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A U.S. military review committee conducts a hearing of the case of an Iraqi detainee at the Camp Cropper detention center in Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 20, 2007. The three-officer committee reviews each detainee's case every six months, allowing the prisoner to refute the circumstances of his detention and even provide new witnesses. After the hearing, the committee deliberates and decides whether to continue the detainee's incarceration or set a release date. The U.S. military has a total of about 25,000 detainees in several centers in Iraq, up from only about 14,000 before the American troop surge. The detainee population includes more than 800 juveniles, insurgents from all anti-coalition groups in Iraq, Al Qaeda foreign fighters, criminals and many innocent Iraqis caught up in U.S. military raids.
