England military hearing begins

EARLIER this year, a petite, mop-topped soldier became a central figure in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that shocked the world when she turned up in numerous photographs, smiling and giving the thumbs-up in the presence of naked, hooded Iraqi detainees.

Lynndie England was seen smiling for the camera in one picture, cigarette in mouth, as she pointed at the genitals of a naked, hooded Iraqi.

Another photograph showed her holding a leash that encircled the neck of a naked Iraqi man lying on his side on a cellblock floor, his face contorted.