Media Roundtable: Brig. Gen. David Quantock, Feb. 23, 2009
Multi-National Force-Iraq
Brig. Gen. David Quantock, deputy CG of MNF-I Detainee Operations and CG of Task Force 134 hosts a Media Roundtable.
MEDIA ROUNDTABLE:
Brigadier General David Quantock, Deputy Commanding General for Detainee Operations, Multi-National Force – Iraq, and Commanding General of Task Force 134
DATE: February 23, 2009
TRANSCRIBED BY: SOS INTERNATIONAL LTD.
PARTICIPANTS:
Brigadier General David Quantock
REPORTERS:
Qays Eedan from al-Mada
Auday Hatam from al- Hayat
Mahmoud al-Mufriji from NINA
Hadi Osami al-Hadi from Aswat al-Iraq
Laith Hassan from Free Iraq
Hassan Aboud from al-Hurriya
REPORTERS 1-6
REP1 = REPORTER 1
INT = INTERPRETER
[PH] = PHONETIC SPELLING
BG QUANTOCK: Okay. The floor’s open. I appreciate everybody taking the time to come here and ask me some questions.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Give an introduction or shall we go right to the questions?
BG QUANTOCK: Well, I guess I’ll just make a couple of brief remarks to set the stage. We’ve…right now, we have 1,000…or 14,270 detainees inside our facilities.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: About 2,300 of those detainees, 1,800 of those (one-thousand eight-hundred) of those are in some part of the criminal justice system of Iraq and there’s 500 convicts.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Eighteen hundred are…
BG QUANTOCK: One-thousand eight-hundred are either in pretrial or trial.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mm-hmm.
BG QUANTOCK: And an additional 500 are convicts; they’ve already been convicted by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And since 1 February, we have been releasing detainees in accordance with the security agreement.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: This month…during the month of February, we will have released a little over 1,200 (one-thousand two-hundred) detainees.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mm-hmm.
BG QUANTOCK: In March, we’re looking right now, we’re scheduling 1,500 releases for March.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And we will be releasing somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 detainees until about mid-summer.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: That will leave about 5,600…5,000 or 6,000 detainees left, and they are the most dangerous detainees that we deal with.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And each of those detainees will have their day in court.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: The investigative judge will either provide us a detention order for further detention, or he will give a release and that detainee will be released.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So there are only two courses of action: either the detainee is given a detention order or a conviction or he’s been…or he is being…or he will be released.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Once we get our total numbers below 8,000 detainees, we will shut down Camp Bucca.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We will…we’re opening a new facility in Taji.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: That facility will hold about 5,000 detainees.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And those…then Taji will be filled with detainees with detention orders or convicts.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And then in December of 2009 or early 2010, we will transition Taji to the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And then Camp Cropper will continue to be a joint facility between the Iraqis and the coalition forces...
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …for the foreseeable future—but at least through 2010.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And then in 2010, we will transition that to the Government of Iraq as well.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Now, a significant point in accordance with the security agreement is the fact that the 1st of February was the first release lists that were reviewed by the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So all release lists from 1 February on will be reviewed by the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Of the 1,500 detainees that we gave to them early in December, they came back with 12 arrest warrants and about 65 detainees of interest.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: More importantly, they returned 1,400 (one-thousand four-hundred) names that did not have any arrest warrants against them.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And they are currently, right now, looking through the lists of detainees that will be released in March.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And we haven’t heard anything back yet on those releases.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So subject to that, I’m ready to answer any of your questions.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP1: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Mr. Laith Hassan from Free Iraq.
REP1: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Why is it that you chose the number 1,500 to give to the Iraqi government? Why not give them the whole roster and let them look through it and vet it and pick the names that they want or the cases that they want to promote for release?
BG QUANTOCK: Well, for one thing, since October, the Government of Iraq has had a list…a complete list of all our detainees.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And we’ve looked through all our intelligence sources and we have prioritized the release list from the least dangerous to the most dangerous.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Now, we acknowledge we may miss somebody, so this is just a final check to make sure there is not an arrest warrant out there that the Iraqis could use [unintelligible].
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Now, the number 1,500…the reason why we picked 1,500 is because that is the maximum amount of people we can out-process in a month.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Detainees must be brought from Camp Bucca up to Camp Cropper…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: They go through a physical exam.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Those that need follow-on medication are given that medication for a period of time.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: They are given the property back that is not otherwise used as evidence.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Many detainees earn money while they’re in our facilities, so it’s an opportunity to give them all the money that’s due them before they’re released.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And then they’re given clothes, and then they’re out-processed, and then they have to be scheduled for release at their point of capture.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So it’s a very involved process. So 1,500 is the most that we can do in any particular month.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP2: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: Okay. He’s from Aswat al-Iraq.
BG QUANTOCK: Okay.
REP2: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: My question has to do with the TCNs.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: The last thing we heard that you had 140 TCNs.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: Has there anything been worked out that they would be turned over to the Iraqi authorities?
BG QUANTOCK: Yes. And the number is still 140 detain-…third-country nationals.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And we’re working in close cooperation with the Government of Iraq. And it is a dual decision between the Coalition Forces and the Government of Iraq of what to do with the third-country nationals.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We’ll give the Government of Iraq everything we have on the third-country nationals. And for those that we don’t have enough evidence, the Government of Iraq may have enough to prosecute those detainees.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: But whether it’s trial or whether it’s release or whether it’s repatriation to another country, that will be a decision between the Coalition Forces and the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP2: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Right now you have 38 juveniles.
BG QUANTOCK: Correct.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP2 and INT: [Engage in brief dialog in Arabic.]
INT: The question is, going from the juveniles now.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: For the release, we understood in the past that you were releasing an average of 50 detainees a day. Are you still doing that or is it…is the number differed? And also, how many are you taking in daily?
BG QUANTOCK: That’s a good question. Well, we’re getting…I mean the last month, in February, we’re releasing a little over 1,200, so it’s a little bit less than 50 a day.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: But next month, in March, we’re looking to be right at 1,500, so that will be 50 per day.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Now, to answer your question about intakes…
REP2: Mm-hmm.
BG QUANTOCK: …we were averaging, before 1 January, about 30 intakes per day.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And since 1 January, we have taken in a total of 40…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …which is less than one a day.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We are working by, with, and through the Iraqi government.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And we are following all the rules with…in accordance with the security agreement on what to do with new captures.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Because virtually all operations are with Iraqi Security Forces, most captures are run completely – right from the start – through the central…through the Iraqi system.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP2: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: My last question.
REP2: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: The four detainees that you took…
BG QUANTOCK: The 40? No, the 4.
INT: The four that we took to Guantanamo.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: Why particularly these four? Were they members of any organization or sectarian or otherwise? Were they al-Qaeda, were they Iranians? Just why is it that just those four were taken? What’s up with those four?
BG QUANTOCK: Yeah. And you’d have to ask that question to the minister of defense and the Government of Iraq. That was a decision between…when they moved from Guantanamo. I didn’t have anything to do with that particular move.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP2: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: So in other words, they were brought in from Guantanamo to Iraq by orders of the minister of defense.
BG QUANTOCK: That’s right. And the minister of defense right now is determining exactly what evidence is against those detainees…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …to see if there’s enough evidence to prosecute.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And if there’s not enough evidence to prosecute, they will be released.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: But above that, I have no details on that.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP2: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: But why did the military take them to Guantanamo to begin with? Why weren’t they just kept here with the rest of the detainee population?
BG QUANTOCK: Because these were captures in Afghanistan. We did not transfer them out of Iraq. These were detainees in Afghanistan.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We have not transferred any detainees from Iraq to Guantanamo.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP2: Shukran.
REP3: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Salah[ph] from [Unintelligible]. People’s Echo, if you would translate that.
BG QUANTOCK: People’s Echo?
INT: People’s Echo.
BG QUANTOCK: Oh, very good.
REP3 and INT: [Engage in brief dialog in Arabic.]
INT: Some political entities have detainees…or have members of their group as detainees. They’re trying their best…they do not want this transfer to the Iraqi authorities and they’re doing everything that they can to keep these detainees in the custody of the U.S. What’s happening with that?
BG QUANTOCK: We are following the rule of law within the Iraqi constitution…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …international laws and the security agreement.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And we are…I mean we only have two choices...
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …either to release or to get a conviction.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So they will…eventually they’ll either be transferred over to the Government of Iraq or they will be released.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP3: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: But would they be kept in U.S. custody or would they be transferred? Because we understand there are some pressures that are being put somewhere, somebody….
BG QUANTOCK: They will have…if…. Remember what we talked about: when we get down below 8,000, we’re going to shut down Camp Bucca. Okay? Then we’re going to move the detainees with detention orders who are awaiting trial to Taji. Taji, we are going to transfer eventually; when all the force is trained, we’re going to transfer them to the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP3 and INT: [Engage in brief dialog in Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So in December of 2009 to 2010, as we train the Iraqi force to take over Taji, then we will transfer all of the pretrial and detainees over to the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Our goal – by the end of 2009, the beginning of 2010 – is to be done with detainee operations...
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …except for a small detainee population at Camp Cropper…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …in which we will work hand-in-hand with the Government of Iraq in a dual facility.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP3: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: By the end of the day, will there be any detainee that you have –maybe the Americans have information on them, maybe they’ve been involved in international terrorism, they will keep and not ever be turned over to the GOI?
BG QUANTOCK: Yeah. One more time. We only have two courses of action.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We either convict them and…or get a detention order and they’re prosecuted in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, or they are released. There’s only two courses of action.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We will not hold on to any detainees…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …unless that detainee is waiting on a court date or is waiting on some kind of court process and in agreement with the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: It is very important to us that we follow the letter of the law in the security agreement.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We want to be good partners with the Government of Iraq in the prosecution of the security agreement.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP3: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: We understand that you’re saying that your intentions are to close Bucca.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: But if you’re closing Bucca, why are you trying to open up another detention facility?
BG QUANTOCK: Okay. It’s a very good question. The reason why we’re closing Bucca is it’s a temporary facility.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: It is made of wood and tents…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …where Taji is more substantial; it is a prison.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: It’s made of bricks and mortar.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So we’ve spent about $80 million to stand up that facility and then we’re going to give it to the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS: [Brief exchange between Arabic speakers that ends in laughter.]
INT: Since his…his is related to Taji [unintelligible].
BG QUANTOCK: Okay.
INT: His is four-part question so….
BG QUANTOCK: Four! You ask tough questions. Okay.
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: According to my information that Taji is already open and you already have detainees over there, but it is under the custody of the Americans. So what’s the nature of business in Taji at this moment?
BG QUANTOCK: Well, Taji’s capacity is 5,000 detainees.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We only have 180 in there right now.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And only one part of the facility that we can open up.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And the purpose was to put some detainees in there just to test our procedures.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So…I mean that’s how you open a facility. You just don’t bring 5,000 detainees on the facility at one time. You work it little by little.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We look at the rest of the facility to be up in around April.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And we bring up about 180 about every other week to slowly bring the numbers up.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Again, so we test all our procedures to make sure they’re good.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Safe for the detainees and safe for the guards.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: [Speaks briefly in Arabic without translation.]
BG QUANTOCK: Four-part question.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: The American forces want to close detain-…or end detainee operations.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: I know you have over 1,400…14,000 detainees.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: And what you said about 5,000 will have court cases…
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: …and 500 already are convicted.
BG QUANTOCK: Convicted.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: So in other word, you do have 5,000 detainees that may have judicial orders.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: What’s left is 8,000.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: Eight or nine [thousand], okay…
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: …within the program of the SOFA agreement…
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: …which means closing down detention operations by the end of August.
BG QUANTOCK: Well, they won’t be shut down by August, but we will start prosecuting their cases. Most of the 8,000 that you talked about will be released by mid-summer.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: Okay.
BG QUANTOCK: Right.
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: So you will have 5,000 left.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: Why not just turn them over to the GOI…
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: …and then you’ll be out of business.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: Because now it’s being used as sort of like a joke on the hands of any political entity since they are so close to their elections.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: And by that I mean the Iraqi government leaders.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: And this way you will really clarify your goal. Your goal is to close detention operations. This way you will make it look like this was your decision, you’re the one that worked for this, you worked hard, endlessly, and you’re the one that put it to rest.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Can I answer one question at a time?
[Laughter]
REP4: [Speaks briefly in Arabic without translation.]
BG QUANTOCK: You’re going to have to remind me of all these questions.
INT: The four questions are related to what we just talked about.
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Are you going to give these…this large number of detainees to the Government of Iraq?
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Is Taji going to be closed to the media?
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Or is it going to be the same as what we’ve been doing so far is that you let us see what you want us to see?
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
REP4: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: Fourth question.
REP4: [Speaks in Arabic without translation.]
BG QUANTOCK: I was going to say, this is the fourth question.
[Laughter]
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: [Laughs.]
BG QUANTOCK: That must have been a tough one. He’s holding his head.
[Laughter.]
INT: Why is it that the media is not allowed to come in and interview or see the place or the detention facility where the old regime elements are kept in? You don’t even want to give us the list of names. You don’t want to tell us anything. And when we ask, you usually refer us to the GOI, say, “Go ask the Government of Iraq.” When we go and ask the Government of Iraq, they say, “Go ask the coalition forces.” So do we have to go to Uruguay and ask them, you know, about this? Or [laughs] who do we ask?
BG QUANTOCK: That’s a great idea. You go to Uruguay. See if they know.
[Laughter.]
BG QUANTOCK: Yeah. Is that it? Okay. Alright. Okay. Initially, the reason why we can’t just turn over the 5,000 in August is a capacity issue on the part of the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Although the facilities…they’re starting to get new facilities on the ground, they’re having problems getting enough Iraqi corrections officers to man the facilities.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: The security agreement says that we have to turn over the detainees in a safe and orderly manner.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So we have to make sure that those detainees are transferred in a…to a humane and well-run facility.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Now, there are a number of well-run facilities inside Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: However, they’re at capacity.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So that’s why we have to hold on to them, because we’re going to increase their capacity by training the guard force and turning over Taji to them…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …a facility that already has educational programs, vocational programs, and has the highest humanitarian standards.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And right now…we’re training that cadre that’s going to run Taji at Cropper right now.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: Mm-hmm.
BG QUANTOCK: Taji will be open to the media when it’s opened, just like Cropper is.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So we will invite you to take a look once it is fully opened, probably in April.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: As far as the old regime, the reason we cannot allow you to go see the old regime is because a Geneva full requirement that we cannot open the facility up for public curiosity of certain public figures.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Because many of these detainees are famous or infamous…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …we would be violating international law if we subjected them to public curiosity.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Now, we’ve already turned over 29 of them to the Government of Iraq…
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …and have a little under 40 left to transition to the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: But again, the Government of Iraq is the person you need to go to to get their names.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic, and then laughs.]
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: As far as TCNs, will their file be looked over by the Government of Iraq at the same time as the rest of the population is being looked at?
BG QUANTOCK: Yes.
INT: Or is there going to be a separate scheduling for it?
BG QUANTOCK: No. It’ll be, well…I mean it depends on the Government of Iraq, but all those files will be given to them at a period of time in concert with the rest of the detainees.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: I mean they are given to them physically separated because they are separated from the Iraqi detainees.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: How the Government of Iraq chooses to look through them is a Government of Iraq decision.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Are they just Arabs or are they…other than…non-Arabs among them?
BG QUANTOCK: Ninety-five percent of them are Arabs.
INT:` [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: And the rest?
BG QUANTOCK: I can’t go into specific countries...
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: …but the vast majority of them are Arabs.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: Okay. [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: No.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: As far as Taji, I know you said what the capacity is number-wise, but I’m talking about have you looked into it when you designed it that this section is going to be…this wing will be for juvenile, this will be for females? Is there something like that or how was it designed?
BG QUANTOCK: Well, there is no females.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And because it is based in a modular construct, you can design…you can break it into any kind of organization.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: They’re broken up into various buildings and case structures.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So it would be very easy to designate. For example, if the Government of Iraq chose to put juveniles there or women there, you could break out buildings for those particular populations.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Is yellow jumpsuit going to continue?
BG QUANTOCK: It’s a nice color, don’t you think?
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: I mean it probably will—as long as we have it. Now, once the Government of Iraq, they can choose any color they’d like.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: For the juveniles, the thirty-eight that you have…
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: …are they wanted in any crime or is there any…?
BG QUANTOCK: Yes. You know when we had the juveniles we had a total population of over 900 at one point.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So we’ve done a lot of work to go from over 900 to 38.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: About half of those…about half of 38 will be tried in the Criminal Court of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: The other…right now we’re developing cases on the other half, but there’s a good chance that they will probably be released later this year.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: For those, we would like to transition some of those to a juvenile prison. However, there’s no capacity right now in the juvenile facility to take them.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4 and INT: [Engage in brief dialog in Arabic.]
INT: Oh, the new detainees that you’ve been taking in, are they part of the 1,400…14,200?
BG QUANTOCK: Yes.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Yeah, we count them as…we count them all together.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4 and INT: [Engage in brief dialog in Arabic.]
INT: Okay. thirty-eight[sic] juvenile.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
REP4 and INT: [Engage in brief dialog in Arabic.]
INT: The…some of the 38…
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: …when you said you were trying to build cases…
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: …who is building cases? What do you mean by we’re trying to build cases?
BG QUANTOCK: Well, we’re looking through all the evidence to see if there is enough evidence to prosecute in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4 and INT: [Engage in brief dialog in Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: The problem is that it goes with…I was…the last time we did one of these roundtables, I was misquoted.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: In one of the papers it said, “All innocent detainees released.”
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We have detainees and we have a lot of intelligence to prove that just about every single one of our detainees did something wrong.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: However, having intelligence and proving it in a court of law are two different things.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And that’s the difference. So we have to look through all the files to make sure…to see…to make sure that before we release them, we cannot prosecute them in court.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And just like all the other detainees, they will be released in accordance with their threat level.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: If they are somewhere in the middle and we can’t find the evidence, we will release them.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: In the last roundtable, you said that we have about 10,000 detainees, that we do not have enough evidence…enough prosecutable evidence…
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: …in CCCI.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm. That’s correct.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: But enough prosecutional evidence; however, not no evidence.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: There is a difference.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: I wouldn’t have had any problem if the…I wouldn’t have had a problem if the headlines had said no prosecutional evidence, but it just said no evidence, which is not true.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4 and INT: [Engage in brief dialog in Arabic.]
INT: Okay. Abu Ghraib was in the U.S. custody or coalition custody when the scandal happened.
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
INT: And we all know about that. Now, when you’re going to turn over detainees to GOI and the GOI decided to open Abu Ghraib, are you assured or do you have any guarantees that GOI will be capable of running Abu Ghraib without any scandal? And will they be capable of doing that?
BG QUANTOCK: I think the answer to that is yes.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: However…I mean we are…before we turn over any detainees over to another country like the Government of Iraq, we have to make sure…we will ha-…we will send assessment teams in there to inspect the facility.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: There are nine facilities that we have approved for transfer to the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And we send inspectors out there to make sure…on a periodic basis to make sure that their standards stay up.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: I know the Government of Iraq has put a lot of in-…resources and investment to try to erase the memories of the old Abu Ghraib.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: I personally talked to the warden and the warden is very well-qualified to run that facility.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And I had a very extensive discussion with him and he talks and he knows all of the right information and all of the right knowledge to run a very good facility.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: But again, before we transfer any detainees over to Abu Ghraib, we…it has to prove…it has to pass our inspection.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4 and INT: [Engage in brief dialog in Arabic.]
INT: In case something happens in Abu Ghraib and another scandal is broke out while it’s in the custody of the GOI, would the American forces then come around and take over custody of this place, or what…or is your job, that’s done with?
BG QUANTOCK: No. Our…that is a government…this is a sovereign country effective 1 January.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And we don’t have any…we have no standing; we have no right, no standing to go in there and fix something.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: That would be the Government of Iraq’s job to fix.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Our goal is to get smaller, not get bigger.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: In your opinion, do you think that Iraqi people were hoping that many prisons would be closed and that you’re closing Bucca , but now that we understand that Abu Ghraib has already been open, you’re also opening up another one in Taji, we also understand there was another one in Nasiriyah that was opened. Do you think this is a step in the right direction that instead of decreasing the number of prisons we are opening up prisons? How do you see that? And does that mean that Iraq is still not stable?
BG QUANTOCK: Well, I think that what we’re starting to see is that we have more building capacity than we probably need to put prisoners in.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: That would be a great question to ask the new minister of justice.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Because there should be…I mean in a corrections model, you don’t have one huge facility; you have many small facilities that are close to the detainees’ neighborhoods.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: I mean I think over 2009—that’s a very good question. Over 2009, I see that you’ll have…your capacity in buildings will be much greater than the amount of prisoners that you have.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And then your focus should change from quantity to quality.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: A suggestion, not a question. I don’t have a question.
BG QUANTOCK: Okay [laughs]. Suggestions are good.
REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Would you have…would you be interested in a press conference…a large press conference?
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: …where you will be part of that conference…
BG QUANTOCK: Mm-hmm.
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: …the minister of justice…
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: …and the minister of interior…
REP4: [Continues speaking in Arabic.]
INT: …and defense.
BG QUANTOCK: We were talking about that very same thing, about doing a press conference. And I think we will be lining one up here in the future.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
REP4 and INT: [Engage in a brief dialog in Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Okay. Very good. Shukran.
REP4: Thank you.
BG QUANTOCK: Very good questions. Thank you very much. [The roundtable ends at 57:41.0. Shortly after the conclusion of the roundtable, reporters from Al Hurriya interview the general.]
AL HURRIYA REPORTER: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: What they want…they want a release from you. This is going to be aired on Al Hurriya. And they want something from us to the families of the detainees as if you are entering their homes and explaining to them or we’re talking to them.
INT: [Speaks in Arabic.]
AL HURRIYA REPORTER: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: If you’re talking about the process, the steps that we go through for release, he said I know you’ve spoken of that over here, but if you’d just give a summary of that.
BG QUANTOCK: Well, we’ll be releasing about 1,500 detainees per month. It is a very [unintelligible], the most we can release in a month. Most detainees are down in Camp Bucca and we bring them to Camp Cropper.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Once they are at the…Camp Cropper, they go through a number of steps, one of which is they get all the property that was taken from them, they are given all that property back.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Many of them earn up to $4.00 an hour working in our facilities so that money is given to them prior to release.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: In addition to that they go through a full medical screening to include they get any kind of medications for at least 30 days after their release.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Then they are given clothes, they’re out-processed, and then they are scheduled for release in their community.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So in February, we’ll release about 1,200 detainees. And then next month, it’ll be very close to 1,500 detainees released in March.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: And then we’ll be releasing, again, 1,500 per month until we get to about mid-summer when we’ll have about 5[000] or 6,000 detainees left.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: Those 5,000 detainees will go through a judicial review. They’ll either be…get a detention order or an arrest warrant by a judge, or they’ll also be released.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: So again, we are completely committed to making sure that we adhere strictly to the security agreement. But at the end of the day, we are concerned with the safe and orderly return of their loved ones to their community.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
AL HURRIYA REPORTER: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Maybe if you can talk a little bit about closing down of Bucca and opening Taji, and how Taji’s going to be an Iraqi facility.
BG QUANTOCK: Once we get…right now our population, we have about 4-…a little over 14,000 detainees. When we get our total population below 8,000, we will close Camp Bucca.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We are opening a new facility up in Taji. The capacity of that prison will be about 5,000 detainees. Once we get those 5,000 detainees up and the staff trained, we will transition that whole facility to the Government of Iraq.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
BG QUANTOCK: We expect the transition of that facility over to the Government of Iraq in December, 2009 or early 2010.
INT: [Translates the general’s remarks from English to Arabic.]
AL HURRIYA REPORTER: Thank you. Thank you very much.
BG QUANTOCK: Shukran.
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