For the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, U.S. forces will release 50 Iraqi prisoners daily from detention facilities. The announcement came from Iraq’s Sunni Arab Vice President, Tareq al-Hashemi. It is estimated at 85 percent of the detainees are Sunni Arabs, for whom Ramadan is a vital month.”It’s like putting lipstick on a pig,” said Robert Duncan, assistant professor of political science. “It’s piecemeal appeasement that won’t make anyone happy. It won’t solve the problem.”

The U.S. military is currently detaining nearly 25,000 Iraqis, including 800 adolescents from ages 12 to 17. Both the U.S. military and Iraqi security forces have arrested and held thousands of citizens without charges. The number of prisoners grew dramatically when a surge of American troops swept across central Iraq earlier this year, according to BBC News.

“I’m glad for any gesture towards reconciliation, including prisoner releases, but a stronger message would be the release of the more than 100,000 U.S. soldiers now serving in Iraq,” said Max Carter, director of campus ministries, in an e-mail interview.

The releases come as part of a framework initiative by al-Hashemi to free innocent captives. The initiative also includes programs designed to improve the physical and psychological condition of the released prisoners, according to the independent news agency Aswat al-Iraq (Voices of Iraq).

The Sunni political group, the Accordance Front, cited the imprisonments as a reason for their withdrawal from the government a month ago, according to a Reuters report. A week after the announcement of the prisoner releases, a separate smaller Sunni bloc, the National Dialogue Front ended their boycott and their 11 members rejoined the 275-seat Parliament. In a report by CNN, party leader Saleh al-Mutlaq cited changes in U.S. policy as a factor in the decision to rejoin.

“Americans were only talking with the Kurdish bloc and the Shiite bloc. Now, they are starting to be somewhat fair,” said al-Mutlaq.

Ramadan, which began on Thursday, is a month of fasting for followers of Islam. Since the Islamic calendar is lunar-based, Ramadan comes at different times each year. The fasts last each day from dawn until dusk for the duration of the month. Ramadan is the month when Allah revealed the Quran to Muhammad, so Muslims fast to promote spiritual growth.