Quote:
Soldier gets eight years for Abu Ghraib abuse
October 22, 2004 - 1:01AM
US Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick has been sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually and physically abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.
Judge Colonel James Pohl also sentenced Frederick, 38, to a reduction in rank to private, to forfeiture of pay and a dishonourable discharge from the army yesterday.
Frederick's lawyer Gary Myers called the sentence "excessive" and said he intended to appeal.
"We will seek to try to achieve a sentence reduction," he said.
Frederick, the most senior enlisted man charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal, had pleaded guilty to five charges of abusing detainees at the facility in October and November last year, including making three prisoners masturbate.
He also punched one prisoner so hard in the chest that he needed resuscitation.
Major Michael Holley, the military prosecutor, told the court it was a simple case of right and wrong.
"He's an adult and capable of telling, as we learned, the difference between right and wrong," he said of Frederick.
"How much training do you need to learn that it's wrong to force a man to masturbate?"
Myers said that while Frederick was right to be punished, a degree of responsibility had to be borne by the military establishment.
"Punish him, yes. But please try to understand the defence's point of view that there is corporate responsibility," Myers said. "We discovered that (Frederick) has no abhorrent tendencies."
Frederick is the third US soldier to be convicted for his part in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal. Five soldiers are still due to face courts martial.
Judge Pohl originally sentenced Frederick to 10 years imprisonment, but reduced it to eight years because of a plea bargain.
Reuters
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I'm sure this has made the five remaining accused rather nervous. Personally, I think it's a bit unfortunate that these soldiers (undoubtedly guilty of crimes) are the
only ones getting punished. Surely it goes back up the chain of command?
How many others believe Rumsfeld should at least take some responsibility? I'm not naive enough to think he directly ordered this kind of abuse, but I certainly believe his orders on using hardened tactics fostered an environment where they occured. Surely that means he should at least resign, if not for honourable reasons only?
I suspect not many Bush supporters will agree with me. But how do the military folk here think? Or will you simply rage against the injustice of it all and say the prisoners deserved it etc etc?
Mr Mephisto