Ok. This is not going to be all that comforting to read. It's also not going to be all that specific. For obvious reasons I can't tell you about everything I saw. What I want to do, what I hope I can get across, is the feeling of Camp Bucca.
If you Google Bucca you get a whole lot more info on the place than I am going to provide here. I can tell you it is bigger than it was. There are a lot of detainee's there. There are a lot of young American's there too. I can tell you nobody is living good there. The detainees live in buildings until they riot and decide to burn them down. Then they get a tent. Not real smart, considering how hot it gets and the fact that they have A/C in the building and nothing in the tent. Our folks live in trailer like mobile huts. Usually 4 or 8 to a room. The latrine and shower are down the block a few buildings. Yeah that's right, they have to go outside, down the street to go to the bathroom. Think about that next time you get up in the middle of the night. The detainees' have a bathroom building as well. We eat in a fairly big dining facility. Food was pretty good! There was a lot of it the day I was there, lots of selection. Pretty much the same as I get here in Kuwait. I ate with a few Airmen and they said occasionally they run low on food. When they get low, the guys said all the "good stuff" like Ice Cream, lunch meat, chips, cake, etc is gone. Then there comes the point where your eating the same few things for a couple days. But as these great young Americans said "...it aint nothin'. My buddies have it worse." The detainees get fed a traditional diet. The Red Cross is there to make sure they get a decent meal and are treated well. Thing is, the food is all given to one detainee in the quad, the "chief". He gets to decide who gets what and how much. I run this altogether because that is how I saw it. These detainees and our troops are both living pretty hard.
The detainees are an interesting lot. Very industrious, very creative, very smart. Make no mistake, they control the battlespace inside the wire. That is exactly what it is, battlespace. They riot, they dig, they scheme, they injure and kill one another, the works. They have their own chain of command. They have their own justice system. Anything you think you know about what goes on inside a prison, goes on there. For example, the detainees will take the Chai Tea they get and mix it with dirt to make "Chai Rocks" that they then use to hurl at the guards. They make shivs out of anyhting. Slingshots and other weapons. I saw all kinds of contraband and weapons they confiscated, to include crude body armor and a gas mask! Yeah, really. There is so much to tell about these guys. Like the fact that the most requested movie for the 5 days before Ramadan was "The Passion of the Christ", and many of them wept through every showing of it. Sounds odd, as much as they hate the infidel, but Islam teaches that Christ was a prophet. My guess is this movie gives them just another reason to hate the Jews. There is some pretty gross stuff too. They get drink boxes of milk, but instead of drinking them right away they put them out in the sun all day. Gross? Yeah, but it gets worse, they pee in the boxes and mix it with the milk and put that in the sun all day! No kidding, supposed to be good for you. Most of the detainees are illiterate, so there is a literacy program. There are also work opportunities and the ability to learn a trade. All of it voluntary. If they just want to sit around all day, they can do that to. Oh yeah, and they get some of the best medical care anywhere. Just as good as the guards.
There are all kinds of people in there. Some of them are really, really, bad dudes. Unfortunately there are some who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some of them get turned in by angry neighbors. Yeah really, piss the guy down the street off and he'll turn you in for something you didn't do! One of the most interesting things I think I will get to see while I am here is the effort to weed out those that should not be in there. There are some who would have America believe we just round 'em up and lock 'em away. I can tell you that is not the case. I witnessed it. Every single detainee will have their case reviewed every 6 months. if the review board feels they were detained without sufficient reason, or if they are no longer a threat they are released. The detainees have an opportunity to speak at the hearing and question any witnesses that may be called. I got to sit in on one. I am glad all I had to do was observe. It has to be a hard thing to have to decide wether to send a guy back, or set them free.
I don't think i have done a fair job of describing Bucca. It's tuff to put it all into words, especially while trying to guard against putting to much out there. It's not as easy as some would lead you to believe. We don't just toss the detainees in and forget about them. A lot of work goes into intelligence gathering. A lot of effort is put into sorting out the bad guys from those that should be sent home. Of course there is a ton of effort put into trying to get the point across that we simply want them to stop killing us, and to live in peace with their neighbors.
I need to say I have the greatest respect for those young Americans stuck up there. They are really "in the shit". The amazing thing is their attitude. Given all the reasons things suck, they just do it; like no Nike commercial could ever capture. More importantly, they treat the detainees with a dignity and respect that is most often not reciprocated. They have a job to do and they do it well. These folks truly embody the saying "I am an American Soldier, I fight where I am told and I win where I fight!"
