(Thumbnail Image: Military.com)

Get more multi-source world news from Newsy.com

“The U.S. military handing over to Iraqi authorities the last detention facility under American control.  Camp Cropper it’s called, west of Baghdad.  Workers built it to handle senior members of Saddam Hussein’s ruined regime.  The dictator himself was the camp’s most famous inmate.”

That’s Fox News reporting the latest milestone in the U.S. effort to withdraw from Iraq.  The prison handover is raising questions over whether Iraq is ready to control 1,600 detainees.

We’re analyzing coverage from BBC, The Salt Lake Tribune, Russia Today, Al Jazeera and The Christian Science Monitor.

The U.S. will keep 200 inmates in custody until the withdrawal is complete.  Though the identities of said prisoners remains elusive, U.S. Major General Jerry Cannon told BBC they are being kept at the behest of Iraqi officials.  
  
“There are some very dangerous detainees, and the government of Iraq, at this point in time, have asked us to hold on to them.  We both, in partnership, are very interested in a safe and stable Iraq.”

But a blogger for the Salt Lake Tribune is skeptical about who’s calling the shots.  

“It wouldn’t be particularly surprising to learn that U.S. military had strongly suggested that Iraq make said request. This is, after all, a government that has made it clear that it doesn’t like to give up its hold on its war prisoners.”

The transfer of control is generating a retrospective discussion about the U.S. treatment of detainees.  A writer for the Telegraph told Russia Today that U.S. prison management will not be remembered in good light, referencing the infamous Abu Ghraib detention center.  

“The problem is that Abu Ghraib used to be known as the center of Saddam Hussein’s terror, and now its far better known as the center of American detainee abuse, which is a shocking comment on the nature of part of the occupation.”

But many are saying prisoners will be worse off under Iraqi control. Al Jazeera highlights abuse cases from the past.

“But this transfer in itself comes as a test to Iraqi authorities.  Their record hasn’t exactly been stellar, with several scandals over the past few years.  Including one here at the notorious Al Karradah prison, prompting the interior minister to visit the facility and investigate allegations of torture last year.”

The Christian Science Monitor reports that most Iraqi prisoners would prefer to be detained under U.S. control.  They interviewed a former prisoner among this majority.

“‘Iraqis have become convinced that the occupying Americans are more merciful than the people of this country,’ says Abu Huthaifa, a car dealer in Mosul who says he was tortured while jailed last year. His scars are consistent with his story of being suspended from the ceiling and beaten.”

So what does this transfer mean for the U.S. withdrawal effort?  For Iraqi prisoners?

Get more multi-source U.S. news from Newsy.

WRITER: Steven Hsieh

PRODUCER: Newsy Staff