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US soldier sentenced to 8 years for Iraq abuse
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-21 21:56
The highest ranking soldier charged in
the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing
inmates at Abu Ghraib during a court martial Thursday in Baghdad.
![Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick pleaded guilty before a court martial on October 20, 2004 to abusing prisoners in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. Frederick told the hearing at a U.S. military base in the Iraqi capital he had been trying to humiliate the prisoners and set the scene for interrogation. Frederick is shown following a hearing August 24. [Reuters]](xin_171001210927782154374.jpg)
Staff Sgt. Ivan
Frederick pleaded guilty before a court martial on October 20, 2004 to
abusing prisoners in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.Frederick is shown
following a hearing August 24.
[Reuters] |
Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, 38, an Army reservist from
Buckingham, Va., was also given a reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay and a
dishonorable discharge. The sentencing came a day after he pleaded guilty
Wednesday to eight counts of abusing and humiliating Iraqi detainees.
It was the longest prison sentence yet in
connection with the scandal that broke worldwide in April with the publication
of photos and video that showed U.S. soldiers abusing naked Iraqis in the prison
on the western outskirts of Baghdad.
Frederick — a military policeman who is a
corrections officer in civilian life — acknowledged his part in the scandal,
admitting that he hooked up wires on hook wires on the hands of a detainee who
was told he would be electrocuted if he fell off a box and that he forced
prisoners to masturbate.
But Frederick also blamed his chain of
command, telling the court Wednesday that military intelligence officers ordered
prisoners to be publicly stripped and degraded.
He testified that 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 said that when he brought issues up with his commanders, "they told me
to do what MI told me to do," referring to military intelligence.
Defense Counsel Gary Myers on Thursday
called the sentence "excessive" and said he would seek a reduction.
"Punish him yes. But please try to
understand the defense's point of view that there is corporate responsiblitity,"
Myers said. "We discovered that he has no abhorrent tendencies."
Army Prosecutor Major Michael Holley told
the court it was a simple case of right and wrong.
"He's an adult and capable of telling, as
we learned, the difference between right and wrong. How much training do you
need to learn that it's wrong to force a man to masturbate?" he said.
"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."
He pleaded guilty to eight counts of
conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault and
committing an indecent act.
Frederick is one of seven members of the
Cresaptown, Md.-based 372nd Military Police Company charged in the scandal. One,
Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits of Hyndman, Pa., is serving a one-year sentence after
pleading guilty in May to three counts.
In addition, Spc. 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.
A report this year by Army Maj. Gen.
Antonio Taguba said using MPs to break down prisoners may have been a technique
imported from the Guantanamo Bay prison and possibly detention centers 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
the hands of a detainee who was hooded and told to stand on a box or else he
would be electrocuted. 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 the
ringleader 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.
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