Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
August 24, 2007
Pg. B5
By David Dishneau, Associated Press
FORT MEADE, Md. — Attorneys for an officer accused of fostering the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison presented glowing testimonials about their client yesterday and ended by reminding court-martial jurors that he had no chain-of-command authority over anyone at the prison in Iraq.
The 10-member military jury will hear closing arguments Monday before deciding the fate of Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, 51, of Fredericksburg, Va.
"He is a soldier's soldier," said Mark A. Day, a retired Army Reserve staff sergeant who was an interrogator at Abu Ghraib in the fall of 2003. "He is the finest officer I have ever served under."
Sgt. Day's words, read to the panel from a statement accepted by both sides, echoed the praise heaped on Col. Jordan even by prosecution witnesses during four days of testimony.
Col. Jordan faces up to 8½ years in prison if convicted of four counts stemming from his brief stint as director of an interrogation center at Abu Ghraib in autumn 2003. The charges are based on investigators' conclusion that as the highest-ranking officer on the scene, he allowed detainee abuses such as nudity, sexual humiliation and intimidation by dogs to occur and escalate.
The defense maintains that Col. Jordan, a civil affairs reservist with a military-intelligence background, took no part in interrogations and had no chain-of-command responsibility for the 11 military intelligence and military police soldiers already convicted for their roles at Abu Ghraib.
Some of the eight defense witnesses yesterday portrayed Col. Jordan as a helpful administrator who risked his life to procure amenities ranging from athletic gear to Internet cafe equipment.
"He seemed to be about the only senior officer who really cared about the troops there at Abu Ghraib," said Stephen Pescatore, who worked as a civilian interrogator.
Two disgraced military intelligence soldiers, Pvt. Armin Cruz and Pvt. Roman Krol, testified through stipulated statements like Sgt. Day's that Col. Jordan wasn't involved in the October 2003 episode for which they were convicted. In that incident, three naked detainees were forced to roll and crawl across a concrete floor while soldiers yelled and threw cold water and a foam football at them.
Col. Jordan wasn't in the chain of command of the military police who guarded prisoners or the military intelligence soldiers who interrogated them, according to a stipulated statement of facts read to the jury.
That fact alone, however, doesn't void an officer's obligation to stop wrongdoing by lower-ranking soldiers, said Eugene R. Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice in the District.
"He may not have had responsibility in the sense of what his duties were but he certainly had authority. And if he saw something irregular going on, it was within his power to tell people to stop it and make that stick," Mr. Fidell told the Associated Press.
Col. Jordan was sent to the prison in September 2003 by Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, then the top U.S. military intelligence officer in Iraq, to oversee implementation of interrogation techniques developed at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
By mid-November, he was replaced by Col. Thomas Pappas, then commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, who testified that Col. Jordan spent more time helping soldiers than overseeing interrogations.
The only evidence Col. Jordan ever participated in a formal interrogation came from Capt. Carolyn Wood, who directly supervised interrogators through a chain of command that included Col. Pappas. She testified as a prosecution witness Tuesday that Col. Jordan and Maj. Michael Thompson, the interrogation operations officer, once questioned a female detainee who was being held on local criminal charges.
The most serious charge Col. Jordan faces is disobeying Maj. Gen. George Fay's order not to discuss Maj. Gen. Fay's Abu Ghraib investigation with others, an offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
Col. Jordan also is charged with failing to obey a regulation by ordering dogs to be used for interrogations without higher approval, punishable by up to two years; cruelty and maltreatment for subjecting detainees to forced nudity and intimidation by dogs, punishable by up to one year; and dereliction of a duty to properly train and supervise soldiers in interrogation rules, punishable by up to six months.
Col. Jordan is the only officer among 12 persons charged in the scandal, and the last to go to trial. Eleven enlisted soldiers have been convicted of crimes, with the longest sentence, 10 years, given to former Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., of Uniontown, Pa., in January 2005.
August 24, 2007
Pg. B5
By David Dishneau, Associated Press
FORT MEADE, Md. — Attorneys for an officer accused of fostering the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison presented glowing testimonials about their client yesterday and ended by reminding court-martial jurors that he had no chain-of-command authority over anyone at the prison in Iraq.
The 10-member military jury will hear closing arguments Monday before deciding the fate of Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, 51, of Fredericksburg, Va.
"He is a soldier's soldier," said Mark A. Day, a retired Army Reserve staff sergeant who was an interrogator at Abu Ghraib in the fall of 2003. "He is the finest officer I have ever served under."
Sgt. Day's words, read to the panel from a statement accepted by both sides, echoed the praise heaped on Col. Jordan even by prosecution witnesses during four days of testimony.
Col. Jordan faces up to 8½ years in prison if convicted of four counts stemming from his brief stint as director of an interrogation center at Abu Ghraib in autumn 2003. The charges are based on investigators' conclusion that as the highest-ranking officer on the scene, he allowed detainee abuses such as nudity, sexual humiliation and intimidation by dogs to occur and escalate.
The defense maintains that Col. Jordan, a civil affairs reservist with a military-intelligence background, took no part in interrogations and had no chain-of-command responsibility for the 11 military intelligence and military police soldiers already convicted for their roles at Abu Ghraib.
Some of the eight defense witnesses yesterday portrayed Col. Jordan as a helpful administrator who risked his life to procure amenities ranging from athletic gear to Internet cafe equipment.
"He seemed to be about the only senior officer who really cared about the troops there at Abu Ghraib," said Stephen Pescatore, who worked as a civilian interrogator.
Two disgraced military intelligence soldiers, Pvt. Armin Cruz and Pvt. Roman Krol, testified through stipulated statements like Sgt. Day's that Col. Jordan wasn't involved in the October 2003 episode for which they were convicted. In that incident, three naked detainees were forced to roll and crawl across a concrete floor while soldiers yelled and threw cold water and a foam football at them.
Col. Jordan wasn't in the chain of command of the military police who guarded prisoners or the military intelligence soldiers who interrogated them, according to a stipulated statement of facts read to the jury.
That fact alone, however, doesn't void an officer's obligation to stop wrongdoing by lower-ranking soldiers, said Eugene R. Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice in the District.
"He may not have had responsibility in the sense of what his duties were but he certainly had authority. And if he saw something irregular going on, it was within his power to tell people to stop it and make that stick," Mr. Fidell told the Associated Press.
Col. Jordan was sent to the prison in September 2003 by Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, then the top U.S. military intelligence officer in Iraq, to oversee implementation of interrogation techniques developed at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
By mid-November, he was replaced by Col. Thomas Pappas, then commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, who testified that Col. Jordan spent more time helping soldiers than overseeing interrogations.
The only evidence Col. Jordan ever participated in a formal interrogation came from Capt. Carolyn Wood, who directly supervised interrogators through a chain of command that included Col. Pappas. She testified as a prosecution witness Tuesday that Col. Jordan and Maj. Michael Thompson, the interrogation operations officer, once questioned a female detainee who was being held on local criminal charges.
The most serious charge Col. Jordan faces is disobeying Maj. Gen. George Fay's order not to discuss Maj. Gen. Fay's Abu Ghraib investigation with others, an offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
Col. Jordan also is charged with failing to obey a regulation by ordering dogs to be used for interrogations without higher approval, punishable by up to two years; cruelty and maltreatment for subjecting detainees to forced nudity and intimidation by dogs, punishable by up to one year; and dereliction of a duty to properly train and supervise soldiers in interrogation rules, punishable by up to six months.
Col. Jordan is the only officer among 12 persons charged in the scandal, and the last to go to trial. Eleven enlisted soldiers have been convicted of crimes, with the longest sentence, 10 years, given to former Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., of Uniontown, Pa., in January 2005.