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September 26th, 2005, 07:37 PM
So England is guilty. I bet our scum Attorney General is breathing a sigh of relief that it hasn't tainted his blossoming career, not to mention the rest of the sickos in the obvious chain all the way to the top.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/national/26cnd-england.html?hp&ex=1127793600&en=1a16991efae78fa7& ei=5094&partner=homepage
September 26, 2005
Soldier Convicted of Abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib Prison
By JENNIFER BAYOT
Presented with starkly different portrayals of the young soldier notorious for her grinning photos with naked Iraqi detainees, a jury of Army officers convicted Pfc. Lynndie R. England today of mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
The five jurors reached the verdict after two hours of deliberation in a military court in Fort Hood, Tex., resolving the final case against the nine enlisted soldiers involved in the prisoner abuse. The mistreatment created an international scandal when it came to light last year, and officials in the Bush administration have acknowledged that it has undermined America's credibility in the Middle East, exposing grave breakdowns in the unit guarding Abu Ghraib.
Wearing her forest-green dress uniform, Private England, 22, betrayed no emotion and was characteristically expressionless as she received the verdict, an Army spokesman said.
She was found guilty of six of the seven counts against her, including four counts of mistreatment, one count of conspiracy and one count of indecency. She was acquitted on another conspiracy charge. Jurors will decide Tuesday on her sentence; she faces a maximum of 10 years in a military prison.
The outcome of the trial rested on how the all-male jury answered a question that has been a frequent and heated source of debate since photos of the prisoner mistreatment became public. What exactly prompted Private England and others to subject the detainees to such mistreatment - and to photograph it in apparently high spirits?
One photo submitted as evidence - and among those circulated internationally last year - shows Private England leading a crawling prisoner on a leash. In another, she is smiling widely and flashing a thumb-up and pointing to naked Iraqi detainees.
Describing her as a troubled young woman with learning disabilities and a history of depression, the defense argued that Private England had participated in the abuse at the behest of a fellow soldier who oversaw a cellblock there, Pfc. Charles A. Graner Jr., her boyfriend at the time and the estranged father of her child.
"She was a follower; she was an individual who was smitten with Graner," Private England's lawyer, Capt. Jonathan Crisp, said today during closing arguments, The Associated Press reported. "She just did whatever he wanted her to do." Private Graner was convicted in January of helping direct the prisoner abuse and was sentenced to 10 years in military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Dr. Xavier Amador, a psychologist, testified that Private England had an abusive relationship with Private Graner and that her "overly compliant" personality made her incapable of making independent judgments about the detainees' mistreatment.
But prosecutors portrayed Private England as an enthusiastic participant in the mistreatment, which occurred in 2003, and argued that she found the humiliating poses amusing.
"The accused knew what she was doing," Capt. Chris Graveline, the lead prosecutor, said during closing arguments today, according to The Associated Press. Gesturing toward a photo, he said, "she is enjoying, she is participating, all for her own sick humor."
To rebut defense arguments that the photographs showed legitimate interrogation practices, prosecutors said the detainees were not being questioned at the time and noted that their heads were shrouded and hands were bound. Furthermore, they argued, Private England was not a guard but a file clerk and thus had no reason to be handling prisoners.
Private England had been close to pleading guilty in May in exchange for a more lenient sentence when the judge overseeing the case, Col. James L. Pohl, unexpectedly declared her first court-martial a mistrial and barred the plea deal. He said Private England's admission of guilt had been contradicted by testimony from Private Graner suggesting that the episode with the leash was a legitimate use of force.
"If Private Graner is to be believed, he was not violating any law, so you could not be violating any law," Colonel Pohl told Private England. "If you don't believe you were guilty doing what Graner told you, you can't plead guilty."
The turn of events echoed the drama in the private lives of Private England and Private Graner, who parted ways after the Abu Ghraib scandal. Private Graner married another woman only days before Private England's first court-martial earlier this year.
While Private England became the face of the scandal, human rights advocates have suggested that the officers in charge of Abu Ghraib have not been held sufficiently accountable for the abuse there. They point out that none have been court-martialed, although the general in charge of Abu Ghraib has been demoted and more than a dozen officers have received reprimands or other administrative punishments.
Changing the tone at the military's highest levels, they argue, is crucial to preventing further mistreatment, especially if it has become commonplace. In a report released last week by the group Human Rights Watch, three former members of the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division asserted that their fellow soldiers in Iraq routinely beat and abused prisoners in 2003 and 2004, not only to help gather intelligence on the insurgency but also to amuse themselves. The allegations are currently the focus of a criminal investigation by the Army.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/national/26cnd-england.html?hp&ex=1127793600&en=1a16991efae78fa7& ei=5094&partner=homepage
September 26, 2005
Soldier Convicted of Abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib Prison
By JENNIFER BAYOT
Presented with starkly different portrayals of the young soldier notorious for her grinning photos with naked Iraqi detainees, a jury of Army officers convicted Pfc. Lynndie R. England today of mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
The five jurors reached the verdict after two hours of deliberation in a military court in Fort Hood, Tex., resolving the final case against the nine enlisted soldiers involved in the prisoner abuse. The mistreatment created an international scandal when it came to light last year, and officials in the Bush administration have acknowledged that it has undermined America's credibility in the Middle East, exposing grave breakdowns in the unit guarding Abu Ghraib.
Wearing her forest-green dress uniform, Private England, 22, betrayed no emotion and was characteristically expressionless as she received the verdict, an Army spokesman said.
She was found guilty of six of the seven counts against her, including four counts of mistreatment, one count of conspiracy and one count of indecency. She was acquitted on another conspiracy charge. Jurors will decide Tuesday on her sentence; she faces a maximum of 10 years in a military prison.
The outcome of the trial rested on how the all-male jury answered a question that has been a frequent and heated source of debate since photos of the prisoner mistreatment became public. What exactly prompted Private England and others to subject the detainees to such mistreatment - and to photograph it in apparently high spirits?
One photo submitted as evidence - and among those circulated internationally last year - shows Private England leading a crawling prisoner on a leash. In another, she is smiling widely and flashing a thumb-up and pointing to naked Iraqi detainees.
Describing her as a troubled young woman with learning disabilities and a history of depression, the defense argued that Private England had participated in the abuse at the behest of a fellow soldier who oversaw a cellblock there, Pfc. Charles A. Graner Jr., her boyfriend at the time and the estranged father of her child.
"She was a follower; she was an individual who was smitten with Graner," Private England's lawyer, Capt. Jonathan Crisp, said today during closing arguments, The Associated Press reported. "She just did whatever he wanted her to do." Private Graner was convicted in January of helping direct the prisoner abuse and was sentenced to 10 years in military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Dr. Xavier Amador, a psychologist, testified that Private England had an abusive relationship with Private Graner and that her "overly compliant" personality made her incapable of making independent judgments about the detainees' mistreatment.
But prosecutors portrayed Private England as an enthusiastic participant in the mistreatment, which occurred in 2003, and argued that she found the humiliating poses amusing.
"The accused knew what she was doing," Capt. Chris Graveline, the lead prosecutor, said during closing arguments today, according to The Associated Press. Gesturing toward a photo, he said, "she is enjoying, she is participating, all for her own sick humor."
To rebut defense arguments that the photographs showed legitimate interrogation practices, prosecutors said the detainees were not being questioned at the time and noted that their heads were shrouded and hands were bound. Furthermore, they argued, Private England was not a guard but a file clerk and thus had no reason to be handling prisoners.
Private England had been close to pleading guilty in May in exchange for a more lenient sentence when the judge overseeing the case, Col. James L. Pohl, unexpectedly declared her first court-martial a mistrial and barred the plea deal. He said Private England's admission of guilt had been contradicted by testimony from Private Graner suggesting that the episode with the leash was a legitimate use of force.
"If Private Graner is to be believed, he was not violating any law, so you could not be violating any law," Colonel Pohl told Private England. "If you don't believe you were guilty doing what Graner told you, you can't plead guilty."
The turn of events echoed the drama in the private lives of Private England and Private Graner, who parted ways after the Abu Ghraib scandal. Private Graner married another woman only days before Private England's first court-martial earlier this year.
While Private England became the face of the scandal, human rights advocates have suggested that the officers in charge of Abu Ghraib have not been held sufficiently accountable for the abuse there. They point out that none have been court-martialed, although the general in charge of Abu Ghraib has been demoted and more than a dozen officers have received reprimands or other administrative punishments.
Changing the tone at the military's highest levels, they argue, is crucial to preventing further mistreatment, especially if it has become commonplace. In a report released last week by the group Human Rights Watch, three former members of the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division asserted that their fellow soldiers in Iraq routinely beat and abused prisoners in 2003 and 2004, not only to help gather intelligence on the insurgency but also to amuse themselves. The allegations are currently the focus of a criminal investigation by the Army.