Iraq's invisible man (A 'ghost' inmate's strange life behind bars)

Iraq's invisible man
A 'ghost' inmate's strange life behind bars
By Edward T. Pound

At a briefing last week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked if there was a plan to hide a Middle Eastern terrorist, held secretly in a military jail in Iraq, from international Red Cross inspectors. Standing on the podium, he responded: "Not on my part." But a classified order, issued at his behest by the top military commander in Iraq, tells a different story: "Notification of the presence and or status of the detainee to the International Committee of the Red Cross, or any international or national aid organization, is prohibited pending further guidance."

The Pentagon and the CIA are the major players in the affair of the suspected terrorist known as "Triple X." Rumsfeld said he ordered that the man be held in secret, based on a request from CIA Director George Tenet. Triple X has been held in a guarded room at the High Value Detainee facility near Baghdad since November. In that time, his name was never entered in the official roster of detainees, meaning the Red Cross wouldn't have known he was there. The Geneva Conventions require the United States and other countries to give the Red Cross access to detainees, although restrictions are permissible for military reasons. Officials say the military is in the process of recording Triple X in the books. Rumsfeld says the prisoner "has been treated humanely."


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Rashul was returned to Iraq on October 29. On November 18, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, issued a classified order directing guards with the 800th Military Police Brigade to hide Rashul. The order was coded "Flash Red," meaning, says one military source, that it was "hot." It says that Sanchez's command "accepts custody and detains Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul, a high-ranking Ansar al-Islam member." The order required extraordinary secrecy. Rashul's name could not be disclosed to the Red Cross or to a foreign government. It prohibited the Army from entering Rashul's name in any electronic prisoner database.Other requirements of the order include:

Rashul will "remain segregated and isolated from the remainder of the detainee population. Under no circumstances will his presence be made known to the detainee population .


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http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/040628/usnews/28prison.htm