Senior officers present for abuse, US soldier's trial hears

SENIOR military officers were aware of widespread abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers, and lower-ranking troops should not be made scapegoats, the lawyer for an accused female soldier said yesterday.

Speaking at a hearing in Baghdad that will decide whether Specialist Sabrina Harman will face a court martial, civilian defence lawyer Frank Spinner said soldiers far more senior than Harman had been aware of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.

"I don't think the world wants to see someone of her rank and experience taking the fall," he told the judge. "That's not someone who should be court-martialled."

Mr Spinner, who has defended army clients and won several trials, told reporters he had "no doubt that Iraqi detainees have been physically abused on a wide scale that would be beyond the military's ability ever to prosecute".

"The chain of command, they know it too, and the problem is that people won't step up and admit it. To do it now would only subject them to prosecution," he said.

"There's no question our marines and soldiers were put into impossible circumstances."

The Pentagon says the abuse was confined to a few low-ranking soldiers at Abu Ghraib. Seven have been charged. But some of their defence lawyers say it was carried out with the knowledge of senior officers and at the request of military intelligence.

On Thursday, Spc Harman's company commander testified that the top military intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib was present in the day an Iraqi prisoner died during interrogation. Spc Harman was photographed grinning beside the corpse in an image that sparked worldwide outrage.

Captain Donald Reese, company commander of 372nd Military Police Company, told the hearing held at a US base near Baghdad's airport he first saw the prisoner after he had died.

"I was told that when he was brought in, he was combative, that they took him up to the room and during the interrogation he passed," Reese said.

He said the body "was bleeding from the head, nose, mouth". Several officers, including Colonel Thomas Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade and the top intelligence officer at the jail, were discussing what to do.

"I heard Col Pappas say 'I'm not going to go down alone for this'," Capt Reese said. He said the body was left locked in a shower room overnight and the next day was fitted with an intravenous drip and taken away. He said this was done to ensure other inmates did not get "upset" over the death.

Capt Reese also testified he had noticed some inmates in Abu Ghraib were naked, and concluded it was "a humiliation thing" and "an MI (military intelligence) thing".

Spc Harman is charged with dereliction of duty, maltreating subordinates, making a false official statement, assault, desecration of a human corpse and an indecent act.

Spc Israel Rivera, a military intelligence analyst, testified he was called to a cell block to see what was being done to inmates alleged to have raped a teenage boy.

He said among the soldiers present were Spc Harman and Corporal Charles Graner, who faces the most serious charges of the seven soldiers accused so far.

"Specialist Harman ... was one of the people instigating it, giving the orders," he said, adding the detainees were "very, very frightened" and "screaming, shouting, crying, begging".

On Spc Harman, he said: "At no time could I see any regret or fear. It seemed she was happily participating."