Are military tactics in Iraq destroying terrorists-or creating more?
In a dry, dusty corner of Camp Victory, near the Baghdad airport but hidden from view, is a small detention center similar to others that populate US military camps in Iraq.
It's at this Brigade Internment Facility, or BIF, for the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division that Iraqi civilians, suspected of anything from inciting anti-coalition activity to outright terrorism in western Baghdad, are brought and held. They are often swept off the streets or snatched from their homes in the middle of the night, then interrogated. Some are released, others detained for longer periods and still others sent to larger detention facilities such as Camp Bucca near the Kuwait border or the notorious Abu Ghraib, best known for its prison abuse scandal. The Army colonel with whom I'm embedded wants me to see the facility. "We're proud of it," he tells me.
So I decide to visit. It's not just because I'm curious about how a detention facility is run, but because, despite accusations to the contrary, as a journalist in Iraq I really do want to report on good news. It's a hope I have that somewhere and somehow, something good will come out of this war to make life better for Iraqi people.
Past concertina wire and concrete barriers I make my way to the facility and meet Michael Nowacki, a staff sergeant and National Guardsman from Illinois, who spent the majority of his tour of duty here with the 10th Mountain interrogating hundreds of Iraqis as a military intelligence officer. He greets me at the detention center doors and questions me again, "The Colonel really sent you here?" I nod. His face breaks into a wide grin.
He gives me a tour of the prison-several cell blocks packed with Iraqi men stretched out on mattresses, all of whom make note of a civilian, blond female-then leads me into a small wooden office, sandwiched in between two sparsely furnished interrogation rooms. Then Nowacki begins to tell me of his work questioning "The Enemy." His story is emblematic of the war in Iraq.
I didn't look for this story but in Iraq, nearing three years after the invasion, such tales hardly can be avoided. In late October the 2000th American soldier died. That number was noted for just a moment before the tally quickly ratcheted up to dozens more, and counting…. For every soldier, thousands more civilians have been killed, wounded and left homeless. As Bush's approval rating plummets and citizens across the country begin-finally-demanding accountability for the false pretext of war, soldiers are beginning to talk of their experiences. Soldiers' deaths don't happen in a vacuum; they're not random acts of violence. There is a source, a reasoning and a trail that can be followed. Mike Nowacki's story is one such trail.
The Chicago police officer arrived in Iraq last year with a fervent
desire to protect the flag and the belief that Iraqis were intrinsically bad. "I hated them. I also had never met one, or ever sat down and talked to one." Over time he grew increasingly critical of a military system he says randomly and unjustly targets huge numbers of innocent Iraqi civilians. By the end of his tour the 33-year-old blue-eyed patriot became an unlikely advocate for Iraqi victims' rights-not just because the actions of the US military are wrong on principle, he says, but because their tactics are ultimately counterproductive. "Arbitrary detentions make the people hate us and want to fight us. If they respect us, they'll be less likely to want to kill us," he says. "I want our mission in Iraq to be successful."
Nowacki began working at the BIF, which usually holds between 40 to 60 people, but packed up to 160 detainees during last January's election. Suspects are kept in eight-man cells and given a mattress, blanket, slippers, prayer rug and a copy of the Koran. The hallways reek of stale sweat. Nowacki and his team interrogated more than 700 detainees over the course of his tour, averaging approximately 200 a month. In the beginning there were big success stories: Criminals caught red-handed and caches of weapons exposed. Then began a flood of seemingly innocent civilians who were not released despite his recommendations detailed in intelligence reports. Nowacki began to feel uneasy.
There was the retarded man accused of high-level surveillance activities. Commanders say retarded people can be used as tools by sophisticated terrorists. There was the Jordanian businessman accused of being a Zarqawi accomplice. Nowacki says 90 percent of people with foreign passports are sent to Abu Ghraib despite a lack of corroborating evidence. And the Baghdad University professor who spoke against the US occupation. Despite a plea by the University president to the US Embassy, the US has not released the professor, arguing he is anti-coalition.
Nowacki says such practices are common in Iraq, that up to 90 percent of the people brought to the BIF are innocent, but his superiors expect only half to be so.
"We used to call it DWI: Driving While Iraqi," and we'd recommend release. But often the higher ups listen more to the informant than the intelligence officer, regardless of their slack evidence," Nowacki says.
"I've actually had a commander tell me 'If I arrest 10 people and one of them is bad, then I'm doing my job.' But what about the other nine? These people are living day to day and when the men are in prison their family doesn't have any income," he says, adding, "If there were legal recourse in this country, these kinds of things would never happen."
Nowacki blames the dragnet-style arrests on unspoken Army quotas. He believes arrests are made by overaggressive soldiers based on little or suspect evidence, often from a single source that reeks of vendetta or desire for money on the part of the informant.
Military officials, however, say the arrests are a matter of necessary security.
"It's a tough call and commanders want to err on the side of caution," says Lt. Kristen Boyden, who works with human intelligence sources for the 10th Mountain. "We'd rather detain them and possibly step on their supposed civil rights than let them go and then have them kill a soldier. The worst case [if they're innocent] is they'll spend a couple months in Abu Ghraib."
Boyden says many of the human sources they work with volunteer themselves and their information; the most important vetting process is trying to determine the informant's motivation. "We joke that everyone is turning in their landlord."
In cases that soldiers suspect are driven by vendetta or money, intelligence officers usually wait until they have two sources before targeting someone and bringing him in. And though it's difficult to be sure of accuracy, Boyden says they have a "very high success rate" of detaining people who will ultimately be imprisoned. Meaning, "Once people go to Abu Ghraib they stay there."
Yousif al-Said Hassen is a large Jordanian-Iraqi man with
bloodshot eyes and a too-tight orange jumpsuit. He sits in a small interrogation room, chain-smoking cigarettes that are otherwise prohibited, and describes the day last year when he was arrested by Iraqi officials and then brought to the BIF. The prisoner is nervous and must be convinced he is not being set up. The truth is that journalists generally aren't allowed to interview inmates so his anxiety could be well-placed. He looks me in the eye, then continues.
Iraqi police stopped the 37-year-old importer of household electronics and told him they were looking for a grey Mercedes. "'But my Mercedes is not grey,' I told them." Then they saw that the lifelong resident of Iraq had a Jordanian passport. Only when he arrived at the BIF did Hassen learn he was suspected of having direct connections to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist mastermind.
"I was very surprised when they told me," he says. "I have been threatened by many people because I'm a successful businessman. But Americans are a source of my business; why would I do anything to them?"
As with cases of a growing number of inmates, Nowacki has serious doubts about the human intelligence that went into fingering Hassen and is convinced of his innocence.
"Let's just say we've busted enough bad guys to be able to tell who's telling the truth," Nowacki says.
Lt. Boyden admits Hassen could very well be innocent and in fact her initial intelligence report did not recommend detention because there wasn't enough evidence. Iraqi detectives brought him in anyway.
She explains that a military intelligence report goes through several levels of review, and is one of many items considered before a person is released, detained for further questioning or sent to Abu Ghraib prison where prisoners appear before the criminal court known to Iraqis as the "$10,000 court" for its supposed corruption.
Lt. Col. Michael Infanti, one of the last reviewers, says the numerous levels of review and cumulative years of experience of the reviewers-the final decision being that of the Brigade Commander-are meant to offset the instances of innocent people being held without reason. "It'll burn you not because a story will get out, but because he'll go back and tell people or he'll learn how to make a bomb." Infanti says he values the military intelligence reviewers but he and other higher-level officers have access to information the interrogators may not, such as evidence seized. Hassen, for example, had terrorist propaganda in his car.
Nowacki argues that he sees all evidence before an interrogation and that "terrorist" leaflets are common, often plastered on the windshield of every car on a street. Another example of weak evidence is the use of X-spray to detect explosive residue on a suspect's hands. Nowacki says tests come back positive half the time as it also detects automotive grease, tobacco, fertilizer and urine. Yet it's cause enough to detain someone.
Ideally, Nowacki would interview the soldiers who conducted the raid to better understand the circumstances and evidence seized. As it is, such opportunities for follow-up questions to soldiers are rare. Many of the mistakes soldiers are making in Iraq come from a lack of cultural understanding.
Nowacki gives specific examples of things soldiers should be aware of before searching a house and detaining people: "Iraqis like to collect stuff: switches, wires, controls, anything that might be useful. Soldiers are bound to find some of this stuff and they'll think 'Aha! he's making a bomb,' but I'll bet half of us here have drawers filled with stuff like that, especially if we know how to repair anything." He says it's important for soldiers to know that washer and dryer timers are used almost exclusively for IEDs [improvised explosive devices]; light switches are not.
At least one Iraqi translator and US citizen who has been working with US forces offered to teach classes in cultural understanding and differences.
"I told them several times I would like to teach soldiers simple expressions and also some things about Iraqis that could help them do their work," says Mohamed (who asked that his last name not be used to protect his family still living in Iraq), who offered the classes on his own time after work and for no extra pay. Mohamed says he thought of the idea after several soldiers came to ask him about words and other aspects of Iraqi life, such as why they should never step on a prayer rug. "I know they want to know because they don't understand what they are encountering, and I am happy to teach them." Despite his numerous offers, Mohamed says he still hasn't gotten a response from the Battalion Commander.
Hassen admits he was relieved to be transferred to an American facility after being held by Iraqis (the Colonel was right, I think to myself as I take notes, this center is better) and says the most difficult part of his detention is the food, often MREs that leave prisoners constipated for weeks. That's beside the fact that he believes he shouldn't be here at all.
"I don't belong in this place," he says. Plus his wife and children moved to Jordan and they have no idea where he is or even if he is alive. Phone calls are prohibited for fear of passing sensitive information or tipping off terrorists.
Hassen says he isn't willing to say he may have been set up, but says that as a businessman his focus is on making money, not on terrorism.
"These stories are from the imagination of people who are jealous or don't like me."
Despite a recommendation for immediate release, Hassen was sent to Abu Ghraib.
Theia Elhaz Abdel Mohammed is a frail flower vendor from the
town of Abu Ghraib who was brought in with his three brothers last year, suspected of making IEDs. US military had gone to his home in the middle of the night;
they found four military-aged men, some money and suspicious-looking ceiling fan controls. Nowacki's report recommended release, explaining that soldiers often don't distinguish between suspect electronics and common household items.
Sitting nervously with his hands squeezed between his knees Mohammed admits people at the BIF treated him well. But there were 11 children at home, plus his elderly father who depended on his income. Asked if he knows anyone who might have a vendetta against him Mohammed responds, "Only God knows such things." Eventually, he was released.
Now it is only God who knows whether Mohammed will feel more gratitude at being released or resentment for having been unjustly detained.
Military officers appear to be focusing on the ever-improving improvised explosive devices; they are getting stronger and more effective every year, evidenced by a growing death toll. Yet, the diplomacy that comes through positive Iraqi-American interactions is rarely considered an antidote to terrorism. Public safety and electricity are still "good ideas" to be developed at a later date, maybe when Iraq has a veritable security force able to care for itself; maybe after the next big "democratic" event, be it an election, a Constitution, a court case or a verdict; certainly when "The Enemy" is vanquished, and that, unfortunately, will not be soon.
People like Nowacki and a growing Army of disillusioned soldiers and pundits know the enemy is multiplying like the many-headed hydra. Cut one down and several are inspired to replace him. Take an innocent man from his family and his remaining kin will fight for his honor. "In Iraq it is not one for one, as you Americans say, it is one for four," a Jordanian diplomat tells me one night over tea. "Americans think that's wrong because they have an idea of fairness and how it should be…When your house is raided it is shameful and a man must prove to his
clan that he is a man and erase his shame in blood."
Can such tactics be done differently? Can innocent people be differentiated from guilty in the justice system created in Iraq? What do innocence and guilt mean anyway, in a society with little work, no safety and increasing desperation? America has a vested interest to figure it out. In fact, American and Iraqi lives depend on it. As it stands, it might appear the military is perfecting the art of creating terrorists. One would think it funny if it weren't so terribly and shamefully true.
Before he returned home to his wife and son last April, Nowacki
detailed his concerns and suggestions for improvement in a four-page letter to the Brigade executive officer. In return, and after discovering he interviewed with this journalist (soldiers intercepted our e-mail exchange to get a draft of the story), he heard military intelligence launched an investigation into his activities, accusing him of sharing classified information. He was questioned, harassed and even accused of stealing military equipment.
Despite the experience and the ongoing backlash, Nowacki says he still loves his job and wants to put his skills to use, possibly by training other US officers given the lessons he's learned. And, like Erik Saar who wrote about detentions in Guantanamo Bay, he hopes to write a book. More people need to speak out about the practices in Iraq, he says. "It's not just a bunch of bad apples, it's happening everywhere, all the time-and it's wrong."
Of the prisoners he's left behind, he prefers not to follow their cases once they've left the BIF; he admits it would upset him too much. "You can get attached to some of these people. Especially when it's so obvious they're innocent."
