The Camp Bucca detention facility has been officially shut down as the last detainee boarded a plane destined for another theater internment facility on Sept. 17.

A statement issued on Friday, Sep. 18, by the American Occupation Army said, "An Air Force C-17 carrying the last group of 180 detainees lifted off from the Basra airport headed to Camp Cropper at 3:22 a.m."

It added, "As the last detainee boarded a plane destined for another theater internment facility, the detainee operations mission at Camp Bucca officially ended."

The statement added, "Since February, Task Force 134 has released an average of about 750 detainees from its detention facilities each month. In addition, an average of nearly 200 transfers to the Government of Iraq was completed per month.

It continued, "The Camp Bucca TIF closure leaves only two U.S.-run detention facilities in Iraq – Camp Taji, which is 16 miles north of Baghdad, and Camp Cropper near the Baghdad International Airport. Detainees held at Camp Bucca, but not yet released or transferred to the Government of Iraq, have been moved to one of the two remaining facilities."

HEYET Net