Over 350 foreigners are among about 10,000 detainees being held in U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, Iraq's Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin Over says.
"U.S. forces told us on December 23 that they are holding 353 foreign terrorists," Mr Amin said.
U.S. military detainee operations spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnston refused to comment on the figures.
"I will not confirm numbers of specific nationalities held among foreign fighters," Lt Col Johnston said.
"As a matter of policy, we only share those numbers with government officials."
Both the Iraqi and U.S. governments blame foreigners mainly from Syria and Iran for much of the violence in the country.
~Living in a large ethnically diverse city I've learned to look at the human bodies I encounter in my daily environment as neutral, interesting, attractive or threatening. This story tells me that governments and their police/armed forces might not share my perceptions of the other. Governments are required(?) to look on human bodies (human populations) as useful, neutral or objects to be neutralized? Imagine making plans for the containment/ neutralization of thousands of living bodies, of whole populations? The necessity of viewing half of the world as a potential source of terrorism?
Posted by Cieciel at December 29, 2004 03:56 AM