Camp Cropper was a holding facility for security detainees operated by the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
near
Baghdad International Airport
Baghdad International Airport , previously Saddam International Airport ( ar, مطار بغداد الدولي, Maṭār Baġdād ad-Dawaliyy) is Iraq's largest international airport, located in a suburb about west of downtown Baghdad in the ...
in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. The facility was initially operated as a
high-value detention site
A high-value detention site or HVD, in current U.S. military parlance, is a prison for those who may have valuable intelligence to offer, or who have inherent military or political significance. An example is former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, ...
(HVD), but has since been expanded increasing its capacity from 163 to 2,000 detainees. Former Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
was held there prior to his execution. Mr. Hussein was held at a nearby location outside the Camp Cropper complex. He was isolated from the former Ba'ath Party and subsequent
HVT’s held at the main Cropper facility.
History
Camp Cropper was established by the
Headquarters and Headquarters Company
In United States Army units, a Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) is a company-sized military unit, found at the battalion level and higher. Considered one unit, a Headquarters and Headquarters Company is essentially two elements within ...
(HHC) of the
115th Military Police Battalion in April 2003. It is named for Staff Sgt. Kenneth Cropper, a member of the
Maryland Army National Guard
The Maryland Army National Guard (MD ARNG) is the United States Army component of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is headquartered at the old Fifth Regiment Armory at the intersection of North Howard Street, 29th Division Street, near Martin Lut ...
who died in March 2002 while supporting security operations at the Pentagon. The facility was originally established as a High Value Detainee (HVD) holding area. Shortly after being established, its mission was expanded to also be a 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. 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.
Additional units to operate Camp Cropper include:
*
812th Military Police Company 81 may refer to:
* 81 (number)
* one of the years 81 BC, AD 81, 1981, 2081
* Nickname for the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-David ...
US Army Reserve from Orangeburg, New York to include backfill elements of
366th MP Company of Stillwater, Oklahoma
April-June 2003
*
443rd Military Police Company, US Army Reserve from Owings Mills, MD April–December 2003
*
186th Military Police Company, Iowa National Guard April 2003 and February 2008.
* C & B Co, 2nd Battalion,
103d Armoured Regiment,
Pennsylvania Army National Guard
The Pennsylvania Army National Guard, abbreviated PAARNG, is part of the United States Army National Guard and is based in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Together with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, it is directed by the Pennsylvan ...
, as part of the 89th and later 43rd MP BDEs.
* 439th Military Police Detachment, Army Reserve from
Omaha,
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
.
*
324th Military Police Battalion, Army Reserve from
Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
SC 1-107th Cav.Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
National Guard 2005
*
117th Military Police Battalion,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
Army National Guard
*
192nd Military Police Battalion,
Connecticut Army National Guard
The Connecticut Military Department is a state agency of the government of Connecticut. Its primary components are the
Connecticut Army National Guard, the Connecticut Air National Guard, and four companies of the state militia. The Military Dep ...
, as part of the
89th Military Police Brigade from 2009 thru 2010
In August 2006, a
combat support hospital was opened on Camp Cropper that would treat both coalition soldiers and detainees from Camp Cropper. The hospital was initially staffed by members of th
21st Combat Support Hospitalfrom
Fort Hood
Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarter ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
who transferred to the new facility after the closure of the
Abu Ghraib detention facility. The 21st CSH was later replaced by th
31st Combat Support Hospitalfrom
Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss h ...
, Texas.
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
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
.
In the summer of 2010 the Camp Cropper facility was turned over to the Iraqi government and renamed Karkh Prison.
A portion of Camp Cropper was still in use by the US Army until December 2011 through the
40th Military Police Battalion,
15th Military Police Brigade, the
105th Military Police Battalion,
3rd Brigade 4th Infantry Division MP platoon, and
108th Military Police Company 16th Military Police Brigade
The 16th Military Police Brigade is a military police brigade of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. This brigade has the only airborne-qualified military police units in the U.S. Army, outside of the 82nd MP Com ...
.
Criticism
On 2004-06-16,
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...
confirmed a report in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' that former
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
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
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
. Rumsfeld later told reporters that the prisoner was treated humanely. In 2003, the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
was given regular and open access to the facility and the detainees, the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
documented severe living conditions, harsh treatment by guards, and poor medical care.
In October 2006, the
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
reported the wounding of one American soldier to date by detainees. The attack was reported to have been under suspicious circumstances.
Since the closure of Abu Ghraib and the subsequent relocation to Camp Cropper, the now-larger prison has seen criticism for abuses of detainees and a hotbed of insurgent recruitment. 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, two on November 30 and December 2 from natural causes. Other detainees died on 2007-04-04, 2007-05-26 and 2007-07-07.
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
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
to await an
Article 32 hearing
An Article 32 hearing is a proceeding under the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice, similar to that of a preliminary hearing in civilian law. Its name is derived from UCMJ section VII ("Trial Procedure") Articl32(10 U.S.C. § 832), ...
. He was charged with various breaches of military law, including supplying an unmonitored cellphone to a detainee and inappropriate relationship with a detainee's daughter. On October 19, 2007, a military judge found Steele not guilty on the charge of aiding the enemy, but guilty of "unauthorized possession of classified documents, behavior unbecoming an officer for an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter and failing to obey a lawful order". Steele faced a possible maximum 6-year sentence for the charges he previously pleaded guilty to, as well as an additional 10 years for the charges for which he was convicted. Instead, he was sentenced to 2 years confinement, minus time already served, loss of his military retirement, forfeiture of pay and allowances and a dismissal from the military.
See also
*
Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz ( ar, طارق عزيز , 28 April 1936 – 5 June 2015) was an Iraqi politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and a close advisor of President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s wh ...
*
Human rights situation in post-Saddam Iraq
*
William H. Steele
*
Donald Vance
*
Nathan Ertel
*
Qais al-Khazali
Qais Hadi Sayed Hasan al-Khazali ( ar, قيس هادي سيد حسن الخزعلي; born 20 June 1974) is best known as the founder and leader of the Iran-backed Special Groups (Iraq), Special Groups in Iraq from June 2006 until his capture by ...
, detainee
*
Victory Base Complex
References
{{Reflist
External links
U.S. hands over last prison to Iraqi control ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', 15 July 2010
Camp Cropperfrom Globalsecurity.org
Prisons in Iraq
Installations of the United States Army in Iraq
Prisoner-of-war camps
Military installations closed in 2011