Iraqi POWs to be housed at secret location

By ANDREW BUNCOMBE

KUWAIT CITY - British and American soldiers are building an internment camp at a secret location in Iraq to hold thousands of prisoners of war from Saddam Hussein's forces. So far they have not disclosed the location even to the Red Cross which has a right under international law to visit the prisoners.

Around 500 soldiers from Britain's Queens Dragoon Guards are among those troops involved in building the camp somewhere in southern Iraq, close to the Kuwaiti border. The camps will include feeding stations, washing facilities and areas for providing medical care.

Earlier this week, American General Tommy Franks, the officer overseeing the US-led war, said US and British forces had taken around 3,000 Iraqi prisoners of war. Iraq is holding at least seven Americans.

"The number of enemy prisoners of war we have taken is in line with expectations," said Major Michael Sheridan, of the US 800th Military Police Brigade. "They are being treated purely, strictly… by the Geneva Conventions. They are getting all the basic necessities of human dignity."

According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has the right to visit all prisoners of war (POWs) and speak to them in private. In the build-up to this conflict officials from the ICRC met senior officials from both Washington and Baghdad to discuss basic details of how each side would deal with POWs and provide access to the independent visitors.

"We don't know [where the prisoners are being held]," said Tamara Al-Rifa, a spokeswoman for the ICRC based in Kuwait. "We have contacted the Iraqis and the coalition and we said we wanted to see the prisoners. It was quite positive. It could be quite soon. It's not something that happens very quickly." Earlier this week, America was quick to criticise Iraq for showing on Iraqi television images of some of the US troops captured south of Baghdad.

Washington claimed that Iraq was in breach of an article included in the third of the Geneva Conventions which says prisoners must not only be spared violence and intimidation, but must also be protected "against insults and public curiosity".

This was despite the fact that British and American television channels have shown numerous images of Iraqi prisoners, being marched with their hands above their heads or else with their hands bound behind their backs with plastic cuffs.

It is perhaps this sensitivity that has led US and British officials to be so reluctant to provide all but the most basic details about the POWs – even the number they are expecting to have to deal with.

"That is classified information," said Major Sheridan. "That could provide information about our tactics or future tactics."

Despite numerous calls to officials in both Kuwait City and at Central Command in Qatar, no-one from the British military was yesterday available to comment on the POW issue.

Initial predictions by US war planners suggested thousands of Iraqi soldiers would surrender. These estimates have so far not proved accurate with even the regular Iraqi army showing a willingness to fight that has surprised US and British officials.

In addition to allowing them access to visitors from the ICRC, the Geneva Conventions state that POWs should have adequate food, water and tobacco.

They are to be housed in the same conditions available to their captors and they are to be released at the cessation of hostilities.

Rations provided to the POWs have included a two-man box that contains two bottles of water, a large round box of Laughing Cow cheese, canned stuffed aubergines, a carton of chocolate milk, Nice biscuits, two tins of chicken luncheon meat, a can of orange juice, a tin of Heinz Tuna steak in sunflower oil, a tub of honey and two spoons.

- INDEPENDENT

Herald Feature: Iraq