VZCZCXRO1994
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHGB #1323 1141002
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 241002Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4050
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001323 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINS PTER OPDAT IZ
SUBJECT: MOD ON DETAINEE OPERATIONS TRANSFER, RELEASES 
 
Classified By: Political-Military Affairs Counselor David C. Litt 
 
¶1.  (C) On April 23, Minister of Defense Sadoun al- 
Dulime and MNF-I Deputy Commanding General, Detainee 
Operations met (with Pol-MilOff in attendance) to 
discuss MOD's role in the staggered transition of 
Coalition detainees and the facilities in which they 
are housed to the Government of Iraq over the course 
of 2006-2007. (The Ministry of Health, which was 
invited to discuss its role in staffing detention 
facility clinics, was not in attendance.) 
 
¶2.  (C) While Dulime did not appear to have concerns 
that the Iraqi Army would have difficulty providing 
external security for transitioned detention 
facilities, including manning the guard towers at Camp 
Bucca, he was non-committal, saying - while gesturing 
to the transition plans in front of him - "we have to 
expect that the issue of detainees will be important 
to the new government, and that maybe we cannot be 
held liable to this schedule". 
 
¶3.  (C) He noted that he expected political pressure 
for the release of individual detainees as well as for 
large-scale detainee releases to be strong, saying "at 
the meeting to choose our leaders, one of the most 
important points of discussion was the release of 
detainees."  He was downbeat on the broader political 
picture. "Do not think that the coming phase will be 
easier than the last phase," he cautioned. "It will be 
more complicated, and the sectarian outlook might be 
clearer." 
 
¶4.  (C) Dulime was pessimistic about the security 
implications of increased detainee releases. "What I'm 
worried about," he said, "is that when these releases 
take place, detainees educated in the detention system 
will become teachers in the social situation in which 
they find themselves outside. This is a personal issue 
- I have two nephews detained, who are currently of an 
extremist mind-set, and I am afraid if they get out 
they will do something. And these are my relatives I'm 
talking about." 
 
¶5.  (C) "There are some very scary things that have 
happened in Iraq," Dulime continued. "We are seeing 
the forced migration of Christians, 100,000 Shi'a 
families moving from Sunni neighborhoods, the same 
thing with the Sunnis, vice versa. (Current estimates 
of internal displacement are considerably lower.) The 
world has so much care for bird flu," he concluded, 
shaking his head, "but we need to care for people, 
too." 
KHALILZAD