesture? That you can hold or free people pretty much at your whim, and therefore the people had better obey. It's great for the Pontius Pilates of the occupying forces, but what does it have to do with rule of law, respect for Iraqi sovereignty, and all those good democratic values we were supposed to be imparting?

Same deal with the torture and abuse. The lesson is that this is what the US has the power to do.

[Village Idiot]

8. Better make sure they're not Brits in mufti, first!!!

[Tesla]

9. Lets see, 500 men with no future in their society, and they think the only

way to save their souls would be to, strap a backpack full of explosives, and "BAM"! HEAVEN and 72 virgins.

[zbdent]

12. But wait, doesn't this contradict the righties' claims that

everybody in Abu Ghraib is a terrorist?

[indepat]

13. Why on earth would we be releasing dangerous terrorists

[Rose Siding]

14. A "careful and thorough review" of 500 ended simultaneously?

Or is the US military admitting that its been holding innocent people?

[maddezmom]

15. now it seems they are being held for goodwill gestures

more "good news" from the photoop administration

[leesa]

16. So they hadn't committed serious crimes yet they were being

held. Isn't this what Saddam did?

[Nihil]

17. No, Saddam was *much* worse ...

Not only did he hold innocent people prisoner for no reason, he had
them tortured and raped and ... oh ...

Psst ... Can you just clarify something for me please? Who is on trial
for human rights abuses and who is bringing freedom & liberty to Iraq?

[Judi Lynn]

18. Around 1,000 to be freed from Abu Ghraib as gesture

September 26, 2005

Around 1,000 to be freed from Abu Ghraib as gesture


BAGHDAD - More than 1,000 prisoners held at Abu Ghraib jail will be released this week after a request by Iraqi authorities for a goodwill gesture to mark Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, the US military said on Monday.

The release will take place in stages over the coming week, with 500 prisoners to be set free on Monday, a statement said.

"These detainees were selected for release following a careful and thorough review of their files by a special Iraqi-led review board which determined they had not committed serious crimes," the military said.

Ramadan, a month of fasting that is the pinnacle of the Muslim religious calendar, starts around October 4 this year.
(snip/...)

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=17374

[saigon68]

19. Guess none of them were pilots or career criminals

[thecodewarrior]

20. I've

blogged this on my site. It's a bunch of shit.

http://thecodewarrior.com/

The U.S. government said it only releases detainees who are not guilty of serious, violent crimes -- such as bombing, torture, kidnapping, or murder -- and who have had admitted their crimes, renounced violence, "and pledged to be good citizens of a democratic Iraq."


That is right out of 1984. Admitting to crimes they never did. They had no trial, they are released when our military feels like it or Rove needs some good press.

[thecodewarrior]

21. In the US

prisons aren't a place to hold people, it's a place for tried criminals who already went thru the justice system. We don't just release 1000 people from Folsum for the hell of it, to look good to the locals.

[Gregorian]

22. They must be cleaning the cages. Nice Nazis.

Bush is not a Nazi. He just works under their guidance.


I wasn't going to post stupid comments. But I felt inclined even after waiting an hour.

[superconnected]

23. yes and no

I don't trust these Bush Nazis.

Maybe they're letting out 990 good people that shouldn't have been there, and 10 plotters against america that Bush want's to invoke fear in us to justify his war.

Besides, if the bombings stopped, we wouldn't really need to be there to bring order to the place now would we.

Bush needs a terrorist attack on american soil right now. His ratings are low and he's always ruled by fear.

Seriously, we're not afraid. He and condosleeza have to fix that.

[Judi Lynn]

24. A motivation comes into view:

US offers Iraqi prisoner amnesty

27.09.05 6.20am


The US military began yesterday to release 1000 Iraqi detainees from Abu Ghraib Prison at the request of the Iraqi Government in honour of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Arab Governments often pardon non-violent offenders during Ramadan, but the action in Iraq is widely seen as an effort to persuade Iraqis to vote in the October 15 national referendum on Iraq's draft constitution.
(snip/)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10347420

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They are cynically being used to trick the citizens into voting, which would be claimed as a stamp of approval on the invasion and occupation, etc., etc.

[NYC]

27. So why were they being held?

..."These detainees were selected for release following a careful and thorough review of their files by a special Iraqi-led review board which determined they had not committed serious crimes," the military said...

Why do we need a holiday to review files and release prisoners? If Iraqi "authorities" hadn't requested release, would they still be held?

This really makes it sound as though they are holding anyone and everyone. (I know they are, but they are not ashamed to admit it.)