Military Judge Rejects England's Plea Deal

[Vernal45]

Military Judge Rejects England's Plea Deal

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

FORT HOOD, Texas — A military judge Wednesday threw out Pfc. Lynndie England's (search) guilty plea to Iraqi prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, saying that he was not convinced that she knew that her actions were wrong at the time.

Col. James Pohl (search) entered a plea of not guilty for England to a charge of conspiring with Pvt. Charles Graner Jr. (search) to maltreat detainees at the Baghdad-area prison.

The action came after Graner testified at England's sentencing hearing that pictures he took of England holding a naked prisoner on a leash at Abu Ghraib (search) were meant to be used as a legitimate training aid for other guards.

When England pleaded guilty Monday, she told the judge she knew that the pictures were being taken purely for the amusement of the guards.

Pohl said the two statements could not be reconciled.

"You can't have a one-person conspiracy," the judge said before he declared a mistrial and dismissed the jury.

Under military law, a judge can formally accept England's guilty plea only if she knew at the time that what she was doing was illegal.

Graner, who is said to be England's ex-boyfriend, was found guilty in January and is serving a 10-year prison term for his role in the scandal.

Pohl abruptly stopped England's sentencing hearing after Graner testified for the defense that three pictures he took of England holding a naked prisoner on a leash were meant to be used as a legitimate training aid for other guards.

Before the judge stopped the proceeding, Graner had not been asked if England knew the photos were to be used as training aids.

"If you don't want to plead guilty, don't," Pohl admonished the defendant while Graner sat on the witness stand. "But you can't plead guilty and say you're not guilty. ... You can't have it both ways."

In a handwritten note given to reporters Tuesday, Graner had said he wanted England to fight the charges.

"Knowing what happened in Iraq, it was very upsetting to see Lynn plead guilty to her charges," he wrote. "I would hope that by doing so she will have a better chance at a good sentence."

Graner maintains that he and the other Abu Ghraib guards were following orders from higher-ranking interrogators when they abused the detainees.

England, 22, pleaded guilty Monday to seven counts of mistreating prisoners. She told the court that the beatings and sexual humiliation were done for the guards' entertainment and took responsibility for the smiling, thumbs-up poses she struck for photographs that made her the face of the prisoner abuse scandal.

Other photos showed England standing next to nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid and pointing at a prisoner's genitals.

England's lawyers sought leniency Tuesday from the Army jury of five men and one woman that will determine her punishment.

On Tuesday, a school psychologist from Mineral County, W.Va., who worked with England when she was a child testified that she was oxygen-deprived at birth. He said her speech was impaired and she had trouble learning to read.

Thomas Denne said England's learning disabilities were identified when she was a kindergartner, and though she made progress in school she continued needing special attention.

"I knew I was going to know Lynndie England for the rest of my life," Denne said.

Asked by the judge if England knew right from wrong, Denne said she had a compliant personality and tended to listen to authority figures.

The lead prosecutor, Capt. Chris Graveline, told the sentencing jurors in opening statements that England and a half-dozen other soldiers in the 372nd Military Police Company (search) took great pleasure in humiliating the prisoners.

Graveline said England and Graner, believed to be the father of England's infant son, knew it was wrong to mistreat the detainees and take the photos, "but they did it anyway for their own amusement." The prosecution rested its case without calling any witnesses.

The charges carry up to 11 years in prison. Prosecutors and the defense reached an agreement that caps the sentence at a lesser punishment; the length was not released. She will get the lesser of the military jury's sentence or the term agreed on in the plea bargain.

Four other Abu Ghraib guards and two low-level military intelligence officers have entered guilty pleas in connection with the scandal, with sentences ranging from no time to 8½ years. Spc. Sabrina Harman, a former Abu Ghraib guard, is scheduled to go to trial at Fort Hood next week.

 

[WT]

"she was oxygen-deprived at birth."
"her speech was impaired and she had trouble learning to read."


This just clears up everything.

 

[Boats]

Just what are the minimum standards for enlistment in the Army? Do they just hold a mirror up to one's mouth and see if there is breath?

j/k

 

[petrel800]

I hope they throw the book at all of those involved in this case. Their actions have probably cost the lives of a few of our service people.

 

[Vernal45]

hope they throw the book at all of those involved in this case. Their actions have probably cost the lives of a few of our service people.

YEA, what they did is MUCH worse than the Terrorists beheading our people.

get real, what happened was far less that what goes on and College hazings.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

What they did was no where near as bad as the beheadings, but Petrel didn't claim that.

I agree with his statement. Poor conduct on our part gets blown way out of proportion by the arab media. This inevitably leads to retalliation by them.

If an insurgent thinks he will be sexually tortured if he surrenders, my bet is he is more likely to fight to the death.

I don't know what college you went to, but I certainly don't remember ever being stripped naked, led around on a leash, and piled up with a bunch of other naked guys. Did you really go through stuff like that in college, or were you exaggerating to make your point?

 

[petrel800]

I disagree, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard then our enemy. What they did probably cost a few service men their lives. It was indecent and not proper human behavior, besides it was illegal.

I have no problem for using tough interogation techniques to gain information to save lives. I felt it was wrong when they prosecuted the Army officer who put a gun to the head of the terrorist during the interogation. That was for military intellegence, and it probably saved lives.

What England and her coherts did was for pure fun and humiliation. Why else would they take pictures of it?

As for the terrorists beheading people, in this life or the next they'll get whats coming to them.

 

[MikeIsaj]

Ten years USMC, combat vet, mid east service. Terrorist attack surviver. And I agree with petrel800, 100%.

 

[Vernal45]

I was exaggerating. I do not condone what was done. I do however, wonder why no one above the rank of E5 is being charged.


I dont know how much worse this could have made our enemies fight. They are already beheading folks, and blowing themselves up.

 

[garyk/nm]

I think vernal45 just nailed it. Where were these folks XO and CO while all of this was going on? Are we supposed to believe that this was all done on the sly and no officers were aware of what was going on?
This is nothing more that a dog and pony show for the press. Those responsible for this type of treatment (officers, MI, CIA) are getting off scott-free.

 

[El Tejon]

Anyone break into laughter when you heard Senator Boxer express how shocked she was at Ms. England's alleged leash pic?

What does Boxer think happens in San Fran anywho?

 

[roo_ster]

1. The first purpose of any regulation is to serve as a firewall.

It limits the repercussions and how far up the chain of command the shee-ite storm will splatter and stink up careers. In many jobs/tasks (if one were to follow the regs to the letter) the task would require every soldier to work more hours than there are in a day...indefinitely.

So, corners get cut. When something goes Tango Uniform, the following investigation will focus on how the regs were not followed. PVT Snuffy gets left holding the bag, SGT Screwup is reprimanded for lack of oversight and 2LT Butterbar & CPT Careerist breathe a sigh of relief. Whoohee! Thank G-d for the regs!

2. What are women doing in the service in a war zone, in contact with the enemy (in ANY capacity), anyway?

PFC England is a knucklehead who will spend years in Federal "No this ain't the prison Martha Stewart did her time in" prison. Her kiddo will not know her because England committed acts...that are the equivalent of vigorous frat-boy hijinks and slut-puppy behavior. Not to be praised, but nothing you'd make a Federal case over outside of Hyper-PC Land.

Welcome to today's Armed Forces. You can hump half the company, but L-rd help you if you ogle a terrorist's dangly bits.

3. How much more are they going to hate us and/or harm us?

Will the next Nick Berg get his head hacked off with a dull knife, rather than a sharp one? Will the rabble on the "Arab Street" burn two effigies of GWB, rather than their ususal one? Will the Imams call us the Even Greater Satan?

4. Give the terrorist prisoners another size 12 in the ribs for me.

I'm not going to cry for them. They were there for a reason. I have two problems with the whole Abu Grahib mess:
1. The pics got out.
No cameras should have been allowed inside such a place...or any secure facility.
2. The infusion of sexuality & sexual behavior in the Armed Forces.
This cuts two ways. The first is that men & women serving together in such a unit is a very bad idea, no matter what the PC blissninnies say. Second, any roughing up of captured terrorists ought to have been devoid of sexual content.

Photos getting out, the sex between the reservists and the sexual nature of the roughing up of the terrorists are just three signs that discipline in that unit & at that post, was in complete disarray.

 

[WT]

“The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and unarmed. It is the very essence and reason of his being. When he violates this sacred trust, he not only profanes his entire cult but threatens the fabric of international society.†- General of the Army Douglas MacArthur 1946.



"Whenever scapegoats are needed, find the closest enlisteds and throw the book at them." - US Army General Officer's School 2004.

 

[spartacus2002]

Those responsible for this type of treatment (officers, MI, CIA) are getting off scott-free.

Their time will come.

As for why this is worse then a "college hazing," well, these "hazings" have cost the US the ability to claim we are the eternal good guys. If you cannot figure out the public relations value of the Abu Ghraib pictures to our enemies, it is because you deliberately choose not to understand.

 

[Vernal45]

Bush OKs Demotion of Abu Ghraib General

Thursday, May 05, 2005

WASHINGTON — The Army said Thursday that only one general will be disciplined for failed leadership in connection with the Abu Ghraib (search) prisoner abuse scandal and that more than a dozen lower-ranking officers have received a variety of punishments.

The Army said it demoted Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski (search), whose Army Reserve unit was in charge of the prison compound when Iraqi detainees were physically abused and sexually humiliated by military police and intelligence soldiers in the fall of 2003. When photos of some of the abuse became public a year ago a firestorm of criticism erupted worldwide.

The Army also announced that it cleared three other, more senior generals of wrongdoing in the prisoner abuse cases, actions that had been previously reported but not publicly confirmed by the Army.

That leaves Karpinski as the only general officer to be disciplined thus far. The demotion means her career in the military, where officers must rise in rank or leave, is effectively over. Messages left at her home in Hilton Head, S.C., and with her attorney were not immediately returned.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has said it intends to hold hearings soon to assess whether senior Defense Department civilian and military leaders were adequately held accountable for Abu Ghraib.

The Army described its investigations as exhaustive, requiring six months of work including sworn-statement interviews with 82 people, including L. Paul Bremer (search), who was the top civilian authority in Iraq at the time, and Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Among those cleared by the Army was Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (search), who was the top Army general in Iraq at the time of the prisoner abuses. He has been faulted by some for leadership failures but has never been accused of ordering or sanctioning any abuse of prisoners.

The Army said it could not substantiate two allegations against Sanchez: dereliction in the performance of duties pertaining to detention and interrogation operations and improperly communicating interrogation policies.

Sanchez is currently the commander of 5th Corps, headquartered at Heidelberg, Germany.

Karpinski was demoted to colonel, a move that required approval by President Bush. She also received a written reprimand by Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody and was formally relieved of command of the 800th Military Police Brigade on April 8, the Army said in a statement.

The Army's inspector general investigated four allegations against Karpinski: dereliction of duty, making a "material misrepresentation" to investigators, failure to obey a lawful order and shoplifting. Only the shoplifting and dereliction of duty allegations were substantiated.

The Army did not explain the specifics of the allegations, but a number of previous investigations of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses have accused Karpinski of failing to maintain order and prevent the abuses. She has said publicly that she was not given full authority over Abu Ghraib and that when photographs of the abuse became public she was made a scapegoat.

A U.S. government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Karpinski was accused of shoplifting a cosmetic item from a shop at a domestic Air Force base while she held the rank of colonel. Karpinski did not report her arrest for this misdemeanor on a later background check, the official said. In an interview with CBS News last year, Karpinski denied shoplifting.

The generals who were cleared, in addition to Sanchez, were Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, who was Sanchez's deputy in Iraq at the time, and Sanchez's intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast. Both were accused of dereliction of duty, but the allegations were not substantiated.

Fast is now commander of the Army Intelligence Center and Wojdakowksi is a special assistant to the commander of U.S. Army Europe.

Col. Marc Warren, who was Sanchez's top uniformed lawyer in Iraq, also was cleared of allegations of dereliction and "professional impropriety under lawyers' ethics rules," the Army said.

Without providing their names, the Army also said Thursday that one colonel and two lieutenant colonels linked to detainee abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan were given unspecified administrative punishment. Also, two other lieutenant colonels were given letters of reprimand.

More than a dozen other lower-ranking officers, whose names were not released, also received various punishments.

— Three majors were given letters of reprimand and one of the three also was given an unspecified administrative punishment.

— Three captains have been court-martialed, one captain was given an other-than-honorable discharge from the Army, five captains received letters of reprimand and one was given an unspecified administrative punishment.

— Two first lieutenants have been court-martialed, another got a letter of reprimand and one was given administrative punishment.

— One second lieutenant was given an other-than-honorable discharge and another was given a letter of reprimand.

— Two chief warrant officers have been court-martialed.

The Army said other cases involving officers linked to detainee abuse are still open, but it did not say how many. Among the open cases are those of Col. Thomas Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade at Abu Ghraib, and Lt. Col. Stephen Jordan, who directed the prison's interrogation center. Both face possible criminal charges, Army officials have said.

 

[Sean Smith]

On topic, the defense team was a bunch of retards. They set up the plea deal, then had defense witnesses testify to things that negated the plea deal, then acted surprised when the judge slapped them upside the head.

I don't believe all the conspiracy theory nonsense floating around this case. This was a bunch of inbred mouth-breathing reservists acting like scumbags. There are lots of illegal/immoral/not nice interrogation methods, but none of them involve rednecks, a Polaroid camera and butt-play. I mean, look at these chimps, do you really think any intel folks would trust them with a goddamn thing?

In general, ridiculous misconduct stories in the military always seem to involve rear-echelon pukes with lame leadership and slack-assed discipline. This is just another case of that, one that got lots of publicity.

The officers and NCOs in their chain of command should still get nailed to the wall, however, for being incompetent morons.

 

[HankB]

The biggest crime here was the sheer STUPIDITY involved in distributing photographic proof of their misconduct . . . sort of like the teenage morons a couple of years ago who videotaped themselves doing drive-by shootings with paintball guns. Or the convicted felon who went hunting and had himself photographed holding a rifle.

Memo to self: If ever doing something illegal or which breaks the rules, do NOT allow photographs to be taken!

 

[buzz_knox]

A friend of mine is a Brig. Gen. in the Air Force Reserves, serving in Intelligence. He worked directly for Karpinski. His take on this more than a year ago was that she had no involvement, was personally and professionally outraged at the crap that went on at that prison . . . and would be the token officer thrown out for a sacrifice.

The prisoner abuse photos came way later on the "roll of film," long after the guards had progressed from just taking photos of themselves having sex, and then doing it in front of the prisoners. The "intelligence officers gave us orders" crap was generated by the soldiers to defend themselves, and the media ran with it. These scum did the same things guards have done in prisons (both civilian and military) since stockades were invented.