US starts to decide the fate of POWs

WASHINGTON - American-led forces have captured at least 7300 prisoners of war in Iraq and will soon begin the legal process determining their future.

In a briefing at the Pentagon from the United States military's main POW camp in Umm Qasr in southern Iraq, the colonel in charge of that facility said planners had been prepared to capture many more prisoners - up to 50,000.

"We were planning for about 50,000 ... or higher," said US Army Colonel John Della Jacono, saying that the military had expected large numbers of Iraqis to surrender.

"We developed a capitulation strategy too ... However, at this point in time we have seen very few capitulate."

The 7300 prisoners are spread around the country, with about 236 being treated at field hospitals in the battlefield or on the US hospital ship Comfort in the Gulf.

Of the prisoners held at Umm Qasr, three or four are believed to be high-ranking Iraqi military officers.

They will all eventually be processed at the camp, where lawyers will soon begin the vetting process.

"Once they are vetted they are either fully accorded EPW (enemy prisoner of war) status ... or they might at a future point and time be turned over for criminal prosecution for a crime committed against the coalition or against the Iraqi people," Della Jacono said.

Most of the prisoners at Umm Qasr have been through initial interrogation and some have given some basic information on the Iraqi military, he said.

Once through the tribunal process, the US Government will need to determine when and how to repatriate some of the Iraqis.

Della Jacono said once there was a "legitimate" interim Government the US would turn over an unspecified number of the Iraqi prisoners.

Other US officials said earlier the US planned to conduct trials of Iraqis alleged to have committed war crimes against American forces, possibly including President Saddam Hussein and his sons.

Officials from the Pentagon and State Department have said the US did not intend to turn to an international tribunal to carry out the proceedings.

Della Jacono said that the US had no plans to send prisoners to the detention facility at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of prisoners taken in Afghanistan were being held.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq war