Thousands of Iraqi Prisoners: Where to?

From Kurpalo

American soldiers won't be able to arrest Iraqi suspects after December 31st. There are over 17,000 Iraqi prisoners in the detention facitilities in Iraq's southern desert and of these 5,000 are considered "dangerous radicals."When released, these individuals are added to the already 40% that are unemployed. Camp Bucca will be closed down in the middle of next year. The Americans are making sure that the cases are clear against the prisoners so that they can be handled and charged under Iraqi law. In Iraqi law, however, conviction is said to require two witnesses that saw the crime that took place or heard the suspect's confession, which is difficult considering the amount of people and the situation in Iraq itself.

By the agreement made between the U.S. and Iraq, the U.S. will have to have to be out of Iraqi cities by 2009 and out of the country by 2011. The agreement also says "'when this agreement goes into effect all detainees in U.S. custody shall be released in a safe and organized fashion.'" which itself calls for chaos. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.