From The Jag

Eric at Dagger Jag has been working issues with the Iraqi elections. In one of his posts on that topic he also introduces something you likely haven't heard of:

Today we conducted another detainee release mission. I've wrote about one way back during the summer but things have changed a bit since then. We still conduct the release missions every week or two. The detainees come up from Abu Ghraib on busses or trucks and we meet them in Tikrit and escort the busses to a smaller village outside of Tikrit. There, they are released at a "halfway house" of sorts.

The Iraqis running this program wanted to establish a way to reintegrate the detainees into Iraqi society and try to educate them and encourage them to help work for the future of Iraq. The detainees receive new clothes and are checked out by an Iraqi doctor. Then they are fed and picked up by their host families. A number of local families in the town have agreed to house the released detainees and help them reintegrate into Iraqi society. The town has been very peaceful throughout the whole time we've been here and, because of that, they have reaped a lot of benefits. Some of that might be a quid pro quo but I much of it is because contractors can work safely there and we are willing to help them with their needs. The families show the former detainees what can happen to an area that is peaceful.

For three days the released detainees attend classes at the "halfway house." They receive classes on how to use a computer and the internet (something that might or might not be useful to them) but most of the classes are on Iraqi history, religion, and politics. The goal is to motivate these men to take charge and work for the good of THEIR country. It really is an amazing program and, by all accounts, successful as well. Many of the detainees go back to their homes afterwards and keep in touch with the director. Some have even come back and helped out with later classes. It has been the most encouraging thing for me especially since all of this was done without our prompting or funding. The director is a remarkable man who developed the program and is paying for it with his own funds and with donations from other Iraqis. He has told me, and I agree, that the program is much more successful because they are not associated with the US military. They are Iraqis taking care of other Iraqis.

Read it all.

He's got more on the halfway house here.

Excerpt:

The director shared another anecdote with me about a released detainee who explained to the group how before he was detained, he thought all Americans were like Saddam Hussein's goons; cruel monsters who used their power to do whatever they wanted and killed anyone who got in the way. He said that when he was detained he was treated well and actually made friends with some of the prison guards. He said he had completely changed his mind about the Americans and wanted to tell everyone he used to hang out with not to attack the Americans anymore. Now I don't know how much of this is true but it does sound like the program is doing some good.

And more on the upcoming elections here.