Camp Cropper

Good news--bad news:

The good news is that the U.S. military will close Abu Ghraib prison over the next few months.

The bad news is that some 5,000 of those who are currently housed in what was a nucleus of torture, under Saddam, will be transferred to other prisons in Iraq which are, no doubt, also being investigated by the United Nations for human rights abuses, and violations of international law.

Ostensibly, our military plans to build a new, and improved, "Camp Cropper," the name given to the facility which currently holds more than 100 "high value" detainees including Saddam Hussein. As Reuters also reports, there are now more than 14,000 people in 4 jails in Iraq, more than half of whom are at "Camp Bucca." Whoa, the Defense Department is getting very creative with how it names internment camps. Indeed, if the U.N. proceeds with its probe into violations of international law at Iraqi jails, Camp Cropper may soon be called "Camp Crapper" instead as this is precisely where our military will find itself.

One wonders, too, if "Bucca," in Camp Bucca, is a play on the word "buck," as in "pass the buck?" You can bet on this, the U.N. will need an effective group of farmers to separate the manure from the wheat when those who speak for our defense department claim that the U.S. is adhering to powers granted under a Security Council resolution, as well as complying with the Geneva Conventions in the way we treat those we incarcerate in Iraq.

In light of the Jack Abramoff debacle, as well as Andrew Fastow's revelations yesterday about Ken Lay's deliberate manipulation of facts, and figures, to deceive investors in Enron, we might want to consider opening a detention facility for "high value" crooks in this country----how does "Camp Boca" sound?