The abuse of detainees at the hands of U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq spurred worldwide protests, al-Qaida recruitment videos and system-wide changes at U.S.-run detention facilities in Iraq.

Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, deputy commanding general for detainee operations, Multi-National Force - Iraq, acknowledged at a recent U.S. Institute of Peace discussion that detention in Iraq "has had a rather dismal record."

Stone took over detainee operations at Camps Cropper, Bucca and Ashraf in April 2007, around the time of the injection of 20,000 additional U.S. troops into Iraq, and he returned to the United States in June.

About 21,000 detainees are being held in U.S-run facilities in Iraq -- down from a peak of 25,000.

"I believe you need to release as many -- as quick you can -- who are no longer an imperative security risk, while sending them through the process that allows them to understand the rule of law," he said.

Currently, suspects who are detained are questioned and then those with evidence against them are sent to Iraqi courts. About 10 percent go this route. Since there is no plea-bargaining, the conviction rate is 71 percent, Stone reported.

Those who are deemed not a danger to the population are released. An "enduring threat board," which contains Iraqi members, continuously re-evaluates what constitutes a danger to the country and its citizens.

Stone oversaw the board's implementation, along with a variety of other programs that detainees attend voluntarily, such as literacy classes, discussion groups on Islam and vocational training.

The educational programs also include a civics course. The Muslim holy book, the Quran, provides a basis for the Islamic system of laws known as Sharia, but it does not offer guidelines for civic behavior, said Stone. So detainees can attend discussion groups about civics with Iraqi counselors and imams.

One of the key ways the U.S.-run system of detention has changed is by engaging and empowering moderate detainees, Stone said. The moderates are encouraged to identify extremists, who are then separated from the group.

About 2,000 detainees have been identified as having ties to al-Qaida, according to Stone. "Detention is one way to go after them" and break up their networks, he said. The reason more people affiliated with al-Qaida aren't in detention is because they fight to the death, he added.

The changes have improved security within the compounds, according to Stone. Since the beginning of his 14-month tour when riots were commonplace, guards have gone from firing 17,000 nonlethal rounds to keep detainees in check, to shooting less than 1,000 rounds after the educational programs were put in place, he said.

Joseph Logan, a researcher for the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, said he could not verify whether there have been improvements made at the detention facilities since humanitarian groups such as his are not allowed inside.

But the underlying problem, he said, is that Iraqis are being held for indefinite periods without judicial review and access to legal counsel.

Logan said he has met with Stone and believes he is sincere in his efforts to expedite the processing and release of detainees. But since the declared end to the U.S. occupation in June 2004, the detainees should receive due process under international human rights law, according to a letter Human Rights Watch sent the U.N. Security Council on April 28.

The United States has broad authority to hold detainees under a U.N. mandate and has included some procedures at Iraq's request, said Brett McGurk, special assistant to the president and senior director for Iraq and Afghanistan.

That mandate, which was put in place in 2004 and expires Dec. 31, will be superseded by a "status of forces agreement" currently under negotiation with the Iraqi government, he said.

Hindering progress of that agreement, which also addresses the long-term presence of U.S. Troops in Iraq, is the question of Iraqi sovereignty. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was recently quoted as saying, "The American version of the agreement infringes hugely on the sovereignty of Iraq, and this is something that we cannot ever accept."

"The Iraq that exists now is different than six months ago," McGurk said. "The state is standing up and increasingly asserting itself."
He said the United States doesn't want to be in the business of holding Iraqis indefinitely. Over time, he continued, the goal is to put Iraqis in charge and develop a way for the Iraqi legal system to handle the thousands of people already in detention.

As for the conditions within those facilities, said Logan: "The impression one gets from what recently released detainees tell you is it's much better than in 2004. But it'd be good to see the facilities themselves."

The International Committee of the Red Cross is the one group allowed to enter the compounds, but it cannot release its findings in order to maintain its access, said spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas.

The ICRC's delegates regularly visit the detention facilities in Iraq and speak privately with the detainees of their choice, she said. The delegates also tour the living facilities, kitchens, medical sites and places of punishment, and make recommendations to the authorities.

In addition, the group assists families who sometimes travel long distances to visit the detainees, particularly at Camp Bucca in the southern part of the country, Krimitsas said. The families are often in financial straits because the detainee is the breadwinner, or they have trouble getting to the camps because the security situation is dicey, she said.

"This is important from the humanitarian side because families need this contact and detainees need this contact," she said.

Samir Sumaidaie, the Iraqi ambassador to the United States, said improvements have been made since the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib grabbed headlines in 2004. "I think it's public knowledge that [the detention system] was chaotic and resulted in the catastrophic Abu Ghraib practice," he said.

Sumaidaie also expressed concern that the chaos could reoccur. "The United States is a superpower, and no doubt in the future, there might be other situations in which it might get involved. Will they have to reinvent the wheel again?"

According to Stone, previous leadership of the U.S.-run facilities didn't assess the problem correctly and that changes had to be made. "We were fighting a different war with a different enemy."

If the practices at Abu Ghraib had continued, he continued, it would have fostered extremism in perpetuity.

"That's why I think what we're doing -- while imperfect -- is at least better," Stone said. "Failure to adapt and have a different response would result in a replication of the exact same mistakes made before."

-- By Larisa Epatko, Online NewsHour