United States Air Force United States Army United States Navy
Site history
Built
2003 Expansions 2004, 2005, 2007, 2007–2008
Built by
U.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 use
2003–2009
Battles/wars
Iraq War
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. 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]
^"US jail guards in Iraq abuse case". BBC. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
^"Camp Bucca Joint Operations Base in Umm Qasr, Iraq". Military Bases. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
^"Wikimapia - Let's describe the whole world!".
^"Wikimapia - Let's describe the whole world!".
^GmbH, Emporis. "Umm Qasr TV Mast, Az Zubayr - 1249233 - EMPORIS". Archived from the original on 3 April 2015.
^Khalil, Ashraf (10 January 2005). "Camp Bucca Turns 180 Degrees From Abu Ghraib". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
^Chulov, Martin (11 December 2014). "Isis: the inside story". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
^John Pike (17 September 2009). "Camp Bucca detention center closes in Iraq". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
CampBucca (Arabic: سجن بوكا, romanized: Sijn Būkā) was a forward operating base that housed a theater internment facility maintained by the United States...
Ronald Paul Bucca (May 6, 1954 – September 11, 2001) was a New York City Fire Department Marshal killed during the September 11 attacks during the collapse...
revealed to have operated in a similar fashion, most notably at CampBucca and Camp Cropper. Abu Ghraib prison was constructed for the Iraqi government...
Prison Maze in Northern Ireland (1971–75) Omarska camp in Bosnia, 1992 Dretelj camp (1992–1995) CampBucca in Iraq (2003–2009) Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (1980–2014)...
Buckingham, England Bucca, Queensland, a locality in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia CampBucca, a U.S. military prison camp in Iraq Cheek, Latin...
Angel of the Desert" or "The Angel of CampBucca" for her affection when dealing with the prisoners housed at the camp. Garrity earned two Bronze Stars and...
Iraq. Following his arrest, Fahdawi was detained by US forces at the CampBucca detention facility in southern Iraq until 2009, when he was sentenced...
smaller, because Camp Redemption had a much smaller capacity than Camp Ganci had, and many detainees have been sent from Abu Ghraib to CampBucca for this reason...
posting was to CampBucca, Iraq in early 2005. On September 28, 2005, while Jacobson was guarding a convoy originating from CampBucca, Iraq, the vehicle...
15, 2007 military officials announced plans to once again expand CampBucca and Camp Cropper. Officials stated that this increase in capacity would be...
States (2004–05) Torture and abuse Abu Ghraib prison (2003–06) CampBucca (2003–09) Camp Nama (2003–04) Balad Air Base (2003–2011) Death of Nagem Hatab...
leader of the Islamic State, joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq while detained at CampBucca in 2004. Future leader of al-Nusra Front in Syria, Abu Mohammad al-Julani...
as 06:10. The execution took place at the joint Iraqi-U.S. military base Camp Justice, located in Kazimain, a north-eastern suburb of Baghdad. Contrary...
States (2004–05) Torture and abuse Abu Ghraib prison (2003–06) CampBucca (2003–09) Camp Nama (2003–04) Balad Air Base (2003–2011) Death of Nagem Hatab...
(FOB). Depending on their size or utility, the installations were called: camp, forward operating bases (FOBs), contingency operating bases (COBs), contingency...
States (2004–05) Torture and abuse Abu Ghraib prison (2003–06) CampBucca (2003–09) Camp Nama (2003–04) Balad Air Base (2003–2011) Death of Nagem Hatab...
the sides of the vehicle at the Theater Internment Facility (TIF) at CampBucca, Iraq, 10 Feb 2008. The vehicle is assigned to the 886th Expeditionary...
These discussed torture and abuse at prisons in Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Afghanistan, and Iraq. One memorandum dated May 22, 2004 was from an individual...
a policeman in celebration of his release from American detention at CampBucca. The attack killed 22 and injured 32. Some of the wounded were taken to...
Force enlistee, Derek Mohamed Adas, described his war-time experience at CampBucca and the poverty of the surrounding area in his interview with the Library...
Global Information
