Chicago Tribune January 07, 2004
506 Iraqi detainees to go free
Gesture aimed at winning support for U.S. presence
By Tom Hundley
U.S. occupation authorities will begin releasing 506 low-risk security detainees this week in a gamble calculated to win the support, or at least the neutrality, of many Iraqis who opposed the American presence.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition will increase the bounty for information leading to the capture or death of a newly identified cadre of insurgent leaders.
Senior coalition officials described both moves as an attempt to build on the momentum generated by Saddam Hussein's capture last month.
"In a gesture to give impetus to those Iraqis who wish to reconcile with their countrymen, the coalition will permit some currently detained offenders to return to their homes and families," Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian official in Iraq, said Wednesday.
Bremer said that while the "overwhelming majority" of Iraqis want democracy, others chose to resist the U.S. effort.
"They made a mistake and they know it," he said. "We are prepared to offer some of them a new chance."
The announcement came amid reports of new violence against coalition targets. Near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, Iraqi gunmen shot and killed two French civilian contractors working for American companies. Another French national was wounded in the Monday attack.
In the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, Iraqi police opened fire on former Iraqi soldiers who staged a protest to demand payment of their salaries. One ex-soldier was killed.
The first 100 detainees are to be released Thursday from Abu Ghraib prison. In all, coalition forces are holding about 13,000 security detainees in various locations around the country. The 506 who have been selected for release were culled from a group of about 1,200 whose files were examined by a military review board.
"We are talking about low-level detainees who have not been involved in ongoing attacks against the coalition and Iraqis," a senior coalition official said. "We believe the individuals we have targeted are on the fence and we want to give them a shot at contributing to the new Iraq."
As a condition of release, the detainees must renounce violence. They also must have a "guarantor"--in most cases a religious or tribal leader--who will accept responsibility for their behavior.
This approach reflects a growing awareness on the part of U.S. officials of the importance of traditional leaders in Iraqi society. By giving those leaders a stake in suppressing opposition to the occupation, U.S. officials hope to build support for the planned transfer of power to a provisional Iraqi government later this year.
In the short time since the capture of Hussein, U.S. military and civilian officials say they have been buoyed by a flood of fresh intelligence from Iraqis who have decided to cast their lot with the U.S. led-coalition.
The officials said the new intelligence has allowed them to identify a previously unknown set of midlevel operatives responsible for attacks on Western and Iraqi targets. Rewards of up to $200,000 will be offered for information leading to the death or capture of those operatives.
"In upcoming days we will unveil the new targets--faces and names," said the official who briefed reporters.
"We will be getting tougher on the die-hard insurgents and at the same time using a carrot approach on minor violators who don't have blood on their hands," he said.
Meanwhile, in Basra, Iraqi police firing on the Iraqi ex-soldiers protesting for their salaries killed one and injured at least three others, witnesses said. The protesters said the last time they were paid was in September, a $150 lump-sum payment for three months' wages.
Tuesday's protest came on the state holiday celebrating the 1921 founding of the Iraqi army. Bremer disbanded the army in May. The second battalion of a new Iraqi army graduated Tuesday.
But in Basra, hundreds of former soldiers gathered in front of three banks after being told their salaries had not been received from the U.S.-led coalition. They lobbed stones at the Central Bank and then at police who tried to keep them back with batons before shooting.
"We are the bread-earners and have families and want to feed our families," said Ahmad Abdul Aziz, a former officer.
On Tuesday night, coalition officials said the ex-soldiers would be paid Wednesday--but only if there was no violence.
In the central town of Baquba, another insurgent stronghold, residents shouted anti-U.S. slogans at the funerals of two men allegedly shot without provocation by U.S. soldiers as they returned home from a coffeehouse Monday evening.
Meanwhile, Defense Department statistics tracked by a leading research organization show that 530 U.S. soldiers were wounded in Iraq last month. During the entire six-week period of major combat operations last spring, 550 were wounded, a report by GlobalSecurity.org said Tuesday.
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