Report Says Army Detaining Minors

Report Says Army Detaining Minors
May 15, 2008
Associated Press

Around 500 minors are currently detained by the U.S. Army in Iraq, as well as nearly a dozen juveniles in Afghanistan, a U.S. civil liberties group revealed on May 14.

"Since 2002, the United States has held approximately 2,500 individuals under the age of 18 at the time of their capture ... in Guantanamo Bay, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan," said a US government report for the UN children's agency, made public by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"As of April 2008, US forces held approximately 500 juveniles" in Iraq, where "all detainees, regardless of age, are held by U.S. forces as imperative threats to security at the request of the sovereign Iraqi government and pursuant to a UN Security Council Resolution," the report said.

Pentagon spokesman Jeffrey Gordon confirmed the report was true but gave no further comment.

The number of minors in US detention in Iraq rose as high as 800 in 2007.


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