Lynndie England: I Wasn't Ordered to Abuse Detainees

NewsMax ^ | 5-16-04

[jmstein7]

The female GI who is at the center of the storm over allegations of mistreatment at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison has told military investigators that she received no specific orders to abuse detainees.

A transcript of her May 5 military interview obtained by the New York Times shows England was asked, "Did anyone ever give specific orders of how to 'break' detainees?"

"No," England answered point blank. Instead she told probers that military intelligence merely encouraged them to keep doing whatever they were doing to soften prisoners up - "that we were doing a good job."

If true, England's admission suggests that the idea to use sexual humiliation to break Iraqi prisoners originated with the accused MPs - and not with higher-ups on site or at the Pentagon.

A lawyer for Specialist Charles Graner seemed to echo England's comments, telling the Times that the orders his client was following were usually general in nature.

"Most are not specific. Some are pretty clear. The exact wording, it's hard to say," attorney Gary Womack told the paper.

Neal Puckett, the lawyer for Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski who oversaw Abu Ghraib, said the testimony by England and others would complicate any legal defense attempting to pin blame on higher-ups.

"I think they are going to have a hard time demonstrating that they were instructed, that they were to specifically to strip these guys naked and pile them up on the floor," Puckett told the Times.

Court records of interviews with other suspects in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal show that military intelligence officers might have authorized interrogation tactics that included sleep and food deprivation and intimidation with muzzled dogs.

But the same witnesses said none of the orders sanctioned hitting Iraqi detainees, building naked pyramids or having them photographed while simulating sex acts.

[highlander_UW]

The CRY of LEFTISTS everywhere. "IT IS NOT MY FAULT!!" ......... "I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MY OWN ACTIONS!!!"

That must be why the Left is making Lynndie England their poster child.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Instead she told probers that military intelligence merely encouraged them to keep doing whatever they were doing to soften prisoners up

How does this absolve the military of responsibility? Shouldn't they know exactly what the guards are doing? And why is there a photo of the interrogaters watching the pyramid of naked Iraqis, and yet, they say they didn't know what was going on? Those photos were staged photos. They weren't "candid camera." Who wanted them staged?

[highlander_UW]

I'm glad English is coming clean!

I don't think she's coming clean, wasn't this from May 7th, which was before she's made the recent statements about being ordered? It smells of some slimy lawyers getting her to deny, deny, deny...and shift the blame.

(note, not all lawyers (and would be lawyers) are slimy, present company excepted)

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Seymour Hersch

Soon to be renamed Seemore Butts.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

And why is there a photo of the interrogaters watching the pyramid of naked Iraqis, and yet, they say they didn't know what was going on?

That guy was MI? I have never seen that pointed out in any news stories I have seen. Please tell me where is your source on this?

[AZLiberty]

Sounds to me like "Don't ask, don't tell." Why are the libs all hot and bothered about it.

[SLB]

Ping

[alnick]

OK, so now the truth is starting to come out. I think there is going to be a serious backlash against the democrats on this one.

I hope so, especially after Kennedy likened the US Military to Saddam Hussein.

[Rock N Jones]

How do you know that they were interrogators? I watched the Cal Thomas interview last night on Fox with Florida democrat Senator Bill Nelson. Nelson said that one of the photos provided for the Senators special viewing there were soldiers that had been cropped out on the photo that has been widely shown. The widely shown photos most likely came from those who want to shift blame away from the MPs. Nelson in typical democrat fashion wants the world to believe that President Bush is responsible for the “torture” of the prisoners and concludes that these cropped out soldiers warranted further investigation into involvement of higher ups. Frankly I was disappointed that Thomas did not ask him who he thought those cropped out soldiers might be but for some reason he let the matter drop. Other Senators have said that the same faces keep appearing in the Senate photos inferring that the MPs are the only ones involved. And now you have the admissions of MPs that they were only ones involved.

It seems to me that England is looking at jail time and lying to the military about being ordered by higher ups certainly will not be very helpful, to say the least.

[Sacajaweau]

Nasty people like England and Ganer can rationalize anything. Ganer knows ALL ABOUT PRISONS and what abuse you can get away with. I believe this group VOLUNTEERED for night duty so we kinda need to find ALL the "common threads" for these derelicts.

Regardless, Kapinski has been around a long time. She should be able to "smell the air" and know what's up. The fact that "it was her policy", to do away with saluting officers, that "it was her policy" to visit each prison "AT LEAST ONCE IN A THREE MONTH PERIOD", speaks volumes.

[Taffini]

bump

[Smartass]

I got my info from an article in Newsmax.com.
Click on the link.
English

[cyncooper]

Just did it on her own. Freelancing you know!

As a matter of fact, that is exactly what this group did.

As General Taguba put it, they "acted on their own volition".

BTW, Taguba's testimony and report turn out to be 180 degrees opposite of how the dems and media were portraying it.

What a shock! (not)

[kcvl]

The attorney's name is Guy Womack, not Gary Womack. He is not exactly an upstanding citizen either.

******

In the Quadro case, the defense had called to the stand Guy Womack, an assistant U.S. attorney in the southern district of Texas, and a Quadro distributor. The day he was to testify, the prosecution informed Womack that he was under investigation for his role as a Quadro salesman. On the stand, instead of singing the praises of the product, Womack took the Fifth 42 times and clammed up.

The government is charging Quadro and its salesmen with fraud. That implies a culpable attempt to fool people. Surely, you'd think that the Quadro(" Tracker units have been designed to locate people from a photograph, as well as from a fingerprint. Thus missing prisoners, or escaped prisoners can be located with ease. The machine will identify an individual, no matter what disguise or surgery is undertaken. It has been tested over a distance of 500 miles, and will track, we believe, at any distance." ) guys knew that the device was useless.

In late January, 1997, Guy Lee Womack, an Assistant U.S. Attorney, resigned his office and agreed to pay a $5,000 civil fine. Womack confessed that he used his office to promote the Quadro Tracker®, a bogus drug and weapon detecting device. He paid $13,600 for distribution rights in Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico and Wyoming and hosted meetings with investigators in Houston to show how the device worked.

The men were indicted on August 21, 1996 for deceiving customers into buying what they knew was a worthless device. Prosecutors claimed that the Quadro Tracker® was just a radio antenna attached to a hollow plastic box containing "chips" constructed of paper and plastic. The device was sold primarily to law enforcement agencies and school districts.

Guy Womack, Attorney At Law

U.S. Department of Justice, Assistant United States Attorney, 1990 - 1997

[highlander_UW]

I'm not questioning you, I'm just pointing out that since she made these statements she's contradicted them on TV. The lack of credibility in my eyes is hers, not yours.

[JellyJam]

She's so gonna end up in porno.

(shiver)

[Smartass]

I know. The whole mess is getting foggy. English first
speaking on her own, and then through family, and now
spinning through an attorney, is a bit mind boggling.

[BillyCrockett]

"I'm starting to get angry with the President. Not for the alleged abuse, but for not vigorously pointing out what is obvious to us"

Uhh... OK.

[cyncooper]

How does this absolve the military of responsibility?

Well, those of us actually following the facts of this story know that the supervisors and brigade commander are in fact being held to account for their negligence.

That still does not make these perverts on parade as acting according to policy. They were not.