5/22/2004 11:23 PM.
WASHINGTON(AP) — The commander of the military police company assigned to the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad has said he will testify that the top U.S. general in Iraq was present during some interrogations at the prison and witnessed some of the abuse, according to a published report.
The Washington Post, in a story first released on its Web site Saturday night, said a military lawyer stated at an open hearing April 2 that Capt. Donald J. Reese told him that Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez and other senior military officers were aware of the abuse at the prison.
The military lawyer, Capt. Robert Shuck, is assigned to defend Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick II of the Army Reserve's 372nd Military Police Company. Frederick is one of seven members of that company facing criminal charges for abusing Iraqi inmates. Reese is the company commander.
The Post said a transcript of the April hearing at Camp Victory in Baghdad shows Capt. John McCabe, the military prosecutor, asking Shuck, "Are you saying that Captain Reese is going to testify that General Sanchez was there and saw this going on?"
"That's what he told me," Shuck replied, according the transcript cited by the Post. "I am an officer of the court, sir, and I would not lie. I have got two children at home, I'm not going to risk my career."
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the senior military spokesman in Iraq, told the Post that Sanchez was unavailable for comment Saturday night but would respond later.
The transcript marks the first allegation that Sanchez or other senior military officers were aware of the prisoner abuse while it was happening. Prison officials have blamed the abuse on low-level military police, some of whom have maintained they were just following orders.
Shuck also said at the April hearing, according to the Post, that Capt. Carolyn A. Wood, supervisor of the military intelligence operation at Abu Ghraib, was "involved in intensive interrogations of detainees, condoned some of the activities and stressed that that was standard procedure, what the accused was doing."
Associated Press.
WASHINGTON(AP) — The commander of the military police company assigned to the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad has said he will testify that the top U.S. general in Iraq was present during some interrogations at the prison and witnessed some of the abuse, according to a published report.
The Washington Post, in a story first released on its Web site Saturday night, said a military lawyer stated at an open hearing April 2 that Capt. Donald J. Reese told him that Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez and other senior military officers were aware of the abuse at the prison.
The military lawyer, Capt. Robert Shuck, is assigned to defend Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick II of the Army Reserve's 372nd Military Police Company. Frederick is one of seven members of that company facing criminal charges for abusing Iraqi inmates. Reese is the company commander.
The Post said a transcript of the April hearing at Camp Victory in Baghdad shows Capt. John McCabe, the military prosecutor, asking Shuck, "Are you saying that Captain Reese is going to testify that General Sanchez was there and saw this going on?"
"That's what he told me," Shuck replied, according the transcript cited by the Post. "I am an officer of the court, sir, and I would not lie. I have got two children at home, I'm not going to risk my career."
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the senior military spokesman in Iraq, told the Post that Sanchez was unavailable for comment Saturday night but would respond later.
The transcript marks the first allegation that Sanchez or other senior military officers were aware of the prisoner abuse while it was happening. Prison officials have blamed the abuse on low-level military police, some of whom have maintained they were just following orders.
Shuck also said at the April hearing, according to the Post, that Capt. Carolyn A. Wood, supervisor of the military intelligence operation at Abu Ghraib, was "involved in intensive interrogations of detainees, condoned some of the activities and stressed that that was standard procedure, what the accused was doing."
Associated Press.
