Hearing opens for sole US officer charged over Abu Ghraib

[Barrett808]

Source: AFP

Hearing opens for sole US officer charged over Abu Ghraib
by Jitendra Joshi
Tue May 15, 11:05 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A crucial hearing opened here Tuesday of the only US military officer charged with abusing prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail amid anger that four years on, no other senior figure is in the dock.

Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan was expected to argue at the hearing in Washington's Fort McNair that his mid-July court-martial should be scrapped as he was never properly informed of his rights by investigators.

Jordan, 51, headed a US Army interrogation center at the notorious Iraqi prison, where sordid abuses of detainees became public in April 2004 with the publication of graphic photographs.

The photographs showed bloodied, bound and naked prisoners smeared with excrement, forced to perform sexual acts and cowering under attack from US guards' dogs.

The shocking images stoked anti-US anger across the world and, as a bloody insurgency took grip, did much to foster the growing unpopularity of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070515/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqmilitarytrialprisonabughraib

[Rose Siding]

1. This has got to be the new gold standard for irony

Abusive interrogator claims abusive interrogators were abusive
Human rights violator claims violation of rights

[struggle4progress]

2. Sole US officer charged over Abu Ghraib to face trial

The only US military officer charged with mistreating prisoners at Baghdad's infamous Abu Ghraib jail will stand trial in August, amid claims that the government itself is getting off scot-free.

While the court martial of Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan will go ahead, there is anger that no higher ranking commanders or politicians are in the dock, three years after reports of abuse at Abu Ghraib first emerged.

Defence lawyers for Jordan, 51, argued at a hearing at Washington's Fort McNair that he was never properly informed of his rights by investigators, thus undermining the government's prosecution case.

The presiding judge, Colonel Stephen Henley, backed part of their argument and agreed to slim down the charges. ~snip~

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1924059.htm