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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Washington File

09 April 2003

Iraqi Prisoners Being Treated Well, U.S. Military Official Says

(Defense Department briefing, April 9: Enemy Prisoners of War) (700)
By David Denny
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The approximately 7,300 Iraqi and other enemy prisoners
of war in coalition custody in Iraq are receiving plenty of food and
drink, those with wounds are receiving prompt medical treatment, and
all are allowed to practice their religion, according to a U.S. Army
officer in Umm Qasr, Iraq.
Colonel John Della Jacono, deputy chief of staff to the coalition
forces land component commander, briefed media April 9 from Iraq via
telephone connections to the Pentagon and U.S. press centers in Kuwait
and Qatar. He stated "categorically" that enemy prisoners of war
(EPWs) have received "care and humane treatment" from coalition
forces.
All injured EPWs receive medical treatment, Della Jacono said. About
236 prisoners are in custody now, he said, and they are treated in
field hospitals on the battlefield, and some are treated on the U.S.
Navy hospital ship "Comfort," he said.
"So immediately, if we encounter a wounded EPW, he's getting the
immediate care to treat him accordingly," Della Jacono said.
The colonel said EPWs farther north in Iraq not yet in the prisoner
compound near Umm Qasr are fed the same food that coalition soldiers
are eating -- meals ready to eat (MREs) and water. At the camp,
though, a mess hall has been set up, and when a prisoner arrives, he
receives an initial box of food, juice, bread -- "a pretty hefty
little lunch kit ... to initially feed him as he gets to the
facility," Della Jacono said.
"Right now they are using some of the Iraqi EPWs to assist in the
preparation of their meals. So in the morning they were given fruit,
tea, some sundry items, bread. At night they get their rice. They get
meat, vegetables, and a pretty decent broth, and your sundry items
with that -- water, juice, ... some tinned food items. So they are
being well fed here," with two hot meals a day, Della Jacono said.
The prisoners are allowed to practice their religion in the compound,
he said. Once necessary supplies are received, he said, prisoners will
be issued prayer rugs and copies of the Koran, he added.
Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
visited the prisoner compound the week of March 31 and spent three to
five days on site, Della Jacono said. The Red Cross representatives
were satisfied with the conditions and the treatment, and they will
make daily visits, he said.
Della Jacono praised British forces for performing the initial
construction of the camp.
"The British did an outstanding job; they put up some capability,
because we immediately had EPWs on the battlefield. And ... they
really did a bang-up job. They had a mess kitchen set up in record
time; they had tentage up, they had security in. And so they were able
to accept their own EPWs, but at a certain point in time, they also
started accepting the Marine EPWs and the V Corps EPWs," he said. He
added that camp expansion will continue until it can accommodate
24,000 prisoners, with a capability of further expansion, he said.
Asked whether some of the prisoners will be transferred to the U.S.
military's detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- set up to hold
prisoners captured in Afghanistan and suspected of terrorist
connections, Della Jacono said "There are no plans at this point to
transfer any of these EPWs to Guantanamo Bay. That's not even in the
plans."
He said the prisoners at the Umm Qasr compound will undergo "tribunal
hearings" at some point, and will be categorized either as enemy
prisoners of war or as "civilian internees," that is, someone who has
committed a criminal act or is considered a security risk, he said.
For those categorized as enemy prisoners of war, Della Jacono said
repatriation procedures will come into effect once hostilities cease
and there is a legitimate interim government to accept them. Civilian
internees "might, at a future point in time, be turned over for
criminal prosecution for a crime committed against the coalition or
against the Iraqi people."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)



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