US soldier to admit prisoner abuse charges

A US Army reservist charged with abusing Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison is to plead guilty to some offences.

Staff Sgt Ivan “Chip” Frederick, of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company, said in a statement given to The Associated Press yesterday by his lawyer: “I have accepted responsibility for my actions at Abu Ghraib prison. I will be pleading guilty to certain charges because I have concluded that what I did was a violation of law”.

Frederick does not specify the charges to which he will plead guilty, and it was not clear whether he would continue contesting any of the allegations.

He is charged with maltreating detainees, conspiracy to maltreat detainees, dereliction of duty and wrongfully committing an indecent act.

Meanwhile, a military trial began yesterday for a US Marine reservist accused of karate-kicking an Iraqi prisoner who later suffocated from a crushed windpipe.

The assault case against Reserve Sgt Gary Pittman is the first court-martial known to be connected to the death of a prisoner in Iraq.

The prisoner, Nagem Hatab, had been rumoured to be an official of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party and part of the ambush of a US Army convoy that left 11 soldiers dead and led to the capture of Private Jessica Lynch and five others.

Pittman, who in civilian life was a guard at a government prison, could get more than three years in a military prison if found guilty of assault and dereliction of duty.

Frederick, 37, has a pre-trial hearing today in Mannheim, Germany.

Frederick, a prison guard at a Virginia state centre in civilian life, is among seven members of the 372nd charged over the scandal, which involves physical abuse and sexual humiliation of prisoners.

He will be the second of the seven to admit wrongdoing. Spc Jeremy Sivits pleaded guilty to three abuse charges in May and was sentenced to a year in prison.

Frederick was the senior enlisted soldier at Abu Ghraib between October and December, when the mistreatment allegedly occurred.

He was among the first to be publicly identified by CBS television’s 60 Minutes II when it broke the story on April 28.

One of the photos from the prison shows him standing behind a naked prisoner smeared with faeces. Frederick’s family members have said that the inmate spread the faeces on himself.

Frederick has claimed the abusive treatment – inmates stripped naked, cuffed to their cells – was orchestrated by military intelligence officers rather than MPs, according to a diary that his family made available.

In Mannheim yesterday, a military judge hearing evidence in the abuse cases demanded that prosecutors speed up the investigation. Col James Pohl expressed displeasure after being told a lone Army criminal investigator was reviewing thousands of pages of records contained in a secret computer server at Abu Ghraib.

This is the text of Staff Sergeant Ivan “Chip” Frederick’s statement on the Iraq prison abuse case. (Spc Joseph Darby, referred to in the statement, is the Army reservist who tipped off investigators about the abuse.):

"I have accepted responsibility for my actions at Abu Ghraib prison. I will be pleading guilty to certain charges because I have concluded that what I did was a violation of law.

"I am hopeful that all those within the Army who contributed to or participated in the chaos that was Abu Ghraib will also come forward and accept responsibility.

"Lastly, I am concerned for the well-being of Specialist Darby and his family. I just learned that he was placed in protective custody because of threats against him. To all who have supported me, I want you to know that I have no bad feelings towards Specialist Darby and neither should you. He did what he thought was right, and it was right. I ask you to accept that and move on."