SSGT Pleads Guilty To Abusing Prisoners.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-10-20 07:28pm

CBC wrote:BAGHDAD (AP) - A U.S. army staff sergeant pleaded guilty Wednesday to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, telling a military court that prisoners were forced to submit to public nudity and degrading treatment "for military intelligence purposes."

Army reservist Ivan (Chip) Frederick, 38, of Buckingham, Va., confessed to eight counts of conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault and committing an indecent act. He was expected to be sentenced Thursday and could receive 11 years in prison.

A military policeman who is a corrections officer in civilian life, Frederick is the highest-ranking soldier charged in the scandal, which broke in April with the publication of photos and videos showing American troops abusing and humiliating naked Iraqi detainees.

His lawyer, Gary Myers, said Frederick agreed to co-operate fully in further investigations and would testify at courts martial for other soldiers.

"I was wrong about what I did and I shouldn't have done it," Frederick told the judge, army Col. James Pohl. "I knew it was wrong at the time because I knew it was a form of abuse."

But Frederick also blamed his chain of command, saying he was given no training or support in supervising detainees and only learned of regulations against mistreatment after the abuses occurred between October and December last year.

He testified that when he brought issues up with his commanders, "they told me to do what MI told me to do," referring to military intelligence.

A report this year by army Maj.-Gen. Antonio Taguba said using military police to break down prisoners may have been a technique imported from the Guantanamo Bay prison and possibly detention centres in Afghanistan used to hold suspected terrorists.

During the proceeding, Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Kramer, a military intelligence soldier called as a witness, referred to an e-mail from the U.S. command in Baghdad telling him to order his interrogators to be tough on prisoners.

"The gloves are coming off, gentlemen, regarding these detainees," said the e-mail, which was read into evidence. It added that the command "wants the detainees broken."

Frederick, who was in charge of the night shift at the "hard site" facility at Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, said military intelligence soldiers and civilian interrogators told the guards how to treat the detainees.

That included stripping detainees, depriving them of sleep or taking away their cigarettes, Frederick said. Investigators wanted detainees "stressed out, wanted them to talk more," he said.

Frederick said that from his first day at the prison, he saw detainees "naked, handcuffed to their door, some wearing female underclothes." He said the first time he witnessed sexual humiliation used as an interrogation technique came late last October when he saw intelligence officers handcuff naked prisoners together.

"Nudity was to humiliate and degrade them for military intelligence purposes. It was very embarrassing for an Arabic male to be seen nude by another," Frederick said.

During an incident last Nov. 4 captured on photos transmitted around the world, Frederick said he helped hook wires on a detainee's hands and told him he would be electrocuted if he fell off a box. An army investigator encouraged him to abuse the detainee, saying he didn't care what was done to the prisoner "as long as you don't kill him," Frederick said.

In a Nov. 8 incident, Frederick admitted, he joined another soldier in jumping on a pile of seven detainees accused of rioting. He also admitted to stomping on their hands and feet.

"I should have stopped it right there," he said.

But the detainees then were strip-searched and remained naked, even after female soldiers arrived on the scene - which is against military rules, he said. Frederick said he punched one in the chest so hard that the prisoner needed medical attention.

Finally, Frederick said, soldiers lined the detainees naked against a wall with bags on their heads and then forced three of them to masturbate.

An Iraqi detainee testified Wednesday that he had been forced at Abu Ghraib to simulate humiliating sexual positions, including masturbating in front of the soldiers.

"I was crying. I wanted to kill myself," he said, then bowed his head on the witness stand for several minutes. "I felt humiliated, but I had nothing to kill myself with," he said.

Frederick is one of seven members of the Cresaptown, Md.-based 372nd Military Police Company charged in the scandal. One, Specialist Jeremy Sivits of Hyndman, Pa., is serving a one-year sentence after pleading guilty in May to three counts.

In addition, Specialist Armin Cruz, 24, a military intelligence soldier, was sentenced last month to eight months of confinement, reduction in rank to private, and a bad conduct discharge for his part in the scandal.

Note the bold text where he blames the chain of command and his lack of training. I call bullshit. I don't know about US MP's but Canadian MP's have extensive training from day one on how to handle POW's and other prisoners. He's a SSGT so I'm sure he recieved the training at some point. Not only that but he's a corrections officer, the rules for treating POW's are not all that different from treating civvie prisoners. He's just guilty that he got caught and he's trying to minimize the damage.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-10-20 11:12pm

gee I thought that a little thing like WWII would have told anyone that POW's are still people, and there is such a thing as an illegal order.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-10-20 11:19pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:gee I thought that a little thing like WWII would have told anyone that POW's are still people, and there is such a thing as an illegal order.

And Viet Nam showed us that some soldiers will comply with the illegal orders

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-10-20 11:36pm

Interesting that the enlisted men at Mai Lai were convicted. Lt. Caffee was aquitted, and kept his full military pension and everything. Infact he lives in Florida.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-10-21 07:25am

The Yosemite Bear wrote:Interesting that the enlisted men at Mai Lai were convicted. Lt. Caffee was aquitted, and kept his full military pension and everything. Infact he lives in Florida.

If there's one thing I learned while I was in the army it's this: Officers never get punished. They look after there own.

Post by **Edi** » 2004-10-21 08:45am

Cpl Kendall wrote:
The Yosemite Bear wrote:Interesting that the enlisted men at Mai Lai were convicted. Lt. Caffee was aquitted, and kept his full military pension and everything. Infact he lives in Florida.
If there's one thing I learned while I was in the army it's this: Officers never get punished. They look after there own.

Must be something to do with professional armies, or maybe I'm just a cynic. Here the chain of command will come down like a ton of bricks on offenders, and if anything, officers are usually punished more harshly than conscripts for violations, negligence etc. The higher the rank, the harsher the punishment typically tends to be if guilt is established, especially for obvious cases. Really minor things don't get that much of a consequence, but if it involves serious material damage, injury or death, or close calls that could have resulted in any of the above, they'll conduct a full-blown inquisition into the event.

Our platoon got investigated during my boot camp time because our Plt Commander had us (the whole platoon) do push-ups as punishments for the accidental discharge of one guy's weapon. It didn't help much that the guy in question and another one got minor injuries from bullet fragments (the bullet hit the ground a couple of meters in front of them) and had to go see a doctor. A routine inquiry brought up what had happened and just a few days later the Plt Commander got reassigned to weapons depot duties where he would not be allowed contact with conscripts, on top of whatever other punishments he received.

This from one two guys getting minor scratches (one of them needed to have a fragment removed from his shoulder), just imagine what happens when somebody gets killed (as has happened a couple of times in the past ten years during live fire exercises), or if there are systematic abuses. It's national prime time evening news headline material.

Edi

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2004-10-21 11:13am

at MOS training, we had a sgt dropped to corporal and reassigned for hitting students.

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2004-10-21 07:47pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:Interesting that the enlisted men at Mai Lai were convicted. Lt. Caffee was aquitted, and kept his full military pension and everything. Infact he lives in Florida.

IIRC Lt. Calley was the only one convicted, and his conviction was overturned pending a new trial. At that point, Nixon let him off. The Army only made a half-hearted attempt at prosecuting Capt. Medina.

For some reason, after WW2, military justice decided to go easy on Americans who commit atrocities. During WW2, @100 men were hanged for robbing, raping and murdering civilians. They were not even allowed to be buried with the other servicemen (rightfully so, IMO). But prosecutions and punishments for war crimes in later years (especially Vietnam) were a complete joke.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0438/turse.php

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0419/turse.php

Money quote:

On February 14, 1969, Platoon Sergeant B. and Specialist R., on a reconnaissance patrol in Binh Dinh province, "came upon three Vietnamese males . . . whom they detained and then shot at close range using M-16 automatic fire. B. then arranged the bodies on the ground so that their heads were close together. A fragmentation grenade was dropped next to the heads of the bodies." B. was court-martialed, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to a reduction in grade and a fine of $97 per month for six months—after which time he re-enlisted. R. was court-martialed and found not guilty.

Whooo boy! That $582 fine and rank reduction sure taught that motherfucker a lesson, didn't it? When Kelly Flynn is run out of the service for playing Hide The Salami with another servicewoman's husband but a murderer gets off so lightly, it shows what the military considers a serious offense and what is considered trivial. Unless these assholes from Abu Ghraib get serious time in Levenworth, we'll know nothing has changed. Murder, torture and rape are considered trivial. Six hundred dollar fine... what a farce!

As for this dickhead's assertion that he didn't have proper training and that's why he tortured people... FUCK HIM! Go to a junior high school and ask the kids if it's OK to do that sort of thing. Ask anyone who's not morally retarded. If you need a class to tell you not to torture people, do the world a favor and kill yourself now. This worthless fuck deserves extra jail time for making up the lamest excuse since the man who killed the mayor of San Francisco tried the "Twinkie Defense".

Exmoor Cat · Post by **Exmoor Cat** » 2004-10-21 07:59pm

According to BBC news, the SSGT got eight years.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle ... 759696.stm

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-10-21 08:02pm

Exmoor Cat wrote:According to BBC news, the SSGT got eight years.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle ... 759696.stm

Eight years? Fucker got off easy on that one. A twenty year sentance would make more sense for the shit he pulled (he beat a guy so hard that he needed to be revived).

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-10-21 08:13pm

The Kernel wrote:
Eight years? Fucker got off easy on that one. A twenty year sentance would make more sense for the shit he pulled (he beat a guy so hard that he needed to be revived).

Eight years in a military prison is no joke. He will learn the definition of hard labour. He will also have virtually no priveleges. In Canada's stockade your not even allowed to smoke.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-10-21 08:16pm

Cpl Kendall wrote:
The Kernel wrote:
Eight years? Fucker got off easy on that one. A twenty year sentance would make more sense for the shit he pulled (he beat a guy so hard that he needed to be revived).
Eight years in a military prison is no joke. He will learn the definition of hard labour. He will also have virtually no priveleges. In Canada's stockade your not even allowed to smoke.

WOW Canadian military jail really punish

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-10-21 08:17pm

Cpl Kendall wrote:
The Kernel wrote:
Eight years? Fucker got off easy on that one. A twenty year sentance would make more sense for the shit he pulled (he beat a guy so hard that he needed to be revived).
Eight years in a military prison is no joke. He will learn the definition of hard labour. He will also have virtually no priveleges. In Canada's stockade your not even allowed to smoke.

I don't give a fuck how hard eight years is, this guy tortured human beings to near death, he deserves to go away for life (although I think I can settle for twenty years given that his job prospects as a 40-something military felon will be remote).

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-10-21 08:18pm

Montcalm wrote:
WOW Canadian military jail really punish

You spend you day polshing garbage cans, polishing the paint of your Kiwi can. Polishing anything with brass on it. The only thing your allowed to read is the bible. And your not allowed to talk. There's no hard labour but your busy all day doing very menial work. There's also no tv or radio. And as noted before, no smokes.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-10-21 08:21pm

Cpl Kendall wrote:
Montcalm wrote:
WOW Canadian military jail really punish
You spend you day polshing garbage cans, polishing the paint of your Kiwi can. Polishing anything with brass on it. The only thing your allowed to read is the bible. And your not allowed to talk. There's no hard labour but your busy all day doing very menial work. There's also no tv or radio. And as noted before, no smokes.

CHRIST and in regular jail,they whine about bad condition

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-10-21 08:22pm

Montcalm wrote:
CHRIST and in regular jail,they whine about bad condition

Most civvie cons wouldn't last a day in the stockade.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2004-10-21 08:34pm

Cpl Kendall wrote:
Montcalm wrote:
CHRIST and in regular jail,they whine about bad condition
Most civvie cons wouldn't last a day in the stockade.

Ehh, civilian prisons are bad enough. The chance of bubba giving you aids by raping you in the anus is not that remote, and lots of guards look the other way, thinking it's just damn hiliarious.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-10-21 08:39pm

Hamel wrote:
Ehh, civilian prisons are bad enough. The chance of bubba giving you aids by raping you in the anus is not that remote, and lots of guards look the other way, thinking it's just damn hiliarious.

Well I can't comment on what US Military prisons are like. But the Canadian one doesn't tolerate that crap.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2004-10-21 08:53pm

Despite everything that's been said about officers avoiding the military justice system, it's that bitch Karpinsky that needs to have her ass publicly barbequed for Abu Graihb, she was in charge of the hellhole, the responsibility ultimately is all hers.
To deny that she was responsible is to deny that she had meaningful control over her command.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-10-21 10:00pm

my brother andrew is still doing hard time in levenworth.

more for all the drugs that he was on when he beat his wife, then anything else.