COMMANDER: No Plans to Close Abu Ghraib

Saturday, May 8, 2004

(11:09 AM ET)

By Louis Meixler

Associated Press Writer

Miller said earlier this week that he would reduce the number of inmates at Abu Ghraib from 3,800 to fewer than 2,000. The U.S.-led coalition has a dozen prisons in Iraq holding about 8,000 inmates.

U.S. Army military policeman Philip Cyrus from China, Maine, watches over a group of detainees at the Abu Ghraib Prison on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq Saturday, May 8, 2004. Cyrus and fellow members of the 152nd Field Artilary were retrained as MPs and were deployed to the prison earlier this year after the departure of some American soldiers under investigation for prisoner abuse. Cryus' shotgun was loaded with a non-lethal shell containing rubber pellets.

Image Credit: John Moore -- AP

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- AP
The commander of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq said Saturday the military will continue to operate the Abu Ghraib prison despite calls from some U.S. lawmakers to close it because of a scandal over the abuse of Iraqi inmates.

However, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said the United States plans to reduce the prison population. He said 300 inmates had been released last week and about 350 will be released next week.

``Currently we will continue to operate at the Abu Ghraib facility,'' Miller told reporters, adding that interrogations at the prison will also continue.

He said that if orders are received to close Abu Ghraib, the military would probably shift the mission to another facility, Camp Bucca, south of Basra.

Miller insisted that Iraqis were now being held in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and that the abuses recorded in photos distributed around the world were due to the acts of a few individuals.

``The alleged abuses and abuses we have discovered from the investigations appear to be due to leaders and soldiers not following the authorized policy and lack of leadership and supervision,'' Miller told reporters.

``We will ensure that we follow our procedures,'' he added. ``It is a matter of honor. We were ashamed and embarrassed by the conduct of a very, very small number of our soldiers. ... On my honor I will ensure that it will not happen again.''

Miller, former commander of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said he led a 30-member team to Iraq in August and September to make recommendations on how to improve the efficiency of Abu Ghraib.

``As a part of those recommendation we made we used the models we had made at Guantanamo for the use of military police to assist in the success of interrogations,'' Miller said.

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2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan