Prisoner Uprising In Iraq Exposes New Risk for U.S. [sic]

Washingtonpost: A bloody inmate riot [at camp Bucca] three weeks ago at the biggest U.S. run detention facility in Iraq has exposed an increasingly hard-core prison population that is confronting U.S. forces with a growing risk of prison violence, according to military officers.

U.S. troops who dealt with the clash tell of a chaotic and threatening situation. They say the extent of violence surprised them. They also say the nonlethal weapons available to them at the time for crowd control proved largely ineffectual.

Four inmates died [DB emphasis] and six were injured in the uprising the morning of Jan. 31, the most deaths in a prison disturbance since U.S. forces invaded Iraq two years ago. Frightened guards, some having arrived in Iraq only a month before, tried vainly to quell the rioting, spraying pepper gas and shooting rubberized pellets into throngs of prisoners, according to accounts by troops here.

Only after two Army guards in separate towers opened fire with M-16 rifles, killing the inmates, did the violence subside.............

For the first time since the incident, U.S. authorities allowed a reporter to visit the facility last week and talk with some of those who were involved....Link

"We will eradicate Spies and Diversionists, Agents of Trotskyite-Bukharinite Fascists!" - NKVD poster 1937

DB: This shameful report paints a picture of a hardcore of superhuman, unstoppable 'bad guys' confronting US camp guards, who were powerless in the face of the [inmate] brutality, and who only resorted to lethal force when US lives were at risk. Why the Washington Post - Bradley Graham - bothered 'enhancing' what for the most part is simply a US camp authority statement is not known. A cursory mention is given to the fact that the interviewing of detainees was not permitted. Under such circumstances the Washington Post should have declined this opportunity to present the 'facts'.

Added Spec. Kevin Plemmons, a guard in compound No. 4: "Really, you can't trust these guys at all. You have to be on your toes."