Camp Bucca

Camp Bucca
Umm Qasr, Basra Governorate in Iraq
A soldier patrols along a catwalk at Camp Bucca (2009)
Camp Bucca is located in Iraq
Camp Bucca
Camp Bucca
Camp Bucca in Iraq
Coordinates30°04′01″N 47°52′29″E / 30.06694°N 47.87472°E / 30.06694; 47.87472
TypeInternment Facility
Site information
OwnerMinistry of Defence
OperatorUnited States Air Force
United States Army
United States Navy
Site history
Built2003
Expansions 2004, 2005, 2007, 2007–2008
Built byU.S. Army Engineers,
U.S. Air Force Prime BEEF teams
Kellogg Brown and Root
United States Army Corps of Engineers
United States Navy Seabees
In use2003–2009
Battles/warsIraq War

Camp Bucca (Arabic: سجن بوكا, romanizedSijn Būkā) was a forward operating base that housed a theater internment facility[1] maintained by the United States military in the vicinity of Umm Qasr, Iraq. After being taken over by the U.S. military (800th Military Police Brigade) in April 2003, it was renamed after Ronald Bucca, a New York City fire marshal who died in the 11 September 2001 attacks.[2] The site where Camp Bucca was built had earlier housed the tallest structure in Iraq, a 492-meter-high TV mast.[3][4][5]

After the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, many detainees from Abu Ghraib were transferred to Bucca, where U.S. authorities hoped to showcase a model detention facility.[6] Nevertheless, Camp Bucca was the scene of prisoner abuse documented over many years by the Red Cross, Amnesty International, and U.S. Army investigators. It housed numerous prominent Islamic extremists, including a significant portion of the leadership of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, future leader of the Islamic State (IS), who enjoyed good relations with camp authorities while there. Bucca has been described as a breeding ground for Islamic extremism, and has been cited as contributing to the emergence of IS.[7]

On 17 September 2009, the U.S. military announced that the base would be closed.[8] In December 2010, the U.S. military handed the base to the government of Iraq, who, on the same day, gave Kufan Group of Iraq a license to invest in the new Basra Gateway, to provide a hub for Iraq's port.[citation needed]

  1. ^ "US jail guards in Iraq abuse case". BBC. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
  2. ^ "Camp Bucca Joint Operations Base in Umm Qasr, Iraq". Military Bases. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Wikimapia - Let's describe the whole world!".
  4. ^ "Wikimapia - Let's describe the whole world!".
  5. ^ GmbH, Emporis. "Umm Qasr TV Mast, Az Zubayr - 1249233 - EMPORIS". Archived from the original on 3 April 2015.
  6. ^ Khalil, Ashraf (10 January 2005). "Camp Bucca Turns 180 Degrees From Abu Ghraib". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  7. ^ Chulov, Martin (11 December 2014). "Isis: the inside story". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  8. ^ John Pike (17 September 2009). "Camp Bucca detention center closes in Iraq". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 July 2014.

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