U.S. transfers Camp Cropper (Abu Gharib) control to Iraq

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Detainees are seen outside their cell block at the U.S. detention facility at Camp Cropper in Baghdad, Iraq.


U.S. transfers Camp Cropper control to Iraq
By Barbara Surk - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 15, 2010 19:12:28 EDT

BAGHDAD — The U.S. handed over the last detention facility under its control to Iraqi authorities on Thursday, a milestone in Iraq's push for complete sovereignty seven years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Iraq's assumption of control over Camp Cropper, located near the international airport on the southwestern outskirts of Baghdad, also marks the end of a troubling chapter in the U.S. presence in the country — one defined for years by the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. With the handover, Iraq has now taken control of the last of three such prisons controlled by U.S. forces.

The transfer raises questions about how well prepared the Iraqis are to handle the detainees, with concerns about sectarian tensions spilling over into the prison system. Inmates in Iraqi detention facilities have repeatedly complained about torture and beatings by the police, as well as overcrowding and poor conditions behind bars.

Prisoners in U.S. custody, meanwhile, have benefited from reforms in the wake of photographs showing abuse of inmates by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib in 2004.

The American general in charge of detainee centers in Iraq said the Iraqis were ready for the added responsibility.