Camp Cropper

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Camp Cropper Theater Internment Facility is a holding facility for security detainees operated by the United States Army near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. The facility was initially operated as a high-value detention site (HVD), but has since been expanded increasing its capacity from 163 to 2,000 detainees.^[1] Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was held there prior to receiving the death penalty.^[2]

1 History
2 Criticism
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Camp Cropper was established by the Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) of the 115th Military Police Battalion in April 2003. Almost immediately after being established, it was designated as the site for the Corps Holding Area (CHA). Initially, the facility was meant to serve as "central booking" for the US forces operating in Baghdad and central Iraq, though detainees from northern Iraq were brought there as well. The original concept called for a small temporary camp that could hold up to 300 detainees for no more than 72 hours.^{[citation needed]} After being processed at Camp Cropper detainees were supposed to be shipped to other detention facilities in Baghdad and throughout Iraq. However, in practice, this proved unworkable since most other prisons in Baghdad were badly damaged by looting after the fall of the Baath regime. This resulted in overcrowding and at one point shortly after the end of the war, Camp Cropper held over 1500 detainees. 1LT. Joseph D. Shaffer(Oakland,MD) was the Battalion Engineer Officer for the 115th MP BN. He developed, contracted and oversaw the conversion of Camp Cropper's Republican Guard Barracks area into the individual cell construction from April 2003 to October 2003. 1LT. Shaffer is also credited with gaining and supplying the necessary materials to place the first MP Company in operations at Abu Ghraib.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2006, a new hospital was opened near Baghdad International Airport that would treat both coalition soldiers and detainees from Camp Cropper. The hospital was staffed by members of the 21st Combat Support Hospital from Fort Hood, Texas who transferred to the new facility after the closure of the Abu Ghraib detention facility.^[3]

On March 15, 2007 military officials announced plans to once again expand Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper. Officials stated that this increase in capacity would be necessary to handle the detainees generated from the increased security operations in Baghdad. At the time of the report, Camp Cropper's detainee population stood at 3,300.^[4]

[edit] Criticism

On 2004-06-16, The Pentagon confirmed a report in the New York Times that former CIA chief George Tenet had been allowed by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to have an Iraqi prisoner secretly detained at Camp Cropper since November, but denied they were trying to hide the prisoner from the International Committee of the Red Cross.^[5] Rumsfeld later told reporters that the prisoner was treated humanely.^[6] In 2004, the Red Cross was given regular and open access to the facility and the detainees, the Red Cross documented severe living conditions, harsh treatment by guards, and poor medical care.

Since the closure of Abu Ghraib and the subsequent relocation to Camp Cropper, the now-larger prison has seen criticism for abuses of detainees^[7]^[8] and a hotbed of insurgent recruitment.^[9] Between October and December 2006, the MNF-I reported the deaths of three detainees at Camp Cropper. One from injuries inflicted by other detainees on October 29,^[10] two on November 30 and December 2 from natural causes.^[11]^[12] Other detainees died on 2007-04-04^[13], 2007-05-26^[14] and 2007-07-07.^[15]

In late April 2007, the former commander of Camp Cropper, Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Steele was reported to be held in a military prison in Kuwait to await an Article 32 hearing. He is charged with various breaches of military law, including supplying an unmonitored cellphone to a detainee and inappropriate relationship with a detainee's daughter.^[16].