David Steven has recently reminded us of the horrors of Abu Ghraib, but an earnest story from DoD reveals that the U.S. is now running hearts and minds operations inside its “detention facilities” in Iraq.
New ways of dealing with detainees in coalition-run facilities in Iraq are paying off through less violence, more actionable intelligence for warfighters, and a better separation of extremists from more moderate detainees, a senior leader told military analysts today.
Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, deputy commander for Multinational Force Iraq’s detainee operations, said efforts to tamp down on insurgent activity “inside the wire” is paying off in protecting both inside and outside the facilities.
Stone described the “Stone principles” he implemented toward that end: establishing an alliance with moderate Iraqis; empowering moderates to marginalize violent extremists; providing momentum to the reconciliation process; and promoting stability by releasing those who demonstrate characteristics that can help Iraq succeed.
Rather than being “warehoused,” as in the past, detainees now are assessed individually to identify extremists and separate them from the rest of the detainee population, Stone explained. “Then we begin to work with both sides of that population — extremists and the more moderate — to defeat any insurgency that was going on inside the theater detention facility,” he said.
Which is obviously all good news… until you are suddenly moved to think, exactly how bad were matters “inside the wire” before Stone rolled onto the scene?
(Unexpected GWoT fact of the day: as well as a meteoric military career, General Stone is an entrepreneur in the PC-based fax software field).
