General ordered to testify on Abu Ghraib

A MILITARY judge yesterday ordered an Army general who commanded the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay to testify at the court martial of a dog handler in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

The judge, Marine Lt Col Paul McConnell, agreed to allow attorneys to question Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller during the trial of Sgt Santos A Cardona, who is accused of using his dog to abuse inmates at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

Miller would become the highest-ranking military officer to testify in the Abu Ghraib scandal. Early this year, Miller said he was refusing to answer questions, but he is prepared to testify now, Cardona's lawyer said.

McConnell rejected a request from Cardona's lawyers to summon Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld to testify at the trial.

Miller was sent to Abu Ghraib by Rumsfeld in late summer of 2003 as the Iraqi insurgency began to gain momentum. Cardona's lawyers say that the general has valuable testimony concerning the interrogation techniques that led to prisoner abuse.

Miller was commander of the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when he was dispatched to the Abu Ghraib prison as the US military desperately sought intelligence from prisoners in an effort to stamp out a growing insurgency.

Cardona, a 31-year-old soldier from Fullerton, California, is scheduled to go on trial next month. Cardona faces charges of maltreatment of detainees and dereliction of duty.