Former Soldier Reveals Dark Life Inside Iraqi Detention Centre
24 May 2017, 13:14
This is the fascinating yet at times dark first-hand account of what life is like inside an Iraqi detention centre for suspected extremists.
John was a soldier in the British army who served in the war-torn country during the mid-2000’s.
He spoke to James O’Brien to share his experience of working as a guard at a prison camp in south Iraq.
The ex-soldier explained that the facility was full of a “mixed bag” of Iraqis who had been detained for “various reasons”.
He noted that although some were “clearly bad guys” there were also people in there because nobody really knew what to do with them.
John cited one example to James during the pair’s chat together.
He said: “There was one guy in there for his own protection, insurgents had given him an ultimatum that he’d have to help them or they’d murder his family.
“We were never given their names, just numbers to call them by, we were told he was involved in some of the low-level financing of Al Qaeda.
“He was there for ages, he was originally from North London so he spoke perfect English, but he was there because nobody knew what to do with him.”
Watch the fascinating conversation in full above.
