25 April 2003
More Iraqi POWs Being Released As More Regime Leaders Captured
(Rumsfeld says 12 of 55 "Most Wanted" now in custody) (1060) By Jacquelyn S. Porth Washington File Security Affairs Writer Washington --- Thirty days into "Operation Iraqi Freedom," the number of members of Saddam Hussein's former regime in captivity continues to grow daily, according to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, just as the number of released Iraqi prisoners of war (POWs) is also growing day by day. Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon April 25 that there are now 12 out of 55 of the most wanted former Iraqi leaders in custody, as well as some other individuals who were not named as part of the original "Iraqi Top 55" list issued by the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Those now in CENTCOM hands include former deputy prime minister Tarik Aziz, described by Rumsfeld as a Saddam Hussein "confidante;" former chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service's American desk Salim Sa'id Khalaf al-Jumayli; former Iraqi Air Defense Force Commander Mazahim Sa'b Hassan al-Tikriti; former director of Iraq's Military Intelligence Zuhayr Talib Abd al-Sattar al-Naqib; former Iraqi Minister of Trade Muhammad Mahdi al-Sallih; former Deputy Chief of Tribal Affairs Jamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti; and Iraq's former ambassador to Tunisia, Farouq Hijazi. Among POWs , Rumsfeld said more than 1,000 Iraqis who fall into the category of foot soldiers have been released. The secretary said some 100 Iraqi POWs a day are being moved out of various facilities that have held -- at their peak -- 7,000 to 7,500 Iraqi POWs and foreign nationals who were fighting in Iraq as mercenaries. If Iraqi POWs are thought to possess significant intelligence, they are separated from the others and interrogated by an interagency group, Rumsfeld said. Asked if some high-ranking former regime members might be charged as criminals, the secretary said their legal status has yet to be determined. They could be brought before U.S. military commissions, held until the end of the war, or processed through other military judicial proceedings, he said. Rumsfeld said it is a high priority "to stop holding the ones we don't need." That is why, he said, efforts are under way to sort as many as 200 to 300 Iraqis a day and release those of little interest, so they can "go back home and live their lives." The secretary also said efforts continue to be made to resolve the case of U.S. Navy Captain Michael Scott Speicher, a pilot missing since he was shot down during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Some initials were found carved in the wall of an Iraqi prison in Kamiyah that some have speculated were his. Rumsfeld said the United States is always anxious to account for every missing coalition member, including those Kuwaitis who are still unaccounted for from the same period. Rumsfeld was asked why no Iraqis are being sent to holding facilities at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba, as many individuals were following their capture in Afghanistan as part of "Operation Enduring Freedom." Those who were sent to Guantanamo were isolated because they were linked to a worldwide terror organization, the secretary said, whereas the newly captured Iraqis "belong in Iraq." He was also questioned about the U.S. practice of holding juvenile prisoners at Guantanamo. Rumsfeld indicated that the younger prisoners are being treated properly. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Richard Myers, who appeared with Rumsfeld at the Pentagon briefing, made the point that these young men, regardless of their ages, are still considered "very dangerous." Some have killed people and are committed to doing so again, he said. While answering questions from reporters, Rumsfeld corrected an impression that may have been left by the U.S. administrator in Iraq, Jay Garner, about the speed with which an Iraqi interim authority might be launched. Some press reports had interpreted Garner's remarks in Baghdad to suggest that such authority might be ready by next week. Instead, the secretary said, there will be the second in series of meetings next week which are part of the process leading up to a new Iraqi governmental authority. This process of holding regional meetings across Iraq will sort through those who will move into positions of responsibility, Rumsfeld explained. "There will be a natural sort that will take place," he said. Ultimately, he said, the process will enable the Iraqi people to decide what Iraq's future government will look like. Whatever emerges, the secretary added, "will be as representative as is possible" given the current situation in Iraq. On the subject of alleged Iranian influence in the process of forming Iraq's future government, Rumsfeld said Iran has encouraged individuals to go into Iraq in an effort to wield influence there. But he speculated that the Iraqis would rather be governed by fellow Iraqis. Asked about the duration of the U.S. presence in Iraq, Rumsfeld said U.S. forces will remain "as long as necessary" but will then leave Iraq and its future to the Iraqi people. Asked how many U.S. forces were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, the secretary said approximately 135,000 altogether, but probably less than 100,000 on the ground. That number will fluctuate, he said, depending on the ongoing security situation as well as contributions by other members of the coalition. Currently, Rumsfeld said, some 65 or 66 nations are contributing in one way or another. Those contributions range from mine clearance to supplying electric generators to setting up military field hospitals in areas of need in Iraq. Myers addressed the subject of the coalition's use of cluster bombs. He said most of the 1,500 cluster munitions used were precision-guided and were used to target surface-to-surface and surface-to air missiles, radar and air defense sites, mobile communications, aircraft, tanks, fielded forces, and artillery. Only 26 of the 1,500 bombs were used near civilian neighborhoods, Myers said, with "only one recorded case of collateral damage from cluster munitions" reported thus far. The former Iraqi regime had a habit of placing its military assets in populated areas in an effort to draw coalition fire, he said, so the coalition only used cluster munitions "in very specific cases against valid military targets, and only when they deemed it was a military necessity." (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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