Abu Ghraib Abuse Figure Paroled

Pvt. Ivan L. Frederick, II is escorted into the courthouse in this May 12, 2005 file photo in Fort Hood, Texas. Former Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick Jr., who was paroled Monday, Oct. 1, 2007, from military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., served about three years of an eight-year sentence for abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, file)

The AP reports:

The highest-ranking U.S. soldier convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was paroled Monday from military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the Army said.

Former Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick Jr. served about three years of an eight-year sentence for actions that included placing wires in a detainee's hands and telling him he would be electrocuted if he fell off a box.

Frederick is among 12 U.S. soldiers convicted in the scandal that erupted in April 2004 with the release of pictures of grinning U.S. soldiers posing with detainees, some naked, being held on leashes or in painful and sexually humiliating positions.

Frederick, 40, of Buckingham, Va., declined interview requests made through his attorney, Gary Myers, and family members.

"We're just elated that he's coming home," sister Miriam Frederick said in a telephone interview.

Myers said Frederick's cooperation with prosecutors, including his testimony at the trial in August of final Abu Ghraib defendant Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, aided in his early release.

Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, the former head of the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, leaves a military court at Fort Meade Tuesday after day two of his Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation. (AP photo / October 17, 2006)

"Chip Frederick was never a "bad apple" as the Army tried to portray him," Myers said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press. "Frederick recognized that he had done wrong and, like the decent man that he is, pleaded guilty to some of the charges against him."

Myers said Frederick's prosecution was a blatant political attempt to shift blame from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking government officials, whom Myers said had created an environment in which the Geneva Conventions were disregarded and misconduct was allowed in the name of national security.

The Pentagon has said that the Abu Ghraib abuses were thoroughly investigated, and that the appropriate people have been held accountable.

Frederick, of the 372nd Military Police Company of Cresaptown, Md., supervised the night shift in the prison's "hard site," where detainees deemed to be of high intelligence value were held.

At his court-martial in Baghdad in October 2004, Frederick admitted placing the wires in the hooded detainee's hands; forcing another, naked detainee to masturbate while soldiers photographed him; jumping and stomping on a pile of seven detainees accused of rioting; and punching a detainee in the chest so hard he needed medical attention.

This is an image obtained by The Associated Press which shows Sgt. Michael Smith, left, with his black dog Marco, Sgt. Santos Cardona, second right, with his tan Belgian shepherd Duco, detainee Mohammed Bollendia and Pvt. Ivan L. Frederick II, right, at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq in this Dec. 12, 2003 file photo. Former Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick Jr., who was paroled Monday, Oct. 1, 2007, from military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., served about three years of an eight-year sentence for abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (AP Photo, file)

"I knew it was wrong at the time because I knew it was a form of abuse," Frederick, a former Virginia state correctional officer, said at his court-martial. He testified then, and again at Jordan's trial in August, that at least some of the abuse, such as threatening the man with electrocution, stripping male prisoners and covering their heads with women's underwear, was directed by military and civilian interrogators.

Frederick pleaded guilty to conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault and committing an indecent act. Prosecutors dropped several other charges in a plea deal.

Frederick is among 11 enlisted soldiers convicted in the scandal. Jordan, the only officer charged, was acquitted of abuse charges but convicted of disobeying a general's order not to communicate with others about a subsequent investigation of the abuse.

Jumana Mousa, advocacy director for Amnesty International USA, said Frederick's early release was "part and parcel of what we've seen of accountability from this administration: mostly lower-level military folks held to account and nobody held to full account."

The only defendant still imprisoned is the alleged ringleader, former Cpl. Charles A. Graner Jr., of Uniontown, Pa., who is serving a 10-year term at Fort Leavenworth. Janet Wray, an installation spokeswoman, said Army policy prohibits her from revealing prisoner release dates until after they have been freed.

Sole U.S. Officer Charged Over Abu Ghraib To Face Trial

TurkishPress.com reports:
The only US military officer charged with tormenting prisoners at Baghdad's infamous Abu Ghraib jail will stand trial in August, a judge ruled Tuesday, amid claims that the government itself is getting off scot-free.
While the court martial of Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan will go ahead, there is anger that no higher ranking commanders or politicians are in the dock, three years after reports of abuse at Abu Ghraib first emerged.

Defense lawyers for Jordan, 51, argued at a hearing at Washington's Fort McNair that he was never properly informed of his rights by investigators, thus undermining the government's prosecution case.

The presiding judge, Colonel Stephen Henley, backed part of their argument and agreed to slim down the charges.

As a result, Jordan now faces a maximum jail term of 16 and a half years, down from 22 years initially. But all the other charges still stand, including cruelty and mistreatment of detainees, obstruction of justice, dereliction of duty and disobeying orders.

The trial had been set to begin next month, but Henley pushed the date back to August 20 to allow for further review of emails and documents from Abu Ghraib. Another pre-trial hearing was scheduled for July 10.

Major Kris Poppe, one of Jordan's defense attorneys, said after the hearing that his client was "anxious to have his day in court."

"It's been a long process, and he's ready obviously to get to the conclusion," he told reporters.

Government lawyers refused to comment on their case against Jordan, who remains on active duty at the intelligence and security command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Jordan headed a US Army interrogation center at the notorious Iraqi prison, where sordid abuses of detainees became public in April 2004 with the publication of graphic photographs.

The photographs showed bloodied, bound and naked prisoners smeared with excrement, forced to perform sexual acts and cowering under attack from US guards' dogs.

A year ago, President George W. Bush said the Abu Ghraib scandal was the "biggest mistake" made by the United States in Iraq, regretting the damage it had inflicted in the court of global public opinion.

Seven low-ranking US soldiers -- controversially described by then defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld as only "a few bad apples" -- have been jailed over the abuses.

But for human rights activists, official retribution for Abu Ghraib and for alleged mistreatment at places like the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay should go far higher up the chain of command.

The American Civil Liberties Union said it was "deeply disappointed" at a federal judge's decision in March to throw out a case against Rumsfeld brought by nine Iraqi and Afghan former detainees for the "torture" they suffered in US military custody.

"We believe that the law and constitution require more, and that the former secretary of defense must be held accountable for his policies that led to this abuse," ACLU attorney Lucas Guttentag said.

Specialist Charles Graner, shown in one photograph smiling and giving a thumbs-up over the corpse of an Iraqi prisoner, was said to have been the Abu Ghraib ringleader and was jailed for 10 years.

Graner's girlfriend of the time, Private Lynndie England, who was pictured holding a naked prisoner at the end of a dog leash, was sentenced to three years.

The prison commander at the time, Janis Karpinski, was the most senior officer to be reprimanded. She was demoted from brigadier general to colonel but faced no charges.

And Jordan's immediate superior, Colonel Thomas Pappas, has escaped prosecution after agreeing to testify against him.