Camp Bucca (Arabic: سجن بوكا, romanized: Sijn 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.

[14] On 5 February 2005, the tabloid paper New York Daily News reported that units at Camp Bucca organized and held a mud wrestling party on 30 October 2004.

The program provides monetary assistance to families of detainees held at Camp Bucca to help cover part of the traveling and hotel costs required to visit the facility.

[30] On 25 October 2005, it was reported that Specialist Christopher T. Monroe[31] assigned to the Military Police Battalion[32] stationed at Camp Bucca was killed in a road accident when providing security for a convoy in the vicinity of Al Basrah.

[35] On 12 December 2005, nearly 90 percent of all eligible security detainees in Multi-National Forces-Iraq Theater Internment Facilities participated in the democratic vote on the Iraqi National Ballot.

[36] On 7 January 2006, Sergeant Nathan Field[37] and Specialist Robert Johnson[38] assigned to the 414th Military Police Company were killed in a non-combat vehicle accident just outside Camp Bucca.

[41] On 2 June 2006, the Army opened an Iraqi-based detention center training facility at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri called Camp Charlie.

[42] On 1 July 2006, Airman 1st Class Carl Jerome Ware Jr.[43] of the 886th Expeditionary Security Force Squadron assigned to Camp Bucca died of non-combat related injuries.

[45] Dalton, who was deployed in the Middle East at the time the charges were brought, had an Article 32 hearing and was Court-martialed on 23 April 2007 at Langley Air Force Base.

[46][47] As part of a plea bargain deal, Dalton pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and violating a lawful general regulation by drawing or aiming a firearm when deadly force was unnecessary.

[48][49] In July 2006, it was announced that the Army's inspector general had requested an investigation to determine if an Anti-Deficiency Act violation occurred during the building of the detention facility.

[51] The inspector general's report was released to Congress on 30 January 2007[52] and in it concluded: "Army personnel associated with funding of Phases I and II construction of the Internment Facility at Camp Bucca, Iraq, did not implement sufficient controls to ensure military compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

[58][59][60] On 11 February 2007 Specialist Dennis L. Sellen Jr.[61] of the 1st Battalion, 185th Infantry Regiment was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow soldier who was cleaning his weapon after a mission.

[62][63][needs update] On 2 March 2007 Specialist Christopher D. Young,[64] 20, of Los Angeles, California, died in Safwan, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

[77][78] In October 2007, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced it had suspended its visits to Camp Bucca due to the deteriorating security situation in the area.

The ICRC visits all detention facilities in Iraq to monitor the conditions detainees are receiving and make recommendations where they perceive improvements could be made.

To maintain their neutral status, they refuse coalition security when traveling in Iraq, which causes them to occasionally suspend visits when they deem conditions too hazardous for their personnel.

On 24 February 2008, Camp Bucca was attacked with rocket fire that killed one Army and Air Force Exchange Service employee and wounded several other civilian contractors.

[82][83] In November 2008, the 6 sailors faced an article 32 hearing at Naval Air Station Jacksonville on charges of conspiracy, cruelty and maltreatment and making false official statements.

Damage Controlman 2nd Class Adam M. White, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and assault and was sentenced to 89 days confinement and reduction of two pay grades.

Adams claims he and other sailors participated in the beating of two detainees at the direction of Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic Tracy Necaise because the prisoners spit and threw feces at guards.

Necaise's attorney blamed upper-level Navy officers for the incident because they assigned the sailors to Camp Bucca without any prior experience working in law enforcement or detention facilities.

[93] In 2003, prisoners freed from Camp Bucca described "detainees punished by hours lying bound in the sun; being attacked by dogs; being deprived of sufficient water; spending days with hoods over their heads.

"[94] A 2003 report by Amnesty International found that prisoners at Camp Bucca "were held in tents in the extreme heat and were not provided with sufficient drinking water or adequate washing facilities," and that "they were forced to use open trenches for toilets and were not given a change of clothes -- even after two months detention.

"[90] A 2004 report by United States Army investigators found "egregious acts and grave breaches of international law" at Camp Bucca.

[89][91] A 2004 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross described Geneva Convention violations at Camp Bucca and stated that "inmates were routinely treated by their guards with general contempt, with petty violence such as having orders screamed at them and being cursed, kicked, struck with rifle butts, roughed up or pushed around.

[98] The detention of large numbers of Ba'athists and Islamists during the Iraqi insurgency provided them with the opportunity to forge alliances and learn from each other, combining the ideological fervour of the latter with the organizational skills of the former.