U.S. Forces Detain Westerners in Iraq
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
(3:46 PM ET)
By Tarek al-Issawi
Associated Press Writer
If Westerners are actively involved in the resistance, it would deepen confusion about what groups are involved. Initially, the guerrilla fighters were thought to be Saddam loyalists, but in recent weeks U.S. officials have said they are being joined by foreign fighters, possibly members of the al-Qaida terror network.
American soldiers walk past prison cells refurnished by coalition forces,Tuesday, Sept 16, 2003 at the Abu Ghraib prison just outside Baghdad, Iraq. The United States is holding in Iraq six prisoners who claim to be Americans and two who say they are Britons, the general in charge of detention centers said Tuesday. Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, said the eight were considered security detainees _ those who attacked or helped carry out attacks against coalition troops _ and were being interrogated by military intelligence. Karpinski said they are being held at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, 12 miles west of Baghdad, one of the most potent symbols of Saddam Hussein's regime. It was the first time the U.S.military has acknowledged the detention of Westerners in connection with attacks on American troops in Iraq.
Image Credit: Karel Prinsloo -- AP
ABU GHRAIB, Iraq -- AP
Six people claiming to be Americans and two who say they are British are in U.S. custody on suspicion of involvement in attacks on coalition forces, an American general said Tuesday. They would be the first Westerners reported held in the insurrection against the U.S.-led occupation.
Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who is in charge of coalition detention centers in Iraq, said the alleged Americans and Britons were considered security detainees, meaning they were suspected of involvement in guerrilla attacks. She did not identify the purported Westerners but said they were being interrogated by military intelligence in Baghdad, where they were being held.
``We actually do have six who are claiming to be Americans, two who are claiming to be from the U.K. We're continuing the interviewing process. The details become sketchy and their story changes,'' Karpinski said.
When pressed for details about those being held, she declined to give any other information.
``We're not trying to withhold information from you. Some information remains classified for security reasons,'' Karpinski said during a tour of Abu Ghraib prison, where Saddam Hussein locked up his political opponents.
Asked about the detainees at a Pentagon news conference, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said: ``The truth is that the folks that we've scooped up have, on a number of occasions, multiple identifications from different countries. They're quite skilled at confusing people as to what their real nationality is or where they came from or what they're doing.''
Rumsfeld said he had no additional information on the detainees.
(More: Netscape Network News w/CNN)
2003 © The Associated Press.
Dan
U.S. Forces Detain Westerners in Iraq . . .