U.S. Soldier in Abu Ghraib May Plead He Followed Orders From Superiors

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050106/ts_nm/iraq_abuse_graner_dc&cid=564&ncid=1473

FT. HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. soldier Charles Graner, who has come to symbolize the worst prison abuse scandal of the Iraq (news - web sites) war, is expected to plead at his trial on Friday that he was following orders from superiors.

Graner and Private Lynndie England, with whom he recently fathered a child, have become the faces of the Abu Ghraib scandal after they appeared in photos that showed England holding a naked Iraqi prisoner by a leash.

At his court-martial, Graner faces 24 1/2 years in prison on charges that include conspiracy to mistreat detainees, dereliction of duties, maltreating detainees, and assault. Four of seven members of his unit have already pleaded guilty and three of them have been sentenced to prison.

Attorney Guy Womack has argued Graner was just following orders. Experts say such a "only following orders" defense has often failed, making a plea bargain agreement a possible outcome.

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[tmooses]

1. Hopefully, this leads to some MSM coverage of this coverup

[Bragi]

6. Wishful thinking, tmooses, everything will be obfuscated

[Mr_Spock]

14. MSM - HA! What a joke. MSM only does popular stuff.

Reporting about stuff that will put them in conflict with the current dictator isn't "profitable".

[loyalsister]

2. Finally!

I really hope this shines the light on the private contractors.
The fact that the uniformed soldiers are doing time while those guys aren't even considered is a tragedy IMO.
The following orders defense could have some limited validity when that's what a person is trained to do.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

3. This defiant little grunt isn't going along with the program!

Shit! They may have to slap him with some real hard time!
More power to him!

[Supersedeas]

17. Enter Michael Jackson and sudden on the scene interest in Indonesia

Nothing to loose vacation sleep over...but lets send the Barbie and Ken faces for some non-War related imbedding.

[bpilgrim]

4. why take the fall for these thugs?

the neoCONs remind me of the BIG-DIG in mass... lots of leaks breaking out ALL OVER :evilgrin:

peace

[Jacobin]

5. Too bad they don't prosecute Gonzales and Rumfilled first

THEN go after the underlings who did their dirty work, since "following orders" is not a legal defense to torture.

[NYC]

13. I don't care if it has to travel UP the line,

as long as it travels to the source.

And to think Gonzales is being "interviewed" for Attorney General.

[LynnTheDem]

7. That didn't work for the Nazis

And the bush keeps telling us we MUST take RESPONSIBILITY for our own actions.

[NYC]

15. That's why the U.S. refuses to be prosecuted

in the International Criminal Court. It did not work for the Nazis, so we'll just avoid the trial altogether.

[Supersedeas]

8. time time time for a Celebrity Trial of SOMETHING

[goforit]

9. Look out donald!!!

[damntexdem]

10. 'I was only following orders.'

Nuremberg established that it's not a defense. But it IS testimony against one's superiors.

[Babel_17]

12. Excellent point

But what if his lawyer argues that he was told by superiors he was guarding terrorists?

Just what was the law at that time regarding torture of terrorists?

I think we can all guess who would be the appropriate witnesses to testify as to that.

Naturally the defendant would need a lawyer not looking to make a career out of the military.

Quite the opposite.

[David Zephyr]

11. The Question Is: Whose Orders?

We'll see if he sticks to his story or if someone gets him to change it before Friday.

[NYC]

16. They dropped 2 charges against him.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1129481#1129519

[underpants]

18. Sounds a bit like what they did with the renegade platoon

Of course at this point they can't sweep Graner under the rug like they did that platoon.

[NYC]

19. No, but perhaps they can keep Graner from talking

so much. Perhaps for lesser charges, he will agree not to implicate his superiors. I hope he sings like a canary.

[underpants]

20. Was Graner the one whose father leaked the photos to the New Yorker?

Or was that one of the other guys?

[NYC]

21. Was he????

I never heard that. I hope someone else comes along to answer.