700 More US Troops Head for Iraq to Guard Prisons

700 more US troops head for Iraq to guard prisons WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (Xinhua)– Responding to the need to manage a rising number of detainees in Iraq, the Pentagon announced Wednesday that it will send an additional 700 troops to that country. The deployment is specifically aimed to bolster prison operations, said Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman. “The basic fact driving this deployment is the steady rise of the prison population,” he said. The number of prisoners held in US military detention centers in Iraq has more than doubled since the autumn, climbing from 5,400 in September to more than 10,800 now, according to the latest Pentagon figures. The surge has filled existing prisons to capacity and prompted commanders to embark on an unanticipated prison expansion plan. US Military attributed the influx of detainees to intensified counterinsurgency operations by Iraqi as well as US forces.

However, local analysts said the rising prison population also reflects the persistence of the insurgency itself.

Under the deployment plan, a battalion of 700 soldiers from the US 82nd Airborne Division will head for Iraq over the next two months. The unit will engage in a number of detention-related operations, such as securing the area around a prison compound or transporting detainees from one prison to another.

Bryan Whitman, another Pentagon spokesman, stressed that the move does not indicate that the Pentagon has decided to temporarily increase US troop levels in Iraq to secure Iraq’s constitutional referendum in October and governmental elections in December.

The US military currently runs three main detention centers in Iraq and a fourth prison is under construction.

US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last month that he wants the Iraqi government to move toward assuming full responsibility for detainee security and control.

But no date has been set for such a transfer.