WASHINGTON -- The commander of American-run prisons in Iraq says the military will not turn over any detainees or detention centers to Iraqi jailers until American officials are satisfied that the Iraqis are meeting U.S. standards for the care and custody of detainees.
"Bottom line, we will not pass on facilities or detainees until they meet the standards we define and that we are using today," the commander, Maj. Gen. John D. Gardner of the Army, said in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Iraq.
The comments come in the aftermath of two recent raids of Iraqi government detention centers that uncovered scores of abused prisoners. They also followed calls by American officials for the Iraqi government to bar militias from dominating the security forces. American military experts have joined Iraqi officials in inspecting Iraqi detention centers.
The general's remarks also come at a time when the four main American-operated prisons in Iraq are still severely overcrowded - despite a $50 million expansion that is nearing completion - and American officials are training Iraqis to take over detention duties.
The number of violent detainees has increased to more than 14,000 prisoners from about 8,000 in January. The crowding has been compounded by a growing backlog of prisoners, now about 3,100 people, waiting for Iraq's fledgling judicial system to hear their cases.
Gardner, who took command Nov. 30, expressed optimism that the inspections of Iraqi detention sites would not unduly delay the American military's goal of delivering Iraqi detainees to the Iraqi government. Military officials said they had a tentative target of turning over American-run prisons to the Iraqis by the end of 2006, although no timetable has been approved. But other senior military officials said turning over all Iraqi prisoners to the Iraqis could stretch into 2007.
Pentagon and military officials say that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American commander in Iraq, has expressed frustration over the burden of guarding and caring for a detainee population that is growing far faster than inmates can be processed and turned over to Iraqi authorities.
One Pentagon official described the Iraqi detainee population as a "millstone" that sapped personnel who otherwise could be assigned to other pressing missions. About 3,700 American personnel are assigned to detention operations, the equivalent of one full brigade out of the 17 American brigades now in Iraq, a figure that is scheduled to drop to 15 early next year.
