Abu Ghraib

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's top military officer spoke out yesterday in defense of a key figure in the Abu Ghraib scandal who has invoked his right against self-incrimination in the cases of two U.S. soldiers accused of using dogs to harass detainees at the prison in Iraq. Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who helped set up operations at Abu Ghraib, refused this week to answer questions from defense lawyers, according to his attorney, and invoked his military Article 31 right, similar to the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

I n the days, months and years after terrorist-driven planes hit the twin towers, fallout rained down on America the way chalky debris dusted Manhattan that September morning. Life would never be the same, we were told. And in some ways it wasn't. We learned to decipher the candy-colored terror alert chart. Lime meant safe. Cherry, big trouble. Signs over the Beltway reminded us to look at one another with suspicion. We scrutinized our mail for anything powdery and white.

A reservist convicted of abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq testified yesterday that two Army dog handlers set their dogs on prisoners and laughed about a competition to scare prisoners into urinating on themselves. The accusations against Sgt. Santos A. Cardona and Sgt. Michael J. Smith came on the first day of an Article 32 hearing at Fort Meade. The hearing is the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding and was the first such Iraqi prisoner abuse hearing to be held in Maryland.

Standard Operating Procedure, Errol Morris' documentary about the crimes against humanity at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003, catalyzes unexpected and often harrowing blends of outrage, sympathy and sorrow. What it doesn't provoke are stock responses of political vengeance. Of course it condemns the higher-ups who escaped blame for encouraging atrocities against Iraqis in the name of American and Iraqi security. But Morris' indictment is even more sweeping. He puts the finger on all of us. He makes us feel complacency implies consent to unjust policies and procedures and to a culture that makes light of degradation.

Months before Army Reserve soldiers snapped pictures of naked Iraqi detainees forced into humiliating positions at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, a group of U.S. Marines stationed in Karbala staged their own photo session, with one holding a 9mm pistol to the back of a bound detainee's head while another took pictures, newly released records show. Three Marines faced charges in that little-publicized incident from May 2003, as well as for photographing the detainee draped in an American flag and for pouring a glass of water on his head.

FORT HOOD, Texas - A military judge declared a mistrial yesterday in the case of Pfc. Lynndie R. England after testimony from her one-time boyfriend, the reputed ringleader of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, raised doubts about whether the young Army reservist knew her actions at the Iraq prison were wrong. The ruling by Col. James L. Pohl sent the case against England back to square one and stripped, at least for now, any leniency the 22-year-old single mother had been promised in a plea deal for her highly visible role in the detainee abuse scandal.

In the final criminal prosecution for the abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison, an Army officer was acquitted yesterday of all charges directly related to the prison abuse. After a four-day court-martial at Fort Meade, a jury of nine Army colonels and a brigadier general convicted Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, 51, of a single technical violation for disobeying a general's order not to discuss the case as it mushroomed into an international scandal in spring 2004.

In the first court-martial of a senior officer for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, a military judge dismissed on a technicality yesterday charges that Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, second-in-command at the prison, lied to his superiors to cover up his role in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. Of the original 12 charges or specifications against Jordan, 51, the most serious remain: that in October 2003 he abused detainees with forced nudity and intimidation by military working dogs, that he failed to follow orders on interrogation techniques, and that he was derelict in his duties by failing to train and supervise soldiers at the prison.

NOTR TO READERS A photograph published yesterday with an article about the court-martial of a guard at Abu Ghraib prison showed a book cover that contained an obscenity. The obscenity went unnoticed during editing and should not have been published. Publication of the photo violates The Sun's guidelines. The Sun apologizes for the oversight. The court-martial of Abu Ghraib prison guard Sgt. Michael J. Smith opened at Fort Meade yesterday with the military's assertion that Smith was part of a "rogue" band of guards who "tormented, terrorized and terrified" detainees at the Iraqi prison.

WASHINGTON - Detainee abuses photographed at Abu Ghraib prison were the unauthorized "extracurricular activity" of soldiers working the nightshift at the Iraq facility, but leadership failures up the chain of command contributed to the scandal, an independent panel reported yesterday. Military commanders in Iraq failed to properly train or supervise the overworked and ill-prepared soldiers who served as guards, the panel of civilian defense experts said in its report, which also concluded that top-ranking Pentagon leaders failed to anticipate or swiftly react to problems at the notorious prison near Baghdad.

With Standard Operating Procedure (opening today at the Charles), Errol Morris, who helped start America's documentary revolution with such celebrated films as The Thin Blue Line (1988), investigates a subject that already has, in his words, "a lot of fingerprints on it." He explores the physical and psychological torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, brought to light four years ago by a stream of abhorrent photographs. Morris persevered despite his knowledge that other print and movie journalists were laboring on the story, confident that his highly personal and idiosyncratic approach would produce unexpected results.

WASHINGTON -- A newly disclosed Justice Department legal memo, written in March 2003 and authorizing the military's use of extremely harsh interrogation techniques, offers what could be a revealing clue in an unsolved mystery: What responsibility did top Pentagon and administration officials have for abuses committed by American troops at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and in Afghanistan, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere? Some legal experts and advocates said yesterday that the memo, written the month that the United States invaded Iraq, adds to evidence that the abuse of prisoners in military custody may have involved signals from higher officials and not just irresponsible actions by low-level personnel.

WASHINGTON -- Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, who was court-martialed at Fort Meade in August for his role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, has been cleared of his sole criminal conviction, leaving only an official reprimand for the former commander of the notorious Iraqi prison. The action, taken Wednesday by Army Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, commander of the Military District of Washington, eliminates the only criminal finding against any officer for the Abu Ghraib scandal. Rowe's decision prompted complaints that the military justice system is incapable of holding senior officers accountable for the actions of their subordinates.

In the final criminal prosecution for the abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison, an Army officer was acquitted yesterday of all charges directly related to the prison abuse. After a four-day court-martial at Fort Meade, a jury of nine Army colonels and a brigadier general convicted Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, 51, of a single technical violation for disobeying a general's order not to discuss the case as it mushroomed into an international scandal in spring 2004.

In the first court-martial of a senior officer for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, a military judge dismissed on a technicality yesterday charges that Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, second-in-command at the prison, lied to his superiors to cover up his role in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. Of the original 12 charges or specifications against Jordan, 51, the most serious remain: that in October 2003 he abused detainees with forced nudity and intimidation by military working dogs, that he failed to follow orders on interrogation techniques, and that he was derelict in his duties by failing to train and supervise soldiers at the prison.

WASHINGTON -- A military judge dismissed yesterday allegations that a top general improperly steered the investigation against the highest-ranking American soldier - and only officer - charged with a crime in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The ruling clears the way for the Army to try Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, a 51-year-old reservist from Virginia who ran the interrogation center at the Iraqi prison, for failing to exert his authority as soldiers abused detainees. Seven lower-ranking military police officers, including some from Maryland-based units, have been convicted in trials that exposed how U.S. soldiers in Iraq stripped prisoners naked, photographed them in outrageous poses and threatened them with police dogs.

WASHINGTON - The Army is pursuing criminal investigations into the deaths of 10 prisoners and the abuse of 10 others in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army officials said yesterday. The disclosures made clear that suspected abuses by U.S. soldiers go well beyond those documented at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad involving soldiers of a Maryland-based Army Reserve unit. In addition to those cases, officials said, the Army has determined that one Iraqi prisoner who was shot to death was a victim of homicide.

AT ONE POINT in his detention, Saif-ur Rahman says he was ordered to remove his clothes, doused with icy water and forced to lie naked before his U.S. captors. Before his interrogation, prisoner Mohammad Naim also says he was forced to undress, photographed naked and then given other clothes. Their alleged treatment, as reported by Human Rights Watch, occurred not in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. They were held at Bagram air base for more than two weeks last year and in 2002, respectively, and eventually freed.

The images shocked and outraged the nation. Under the orders of U.S. soldiers, many of whom were smiling and giving a thumbs up to the cameras, Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison were seen performing humiliating acts while stripped naked. On TV Ghosts of Abu Ghraib airs at 9:30 tonight on HBO.