UNITED STATES: Torture plea rejected

On May 4, Army judge Colonol James Pohl terminated the court-martial of Private Lynndie England, accused of torturing prisoners at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, saying her guilty plea was "not believable". Pohl explained that if, as England's workmate and lover had testified, England believed her abuses, including being photographed holding a naked prisoner on a leash, were proper prison procedure, she had committed no crime. Instead, the blame would lie with those who instituted such measures. England had no training as a prison guard when she was assigned to the position. The decision is a blow to the Pentagon's public campaign to argue that the abuses Abu Ghraib were the fault of a small group of enlisted soldiers. England can now be indicted again.

From Green Left Weekly, May 25, 2005.

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From GLW issue 627