No more "Strut Proudly and Carry a Codpiece" New Doctrine: "Peace Available. Only 500 Carrots"
Runaway costs cited as reason for policy shift.
U.S. to free 500 Iraqi prisoners as peace "carrot"
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it would launch a carrot-and-stick drive to secure lasting peace in Iraq by cracking down harder on guerrillas while freeing hundreds of prisoners deemed low-security threats.
"It is time for reconciliation, time for Iraqis to make common cause," Iraq's U.S. governor Paul Bremer told a news conference.
About 500 Iraqis held as low-level security threats in the last eight months are due to be released. Some 9,000 prisoners are being held by U.S.-led forces and many more have been detained and released since Saddam Hussein was ousted in April.
"In a gesture to give impetus to those Iraqis who wish to reconcile with their countrymen, the (U.S-led) coalition will permit some currently detained offenders to return to their homes and families," said Bremer.
He said those suspected of serious violent crimes would not be freed. "This is not a programme for those with blood-stained hands. No person directly involved in the death or serious bodily harm to any human being will be released."
Adnan Pachachi, president of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, said 100 prisoners would be freed on Thursday and thousands more soon. More at link, doc.
Hard to know what to say. Oops? Those zany Iraqis. They must be lovin' the freedom we've given them.
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