- FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) -- The former commander of the
U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay urged the use of dogs to the "maximum
extent possible" to control detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison,
but did not order their use in interrogations, a witness said on Thursday.
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- The testimony came on the fourth day
of the military trial of army dog handler Sgt. Santos Cardona, who is accused
of taking part in abuse of detainees at the Iraqi prison that the U.S.
government blames on rogue low-ranking soldiers.
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- Defense attorneys are trying to prove
that Cardona, who faces 16 years in prison if convicted on all charges,
and other soldiers were acting on orders from their superiors.
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- U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller,
former head of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, was sent to Iraq to try
to improve information gathering as the insurgency intensified after the
March 2003 invasion.
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- Ten soldiers have so far been convicted
of abusing prisoners, including sexual humiliation and the use of snarling,
unmuzzled dogs in late 2003 and early 2004 after Miller arrived.
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- "All I can recall is him encouraging
using them (dogs) to the maximum extent possible," retired Lt. Col.
Jerry Phillabaum, who was in command of Abu Ghraib before September 2003,
told the court in a military base in Maryland.
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- "I don't recall him saying anything
about interrogations."
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- Despite evidence of pressure from above
to extract more information from prisoners, there are few signs that senior
army leaders or administration officials will be charged with condoning
the abuse. The U.S. government was severely embarrassed when photographs
showing prisoners being abused and sexually humiliated by U.S. military
personnel were leaked in 2004.
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- Miller, the highest ranking officer to
testify in the scandal, said on Wednesday he never suggested using military
dogs in interrogations of Iraqi prisoners, undercutting Cardona's defense.
Cardona is charged with dereliction of duty and assaulting and threatening
Iraqi detainees with his Belgian shepherd dog.
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- Prosecutors say Cardona and another dog
handler, Sgt. Michael Smith, who was convicted on similar charges in March
and sentenced to 179 days in prison, were "corrupt cops" who
terrified prisoners into urinating and defecating on themselves.
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- Capt. Carolyn Wood, who was an intelligence
officer at Abu Ghraib, testified there were clear rules against the use
of unmuzzled dogs handed down in a memo from Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez,
the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and which were signed by all personnel
at the prison.
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- "Using an unmuzzled dog goes against
the CG's (commanding general's) policy," she said, when asked if she
would have approved the use of dogs against detainees.
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- Link: today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=20
06-05-25T172130Z_01_N25134570_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-A
BUSE.xml&archived=False
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- DEEP BACKGROUND
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- Smith was found guilty of mistreating
a prisoner with his unmuzzled, barking and growling dog; mistreating two
juvenile detainees at Abu Ghraib by harassing and threatening them with
the dog; using his dog to make detainees soil themselves out of fear; and
of failing to use his dog solely for authorized purposes.
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- He also was found guilty of an indecent
act involving his dog.
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- The trial opened March 13 at a military
complex near Washington. It was there that U.S. Army Spc. Jennifer Scala
testified that she put peanut butter on her chest and allowed Smith's dog
to lick it off while another soldier videotaped it. The soldier who taped
the incident dared her to do it, she said.
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- During the same incident, another soldier
allowed Smith's dog to lick peanut butter from his genitals and videotaped
the act.
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- Defense counsel tried to convince the
jury that the woman couldn't identify the dog or the handler, but jurors
were not convinced and convicted Smith of an indecent act.
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- Abu Ghraib, infamous during the reign
of Saddam Hussein, has become even more notorious amid allegations of widespread
abuse of prisoners by the U.S. soldiers operating it. The U.S. military
says it plans to soon hand over the prison to Iraq.
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- And THIS was the CNN Version of events!
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- link: www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/22/doghandler.sentenced/index.html
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