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Camp Bucca detention facility shuts down operations

Multi-National Force-Iraq

Thursday, 17 September 2009

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ
JOINT TASK FORCE 134
Detainee Operations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release 20090917
Sept. 17, 2009

Camp Bucca detention facility shuts down operations

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – As the last detainee boarded a plane destined for another theater internment facility on Sept. 17, the detainee operations mission at Camp Bucca officially ended.

An Air Force C-17 carrying the last group of 180 detainees lifted off from the Basra airport headed to Camp Cropper at 3:22 a.m.

“As a result of the great working relationship between the Government of Iraq and Task Force 134, I’m pleased to say the Camp Bucca detention facility is now closed,” said Brig. Gen. David Quantock, Joint Task Force 134’s commanding general. “We’ve been working hand in hand with the Government of Iraq to coordinate our detainee releases and transfers in accordance with the Security Agreement, and that teamwork has allowed us to close the Bucca TIF.”

Task Force 134 has been focused on safe and orderly releases and transfers in accordance with the Security Agreement, which took effect on Jan. 1. The agreement, signed in November 2008, states that detainee transfers between Coalition Forces and the Government of Iraq must be conducted with arrest warrants or detention orders. If detainees do not have arrest warrants or detention orders, they must be released.

The Camp Bucca TIF closure leaves only two U.S.-run detention facilities in Iraq – Camp Taji, which is 16 miles north of Baghdad, and Camp Cropper near the Baghdad International Airport. Detainees held at Camp Bucca, but not yet released or transferred to the Government of Iraq, have been moved to one of the two remaining facilities.

Since February, Task Force 134 has released an average of about 750 detainees from its detention facilities each month. In addition, an average of nearly 200 transfers to the Government of Iraq were completed per month.

As of the Camp Bucca TIF closure, there are a total of 8,305 detainees remaining in Coalition custody. This year, 1,360 detainees have been transferred to the Government of Iraq with a valid warrant, detention order, or conviction of a terrorist act by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. Since the Security Agreement went into effect Jan. 1, 5,703 detainees have been released.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT MNF-I JOINT TASK FORCE 134, AT DSN 318-485-2802/2227/4030 OR E-MAIL TF134PAO2@IRAQ.CENTCOM.MIL. FOR THIS PRESS RELEASE AND OTHERS VISIT WWW.MNF-IRAQ.COM.