Lawyers Want Early Statements Thrown Out in Iraqi Abuse Case (L. England)

[Khephra]

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Reuters) - Attorneys for Lynndie England, a U.S. soldier charged with abusing naked Iraqi inmates at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, asked on Wednesday to have her early statements to investigators thrown out as evidence in her court-martial.

Photographs of England holding a naked prisoner on a leash and pointing to the genitals of another naked inmate shocked the world and bruised the Bush administration's efforts in Iraq when they surfaced publicly in April.

Her early statements were not made public but in previous hearings an investigator said England had told him that troops abused the prisoners "just for fun" and to vent frustration.

The 21-year-old West Virginia woman is one of seven Military Police reservists charged in the prison abuse scandal. She faces court-martial in January on 19 counts of assault, conspiracy to mistreat prisoners, committing indecent acts, disobeying orders and possessing sexually explicit material. She could face up to 38 years in prison if convicted.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6969687