Prison Guard Calls Abuse Routine and Sometimes Amusing

New York Times ^ | 5/16/04 | KATE ZERNIKE

[alnick]

In a sworn statement to investigators, Pfc. Lynndie England explained the mystery of why soldiers at Abu Ghraib took pictures of detainees masturbating and piled naked with plastic sandbags over their heads by saying, "We thought it looked funny so pictures were taken."

[snip]

"Picture 000015 was basically us fooling around," she said, pointing to a photograph of detainees stacked naked in different positions in 1A, the area of the prison where the soldiers now charged with abuse worked.

"She wanted a picture because she wrote `I'm a rapist' on one of the detainees," Private England explained, pointing to two pictures she said were taken by Specialist Sabrina Harman.

[snip]

When pressed, however, she said there were no specific orders on how to "break" the detainees for interrogation. But, she said, military intelligence soldiers and others "would tell us to keep it up, that we were doing a good job" aiding the interrogations. Asked who told them to instruct the detainees to masturbate, she said, "I was just told we were doing a good job," according to the statement.

[alnick]

I did a search on the title and could not find this.

[MEG33]

Hmmmm

[Texasforever]

She is a frisky little imp ain't she? lol

[afraidfortherepublic]

Actually, she wrote, "I'm a rapeist (sic)." She is really a dimwit!

[MEG33]

Girls Gone Wild..ping.

[tbeatty]

All of it sounds a little silly after reading what happened to Nick Berg.

I can see the complaints: (with a hitch in his voice, like a five year old) "you, you made me get naked and form a pyramid while, while, covering my head and vdeotaping it!!!!"

Versus

"You sawed off my head while I was alive with a kitchen knife."

[Choose Ye This Day]

Very, very interesting...

"We thought it looked funny so pictures were taken."

...almost never, to her mind, out of bounds.

She explains how she put a strap around a detainee's neck and forced him and others to run and crawl down a hallway for "approximately four to six hours;" how one soldier would regularly throw a Nerf football at detainees with bags over their heads "to scare them;" how one soldier would kick detainees and cause open wounds, then "would personally stitch detainees if the wound weren't too bad," ...

"Yes, I stepped on some of them..."

Pointing to picture 000019, which shows her pointing at a detainee masturbating, she explained, "Staff Sgt. Frederick had removed the bags from the detainee's head and motioned for them to masturbate themselves. The detainee I'm pointing at didn't stop so we took a picture of it."

...the prisoners were put on leashes to intimidate them, trying to get them to confess to raping a 15-year-old Iraqi boy.

"Was there anything done to these detainees that you felt was `going too far?' " she was asked. "No," she replied.

Asked later if she thought anything was inappropriate, Private England replied that only the masturbation was. But throughout the statement, she repeats that she and other soldiers were ordered to do the things they did, which has been the defense made by lawyers for the soldiers and the soldiers themselves.

When pressed, however, she said there were no specific orders on how to "break" the detainees for interrogation. But, she said, military intelligence soldiers and others "would tell us to keep it up, that we were doing a good job" aiding the interrogations. Asked who told them to instruct the detainees to masturbate, she said, "I was just told we were doing a good job," according to the statement.

Sound very clear to me that this group of morally, um, challenged individuals were just making it up as they went along. They weren't properly trained or supervised, but they came up with these sick ideas themselves.

[shhrubbery!]

How long before this boring lowlife's 15 minutes of fame are up? Answer: Never, not as long as she can be used as a weapon against President Bush.

[Adrastus]

I was under the impression that MP's were generally not wrapped too tight. Scored at the pond scum level on their tests, etc. This girl is seriously deranged. Do you think she's related to the banjo picker in "Deliverance?"

[alnick]

Sound very clear to me that this group of morally, um, challenged individuals were just making it up as they went along. They weren't properly trained or supervised, but they came up with these sick ideas themselves.

Yep. I'm surprised the NYT printed this, but no one will make too big a deal out of it.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Everyone can believe what they want. LOL! I am telling you they were recruiting informants. Why else do you think this dog and pony show was allowed to go on like this. Remember, this was suppose to be a military prison.

Mrs Pfc. Lynndie England was duped.

Here's the latest photograph of Mrs. Lynndie England released by AP today.

[MEG33]

Just showing you her interview..I realize she was only there..Sy, the little commie has "sources".

[Choose Ye This Day]

That's what I thought, as well. I wonder what section/page it will show up in the NYT?

[afraidfortherepublic]

I've heard the same thing, and the only former MP that I know (Marine) is a seriously scary person.

[Texasforever]

Well at the rate she is putting both feet in her mouth I would guess that the charges in her Court Martial are adding up to at least 25 years.

[texasflower]

That's one way to put it.

[Rokurota]

Well at the rate she is putting both feet in her mouth I would guess that the charges in her Court Martial are adding up to at least 25 years.

I doubt it. A couple of months at most.

[Texasforever]

Nope, her and her friends along with a full colonel, a few NCOs and a brigadier general are going to get the full boat on this one.

[conservative in nyc]

The problem from excerpting from an article is that it doesn't give us a sense of the media's true bias. You took the first paragraph, one near the middle, and one near the end, which were most favorable to the President's point of view. What was left out from those paragraphs was the Slimes' real agenda in the article --- to "prove" that the "abuse" at Abu Ghraib was sickening and "routine". For example, the second and third paragraphs state:

Private England's statement, made May 5, narrates the graphic photographs now at the center of the prison abuse scandal in specific detail and a matter-of-fact tone, describing the abuse as routine and sometimes amusing, but almost never, to her mind, out of bounds.

She explains how she put a strap around a detainee's neck and forced him and others to run and crawl down a hallway for "approximately four to six hours;" how one soldier would regularly throw a Nerf football at detainees with bags over their heads "to scare them;" how one soldier would kick detainees and cause open wounds, then "would personally stitch detainees if the wound weren't too bad," according to a copy of her statement given to The New York Times.

We don't have a copy of her statement, which was probably shared with the Slimes by her lawyer. So we don't know whether leash girl actually used the word "routine" or the Slimes is making it up. And how does the Slimes know she was narrating the "scandal" in a matter-of-fact tone if they weren't there? Did they hear her voice from a transcript?

[MEG33]

Hmmmm