A Mother at Abu Ghraib

A Mother at Abu Ghraib
by Le Anne Clausen

I visited Abu Ghraib prison camp for the first time in late November. We
were accompanying two brothers of a detainee who we believed to be
inside, and were trying to find a way to visit. An anxious mother
approached me at the gate.. Her son had been detained inside since June
27th. His name is Aus. U.S. forces raided their home late at night. At
that time, they didn’t detain any members of their family, but required
the father to go to the military base nearby the next day. When he
presented himself at the base, soldiers told him, “Bring us your son, or we’ll arrest your whole family.” So, Aus reported to the camp.

Aus’ mother was only successful in obtaining her son’s prisoner number and
location after Aus had been detained three months and fifteen days.
Families must have the prisoner number and location of the camp in order
to schedule a visit to see their detained relative. For many Iraqi
families, trying to get this information from U.S. military officials is
difficult enough. Our team has documented numerous such cases. Aus’
mother got in to visit him only once, ten days earlier. Under U.S.
policy, she isn’t allowed to visit again for another two months. Only six
detainees are allowed visits on each visiting day, which only occurs three
times per week. Visits are limited to one hour each. There are thousands
of detainees in Abu Ghraib.

Abu Ghraib was the most feared prison under the Saddam regime. Even
still, remarked a bystander, most prisoners’ families could come to visit
once a week.

Aus’ mother has come to the camp over twenty times, pleading with the
guards to let her see her son. She arrives each time at the gate at 8
a.m. Each time, she says, there are fifty other families waiting with the
same goal. This day was no different. As we continued to talk, the
crowd surrounded us.

Aus was detained in the middle of the summer, wearing only summer
clothing. Now it is winter, and the temperatures hover just above
freezing every night. “We can’t bring anything in to our sons in the
camp,” cried his mother. “He has nothing to wear in the cold.” Reports
from several detainees formerly held at Abu Ghraib whom we have
interviewed have said the U.S. guards provide them with a blanket, and
sometimes two pair of underwear, but they had only the clothes they were
wearing when they were first detained for the duration of their
imprisonment.

The same bystander said, “It’s impossible to get information about our
relatives. We go to the Iraqi Assistance Center. They give us a number
and tell us to wait five days. Then we come here. The guard says, ‘This
number is fake.’ So we go back to the IAC. They give us the same
number.” The crowd murmured in agreement, and I felt the emotions rising
within them. I was getting a little nervous.

An English-speaking Iraqi man who comes to the prison often to assist
other families fumed, “They [U.S. officials] are idiots. If my family is
inside there, I would do anything. I will even join the resistance.” As
he spoke, I was well aware of the rising insurgency among those who never
supported Saddam, but were growing tired of the U.S. occupation policies.

Later, my teammates and I were able to speak with Col. Ralph Sabatino, who
has “oversight responsibility” for the prisons in Iraq. We told him how
difficult it was for families not to be able to see their loved ones for
months at a time, and how important it was to increase the visitation
rights of detainees held in the camp. Other U.S. prison camps, such as
Bucca in southern Iraq, allow visitation every three weeks. Sabatino
seemed unmoved. He said the U.S. military had no plans to increase either
the size of visiting facilities or the security staff to allow more
families to visit more often. He also said flatly, “In reality, this
isn’t going to change. In fact, when we close Camp Bucca and ship all the
inmates back to Baghdad, families will be waiting 4-6 months between
visits.”

We left the meeting disappointed and a little stunned by the Colonel’s
nonchalance. Yet he alone is not to blame. His words gave voice plainly
to the prevailing sentiment we have experienced so far within the Green
Zone.