U.S. Army Hands Over Baghdad Prison To Iraqis...One Week Later, 4 al Qaeda Escape

And people wonder why I've resisted a total pullout of Iraq even by the end of next year. Now, I have to be fair here...I've been fairly impressed by the progress of the Iraqi armed forces and I'm more confident today than even six months ago with their ability to defend Iraq but the fact that they had 4 deadly al Qaeda prisoners escape from a Baghdad prison in just one week after U.S. troops turned it over to them, encapsulates the challenges ahead.

From the story at Breitbart:

BAGHDAD (AP) - Four al-Qaida-linked detainees have escaped from a Baghdad area prison that was handed over by the U.S. to Iraqi authorities a week ago, Iraq's justice minister said Thursday.
Dara Noureddin said the four, awaiting trial on terrorism charges, escaped from the prison formerly known as Camp Cropper.

The escape could be a major embarrassment for Iraq, which took over control of the prison from U.S. forces on July 15.

Now, I'm not ready to accuse the Iraqis of some foul play in this escape like I would if this happened in Pakistan or Afghanistan but what these guys don't understand is that the al Qaeda prisoners were certainly planning this for months after the handover. And now they've got four murderers out there with an even bigger grudge to settle.

I can just imagine what our U.S. troops are thinking at this moment, the ones that kept these animals succesfully under lock and key, only to now see them free and clear.

Iraqi minister says 4 al-Qaida inmates escape jail



BAGHDAD (AP) - Four al-Qaida-linked detainees have escaped from a Baghdad area prison that was handed over by the U.S. to Iraqi authorities a week ago, Iraq's justice minister said Thursday.
Dara Noureddin said the four, awaiting trial on terrorism charges, escaped from the prison formerly known as Camp Cropper.

The escape could be a major embarrassment for Iraq, which took over control of the prison from U.S. forces on July 15.

The handover of the facility marked a milestone for Iraq's push to regain full sovereignty as the U.S. pulls out the last of its combat forces by the end of next month.

The U.S. military could not immediately be reached for comment.

Noureddin did not name the men who escaped, but said they had been arrested by U.S. forces in 2008 in western Iraq.

"The four detainees were awaiting trial after their arrest" on terrorism charges, Noureddin said.

Two Iraqi intelligence officials and a third in the Interior Ministry who are knowledgeable about the case said authorities believe the four men—whom they identified as al-Qaida members—were aided by the man in charge of their prison block.

The intelligence officials said the four were discovered missing Tuesday during an evening roll call. When prison staff went to inform the unit head, they found that he, too, was missing. He has not reported for work since, they said.

The intelligence officials said one of the escapees is believed to be a senior member of the group, and had the title of finance minister of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida front group.

All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the details of the investigation to the media.

The U.S. forces handed over about 1,500 prisoners to Iraqi authorities July 15, but continue to hold 200 detainees at the request of the Iraqi government. They are kept in a separate part of the prison dubbed Compound 5.