Remember Camp Cropper

On April 6 it was reported that a detainee died on April 4 at Camp Cropper, one of the early notorious US detention centers near Baghdad International Airport where the military hid at least one detainee from the Red Cross and which has been recently called a terrorist academy. No cause of death has yet been given.

Last month it was reported that the US is expecting a surge of prisoners along with the surge of military operations. Camp Cropper currently holds 3,300 captives, and the military plans to increase its capacity to 5,000. An Australian firm that used to subcontract under Halliburton (and won a lawsuit against Big Dick's old company, claiming Halliburton demanded $3 million in kickbacks for the privilege) will provide food services.

We know a little more about Camp Cropper from the accounts of David Vance, a 29-year-old Navy vet, serving as a security contractor for American reconstruction organizations in Iraq. Vance became a whistle-blower, reporting suspicious and possibly illegal activity at the security firm to the FBI. But when the Americans came in to raid the place, they arrested Vance and took him to Camp Cropper, where his rights went missing. “Even Saddam Hussein had more legal counsel than I ever had." (In fact, he was held in the same section where Saddam had been held.)

Vance's FBI contact was not contacted for three weeks, and even after that, the military decided he was a threat and kept him imprisoned at Camp Cropper for two more months. He was released in part because he said he'd leave Iraq. He went back to Chicago.

“I don’t really talk about this stuff with my family. I feel ashamed, depressed, still have nightmares, and I’d even say I suffer from some paranoia.”

Imagine that.