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How many U.S. citizens are being detained by the U.S. military in Iraq?ASK THIS | February 28, 2007Law professor and blogger Steve Vladeck writes that the government is attempting to prevent U.S. courts from reviewing the treatment of U.S. citizens in what is ostensibly U.S. custody in Iraq. Some reporting is needed to determine how many people that is, and how they are being treated. By Steve Vladeck Coalition forces in Iraq are sweeping up hundreds -- if not thousands -- of civilians as part of their ongoing military operations. These detainees include an unknown number of U.S. citizens, some of whom are contractors caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and some of whom are unaffiliated. The issue is that, although these folks are being held by the "Multinational Force-Iraq," many are being tried for various crimes (including terrorism) by the "CCC-I" -- the Central Criminal Court for Iraq, which has the authority to impose a range of fairly draconian sentences, and, ultimately, the death penalty. Some human rights groups have raised concerns about the fairness of the procedures employed by the Iraqi Criminal Court. So, even though there are cases involving U.S. citizens picked up and detained by the U.S. military, they are being tried in Iraqi criminal courts, allegedly without the constitutional protections to which they should be entitled. What's more, the government has repeatedly argued that the U.S. federal courts lack jurisdiction to inquire into these cases, both because the Multinational Force is an "international" force whose actions aren't reviewable by U.S. courts, and because, even if that's not true, the Iraqi court is a sovereign tribunal over which the U.S. courts have no authority. In other words, the government is attempting to prevent U.S. courts from reviewing their treatment of U.S. citizens in what is ostensibly U.S. custody in Iraq. On February 9, the federal appeals court in Washington held, contrary to the government's position, that U.S. courts do have jurisdiction over petitions for relief filed by U.S. citizens, so long as they have not yet been convicted by the Iraqi criminal court, and so long as they are effectively in U.S. custody. Although the decision, in Omar v. Harvey, is an important step toward increased accountability, it does not apply, on its face, to two classes of Multinational Force detainees: U.S. citizens who have been convicted by the Iraqi criminal court, and all non-U.S. citizens. Nor is there any clear account of how many detainees are involved in these cases, or, therefore, of how many cases the D.C. Circuit's decision could conceivably impact. With that in mind, here are questions I think the press should be asking: Q. How many individuals are currently being held by coalition forces? Q. How many of those individuals are U.S. citizens? Q. What criteria are used to determine which detainees are referred to the Central Criminal Court for Iraq for trial? Q. What procedures, if any, are in place to review individual cases before transferring detainees to the Central Criminal Court for Iraq? Q. Are any detainees being held indefinitely without trial? Q. How many individuals have been transferred from the coalition force custody to the Central Criminal Court for Iraq? Q. How many of those individuals are U.S. citizens? Q. How many U.S. citizens have been tried by the Central Criminal Court for Iraq? Q. How many U.S. citizens have been convicted by the Central Criminal Court for Iraq? Of what? And what were there sentences? Q. Are U.S. citizens detained by coalition forces being given access to counsel? Q. Are U.S. citizens transferred to the Central Criminal Court for Iraq being given access to counsel?
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