Post by RPankn on May 5, 2004 5:22:36 GMT -5
[Apparently none of these people have ever heard of the Neuremberg decision]
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners were following orders and are being used as scapegoats to protect their superiors, the wife of one of the soldiers and the lawyer for another said on Tuesday.
Martha Frederick defended her husband, a soldier who faces prosecution for the abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
"He was told to do these things and when he did them he thought that he was doing them in the sense of national security," Frederick said.
The U.S. military has brought charges of assault, cruelty and maltreatment against six soldiers, members of a military police battalion.
It has also reprimanded six officers in connection with abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison after photographs were broadcast around the world showing naked Iraqi prisoners stacked in a pyramid or positioned to simulate sex acts.
In e-mails to his wife, Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick questioned some of the abuses he witnessed, such as leaving inmates naked in their cells or making them wear female underwear and handcuffing them to the doors of their cells.
"He questioned it from my understanding and he even tried to come up with some rules knowing that pretty much this was something he did not normally do," said his wife in an interview on NBC's "Today" show.
She complained her husband was being thrust into the limelight while others were protected. "Those who are responsible are standing behind the curtain and watching him take the fall for it. It's almost like being a pawn in a chess game," she said. [RPankn's note: The sad truth is, she's right. These reservists should be punished for their crimes; however, we also need to keep pressure on Congress for a full, transparent and independent investigation into just how far up the chain of command this goes.]
'STAGED PICTURES'
Houston lawyer Guy Womack, who is representing reservist Charles Graner in the abuse case, said his client should not be court-martialed and that pictures taken of him abusing Iraqi prisoners were staged.
"You court-martial the right person. You don't court-martial the soldier who is following orders. He was under the command and the direction of intelligence officers, both military and civilian," Womack told NBC's "Today" show.
Graner, who was a corrections officer at a North Carolina prison, was on duty in Iraq (news - web sites) for a military police unit.
Womack said the pictures were staged and part of the psychological manipulation of prisoners, adding that his client was told to smile for the camera along with a female soldier who was pointing at a prisoner's genitals. [RPankn's note: What about all the other pictures we haven't seen that show the work of these reservists and intelligence officers? The ones that are much worse than any of those we have seen? Are those "staged psychological intimidation", too? I'm absolutely speechless at this b.s. This is why I have very little respect left for the legal profession. It is a lawyer's duty to serve as a zealous advocate for their client, but not to the point where you knowingly lie. This was not "psychological manipulation"; it was torture, death and humiliation of prisoners, which is explicitly prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, no?]
"These pictures themselves are abhorrent, but you have to put them in context," Womack said.
Reserve Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who oversaw prison facilities in Iraq, said she took responsibility for some of what had happened but pointed out military intelligence was in charge of interrogations -- not the military police under her command.
Her lawyer, Neal Puckett, told CNN, "What's clear in all of this and what's apparently yet to be investigated is that the military intelligence personnel were the folks that had complete, exclusive control over what went on in the interrogation rooms."
Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman called for a congressional investigation into the abuse and asked when U.S. military leaders had become aware of what was going on at the prison.
"Clearly we need to know what the secretary of defense knew at what point and what he did about it; the same with the head of the Joint Chiefs; the same with the president. We need to know what was the response of our government to this horrendous set of facts once they got them," said the New Mexico senator.
Link: story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040504/us_nm/iraq_abuse_soldiers_dc&cid=1896&ncid=1480
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners were following orders and are being used as scapegoats to protect their superiors, the wife of one of the soldiers and the lawyer for another said on Tuesday.
Martha Frederick defended her husband, a soldier who faces prosecution for the abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
"He was told to do these things and when he did them he thought that he was doing them in the sense of national security," Frederick said.
The U.S. military has brought charges of assault, cruelty and maltreatment against six soldiers, members of a military police battalion.
It has also reprimanded six officers in connection with abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison after photographs were broadcast around the world showing naked Iraqi prisoners stacked in a pyramid or positioned to simulate sex acts.
In e-mails to his wife, Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick questioned some of the abuses he witnessed, such as leaving inmates naked in their cells or making them wear female underwear and handcuffing them to the doors of their cells.
"He questioned it from my understanding and he even tried to come up with some rules knowing that pretty much this was something he did not normally do," said his wife in an interview on NBC's "Today" show.
She complained her husband was being thrust into the limelight while others were protected. "Those who are responsible are standing behind the curtain and watching him take the fall for it. It's almost like being a pawn in a chess game," she said. [RPankn's note: The sad truth is, she's right. These reservists should be punished for their crimes; however, we also need to keep pressure on Congress for a full, transparent and independent investigation into just how far up the chain of command this goes.]
'STAGED PICTURES'
Houston lawyer Guy Womack, who is representing reservist Charles Graner in the abuse case, said his client should not be court-martialed and that pictures taken of him abusing Iraqi prisoners were staged.
"You court-martial the right person. You don't court-martial the soldier who is following orders. He was under the command and the direction of intelligence officers, both military and civilian," Womack told NBC's "Today" show.
Graner, who was a corrections officer at a North Carolina prison, was on duty in Iraq (news - web sites) for a military police unit.
Womack said the pictures were staged and part of the psychological manipulation of prisoners, adding that his client was told to smile for the camera along with a female soldier who was pointing at a prisoner's genitals. [RPankn's note: What about all the other pictures we haven't seen that show the work of these reservists and intelligence officers? The ones that are much worse than any of those we have seen? Are those "staged psychological intimidation", too? I'm absolutely speechless at this b.s. This is why I have very little respect left for the legal profession. It is a lawyer's duty to serve as a zealous advocate for their client, but not to the point where you knowingly lie. This was not "psychological manipulation"; it was torture, death and humiliation of prisoners, which is explicitly prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, no?]
"These pictures themselves are abhorrent, but you have to put them in context," Womack said.
Reserve Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who oversaw prison facilities in Iraq, said she took responsibility for some of what had happened but pointed out military intelligence was in charge of interrogations -- not the military police under her command.
Her lawyer, Neal Puckett, told CNN, "What's clear in all of this and what's apparently yet to be investigated is that the military intelligence personnel were the folks that had complete, exclusive control over what went on in the interrogation rooms."
Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman called for a congressional investigation into the abuse and asked when U.S. military leaders had become aware of what was going on at the prison.
"Clearly we need to know what the secretary of defense knew at what point and what he did about it; the same with the head of the Joint Chiefs; the same with the president. We need to know what was the response of our government to this horrendous set of facts once they got them," said the New Mexico senator.
Link: story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040504/us_nm/iraq_abuse_soldiers_dc&cid=1896&ncid=1480
