http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18631180/site/newsweek/A surge in arrests is raising new questions about Iraqi jails—and heightening concerns among U.S. officials.Out of Action: A suspected insurgent in American custody
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This is the other side of the surge: as thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops flood Baghdad's neighborhoods, the jails are also filling up. According to figures from the Ministry of Human Rights, the number of Iraqis detained nationwide from the end of January until the end of March—a period that includes the first six weeks of the new Baghdad security plan—jumped by approximately 7,000 to 37,641. U.S. forces swept up 2,000 prisoners a month in March and April, almost twice the average from the second half of last year. Iraqi arrest numbers are roughly equivalent. Some of these detainees are falling into a kind of legal limbo, held for weeks without a hearing. Others are allegedly suffering even worse fates. The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, is worried enough that he issued an open letter to American advisers paired up with Iraqi units last week: "It is very important that we never turn a blind eye to abuses, thinking that what Iraqis do with their own detainees is 'Iraqi business'."
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But detentions, like the security plan itself, are a joint effort. About half the detainees in Baghdad end up in Iraqi prisons run by the Iraqi Army, police and Ministry of Justice. And while U.S.-run detention centers have been much more strictly monitored since the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2004, local jails remain black holes. "Torture and abusive behavior are widespread," says an independent monitor who has inspected Baghdad-area detention facilities, and who asked for anonymity in order to maintain access to prisons.
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The crush of new prisoners is only adding to the chaotic atmosphere within Iraqi jails. U.S. military officials do confront their Iraqi counterparts with abuse allegations and conduct periodic joint inspections of Iraqi facilities. "We're constantly sending signals that we're watching, to make them stay in line," says Lt. Col. Steven Miska, the deputy commander of a U.S. task force at Forward Operating Base Justice, where Edala prison is located.