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| Iraq-Jordan |
| The Great Escape - Tunnel Dug By Iraqi "Resistance" Inmates |
| 2005-08-24 |
| Plug your nose to read this one, it's in WaPo. Oh, and lets call them "resistance" today, says WaPo. CAMP BUCCA, Iraq -- In the darkest hours before dawn, groups of 10 detainees toiled 15 feet beneath Compound 5 of America's largest prison in Iraq. The men worked in five-minute shifts, digging with shovels fashioned from tent poles and hauling the dirt to the surface with five-gallon water jugs tethered to 200 feet of rope. They bagged it in sacks that had been used to deliver their bread rations and spread it surreptitiously across a soccer field where fellow inmates churned it during daily matches, guards and detainees recalled. The 105th Military Police Battalion, charged with running Camp Bucca in the scorching desert of southernmost Iraq, knew something was amiss: Undetectable to the naked eye, the field's changing color was picked up by satellite imagery. The excavated dirt was also clogging the showers and two dozen portable toilets. The dirt was showing up under the floorboards of tents; some guards sensed that the floor itself seemed to be rising. Mysteriously, water use in the compound had spiked. Hours before the planned prison break on March 24, an informant tipped off the Americans, who then drove a bulldozer across Compound 5. What they discovered was breathtaking: a fully completed tunnel that stretched 357 feet, longer than a football field. Inside were flashlights built from radio diodes and five larger spaces to provide ventilation. The tunnel's walls were as smooth and strong as concrete, sculpted with water and, the Americans believe, milk. The exit, beyond the compound's fence, was camouflaged with sand-colored cardboard. It opened into a partially concealed trench that would lead the detainees to freedom. The discovery of what came to be known as "The Great Escape" tunnel was a seminal moment for the Americans charged with guarding Iraq's exploding prison population. It underscored the fact that the guards were not simply policing more than 6,000 detainees but, in their own way, fighting an enemy that exhibited the same complexity and resilience inside the prison's chain-linked fences and miles of coiled razor wire as it did in the most embattled streets of Iraq. For the inmates, the fight had never stopped. "It was a military operation. It was very organized, and it was very disciplined," said Mohammed Touman, 27, an inmate released May 27 from Compound 5. "If only 200 people would have escaped, it would have been a blow to the Americans." Col. James B. Brown, commander of the 18th Military Police Brigade, which oversees the U.S. military's three detention facilities in Iraq, said the escape would have been one of the largest from any U.S.-run facility in history. "In a prison, there's the feeling that the war is over for you and it's over for me. We'll chit-chat at the fence and get through this together," he said. "Nothing could be further from the truth." Inside Camp Bucca, Brown said, "the war is not at all over." |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #11 Wow, great imagery from the satellite if it picked up a variance in color of the dirt. The Shawshank Redemption was a great movie. |
| Posted by: Jan 2005-08-24 23:14 |
| #10 Let 'em exercise and give 'em purpose n life. Hell, give 'em shovels. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-08-24 16:02 |
| #9 Maybe they let it get "almost" finished on purpose? For comparison purposes, here's RB's original coverage of this story. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-08-24 12:12 |
| #8 Yes, and while I hate to be critical, with all the clues they had, why did it take a tip to trip up the plan? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-08-24 12:03 |
| #7 I found the reference to satellite imagery to be most interesting. Kind of make you wonder what else they might be watching. |
| Posted by: Kelly 2005-08-24 11:27 |
| #6 If only the Gestapo could've been waiting at the exit end of the tunnel, to wack all the prisoners while trying to escape.... |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-08-24 11:00 |
| #5 The military attributes the surge in detentions to an increase in combat operations.. How about just deep-sixing "insurgents" when they're found? That would go a long way toward solving the problem with large numbers of detainees. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-08-24 10:18 |
| #4 Verlaine, sounds similar to my experiance in Egypt. Pure hate and lazyness from the Egyptians until someone put the fear of death into them. The whole culture over there needs a massive workover if the arabs have any prayer of competing in a modern world. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-08-24 09:37 |
| #3 I wonder if Steve McQueen will play in this remake!! |
| Posted by: ARMYGUY 2005-08-24 09:37 |
| #2 Comment heard when this project was first discovered: "at last, some Iraqis with initiative .... can we hire these guys?" Cruel, but illustrative. There are times (is it all the time?) that it seems the only folks here with any work ethic or discipline at all are the enemy (and the Kurds, of course, but they're mostly content to stay up north and not play away games). Got my first look at Abu Ghraib today. Detainees being released were mostly friendly and looked pretty happy. Personnel there confirm that many detainees remark they haven't lived as well (food, a/c, medical care, security), at least since the war, as they have at Abu. Impressive combat hospital for the prisoners. Anger at the infamous reservists who put the name on the American news map undiminished. |
| Posted by: Verlaine in Iraq 2005-08-24 04:56 |
| #1 damn, plz move to Iraq |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-08-24 02:58 |