World

Abu Ghraib Charges For Army Lt.

April 26, 2006 / 10:19 AM EDT / CBS/AP

The U.S. Army on Friday charged the former head of the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq with cruelty and maltreatment, dereliction of duty and other criminal offenses for his alleged involvement in the abuse of detainees at the notorious prison in 2003.

Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, was charged with seven offenses. He is the highest-ranking officer at Abu Ghraib to face criminal charges.

A preliminary hearing will be held when Jordan's defense counsel is ready but no date has been set, according to an announcement of the charges by the Military District of Washington.

Officers above Jordan's rank have been reprimanded and relieved of command, including Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the U.S.-run prison system that included the Abu Ghraib compound. But none of those have faced criminal charges.

The much-investigated abuses at Abu Ghraib included sexual humiliation and physical abuse of Iraqi detainees, and their disclosure two years ago triggered a firestorm of international protests and calls for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign. He offered his resignation twice but President George W. Bush refused.

The Washington Post and The New York Times reported about plans to charge Jordan on their Web sites Tuesday.

"We're thankful that decision has finally been made, and we look forward to finally reviewing the evidence and making some decisions," Spitzberg told the Post.

The abuse scandal broke in April 2004 when pictures of prisoner abuse were leaked to the news media. Prisoners were beaten, sexually humiliated and forced to assume painful positions while being photographed.

Army spokesman Col. Joseph Curtin told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Jordan has not been charged. After any charges, the next step would be a preliminary hearing to determine whether a court-martial or other action was warranted.

Jordan, a reservist who has remained on active duty for three years, is currently stationed in the Washington area, Spitzberg said.

"We've not had an opportunity to review the evidence, and (we) look forward to doing that and determining whether there is a direct link with the abuses at Abu Ghraib," Spitzberg told the Times.

Jordan was not making any public statement, his attorney said. Efforts by the AP Tuesday night to reach Spitzberg were not successful.

The public release of the photos in television and newspaper reports caused condemnation worldwide and triggered months of investigations, recriminations and a re-examination of U.S. policy on prisoners.

Last week, A military judge allowed defense lawyers to call a general to testify at a court martial in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. However, the judge barred the defense from summoning Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would become the highest-ranking military officer to testify in the cases stemming from mistreatment of inmates.

At a pretrial hearing in the case of Army Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, a defense lawyer said Rumsfeld personally dispatched Miller to Abu Ghraib to review interrogation procedures as the U.S. military sought better intelligence from prisoners amid a growing insurgency in Iraq.

In March, Army dog handler Michael J. Smith was sentenced to six months behind bars for using his snarling canine to torment prisoners.

The military jury could have sentenced Smith, 24, to more than eight years in prison.

Nine other soldiers have been convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib. Among them, former Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., received the stiffest sentence — 10 years in prison.

The Army charged Jordan with violating seven articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, as follows:

Two counts of willfully disobeying a superior officer. He stands accused of violating an order by his superior, Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, to have no communication with other Army personnel or other potential witnesses regarding an initial Army investigation of prisoner abuse allegations at Abu Ghraib. The second count is similar, accusing Jordan of violating the same order issued by another superior, Maj. Gen. George Fay.

Three counts of dereliction of duty and failure to obey a regulation. The Army document spelling out the charge says he "willfully failed to train, supervise and ensure compliance by soldiers under his control in following the requirements of" military policy on interrogation, "which resulted in the abuse of Iraqi detainees." Two other counts are for failing to get permission to use military working dogs during interrogations.

One count of cruelty and maltreatment for actions which the Army said "did oppress Iraqi detainees, persons subject to his orders, by subjecting them to forced nudity and intimidation by military working dogs" between mid-September and late December 2003, which was the duration of his duty at the interrogation center.

Two counts of making false official statements. The Army said that on or about Feb. 24, 2004, "with intent to deceive," he told Taguba, who was investigating allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib, that he never saw nude detainees, never knew of any dogs being used in interrogations and did not see other violations. The Army said his statement was "totally false and was then known by Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan to be false." The second count is for allegedly making similar false statements to Fay in April 2004.

Two counts of fraud. Each allegation was for knowingly making inflated claims for repairs to U.S. government-owned vehicles in June 2004.

One count of wrongful interference with an investigation, and one count of making a false statement. The first was for allegedly trying to impede the investigation of abuse at Abu Ghraib by offering a person help in getting a job at the U.S. Embassy in August 2004 in return for receiving evidence pertinent to the investigation before it reached investigators. The other count was for making a false statement under oath in May 2004.