[Marxism] Sergeants capture wild dogs in Iraq to torture prisoners

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

O.K., that's not really the headline. It's up to us to figure how the  
dogs got there.

We have had investigations of the School of the Americas for their  
torture manuals and graduates of torture. It's time to investigate dog  
training camps.

And don't tell me that dogs don't bite people, people bite people.

A legal note: the soldiers make the point that they did not use the  
animals in a game. This is because the D.O.D. directives authorizing  
torture interpret the U.S. law against torture (against common sense,  
by the way) to mean that you can do almost anything so long as your  
intent is to gather information. An act for the sole purpose of  
inflicting pain, or I guess for your own sadistic pleasure, is illegal.  
There apparently are no rules for those who enjoy inflicting pain while  
attempting to extract information, even if for "months at a time" as  
one of the directives allows.
____________

Two Army Dog Handlers Charged in Abuse Scandal
Soldiers say they were following orders and deny using the animals in a  
game to scare Abu Ghraib prisoners into soiling themselves.
Richard A. Serrano, L.A.Times Staff Writer, June 3, 2005

WASHINGTON — Army officials named two military dog handlers at Abu  
Ghraib prison in criminal charges Thursday, alleging that they used  
their unmuzzled animals to "threaten and harass detainees" and scare  
them into cooperating with interrogators.

The two sergeants are the first dog handlers to be named as criminal  
defendants in the abuses at the prison outside Baghdad. Photos of dogs  
barking and growling at inmates, some of them naked, were among the  
scenes of detainee torture broadcast around the world.
. . .
Harvey Volzer, a Washington lawyer representing Cardona, said his  
client was being made a scapegoat by a military system that had held no  
senior officers accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

"We always suspected that politicians and military higher-ups had  
ordered all these things to occur to get information from the  
detainees," Volzer said. "In the case of the dog handlers, we have  
irrefutable evidence that they were ordered to use the dogs."

He was referring to statements made by Army Col. Thomas M. Pappas, head  
of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade at Abu Ghraib, to his  
superiors last year.

Pappas said that dogs were authorized for use for interrogation  
purposes at the prison, and Cardona and Smith told Army investigators  
that they were following those orders.

["Interrogation purposes" -- one woof back means yes, two woofs mean  
no, and only sissys whimper]

Last month Pappas was reprimanded, fined $8,000 and cited for two  
counts of dereliction of duty, effectively ending his 24-year military  
career, but he was not criminally prosecuted.

Army officials declined Thursday to discuss why the charges against the  
dog handlers were being filed now, a year after eight soldiers,  
including several military police officers, were accused of abusing and  
sexually humiliating detainees.

Seven have received sentences ranging from no jail time to 10 years;  
the eighth case is pending.

"As the investigations are ongoing, and as information is developed, we  
are holding soldiers accountable for their actions," an Army  
spokeswoman said.

But Volzer contended that continuing to charge only low-ranking  
soldiers tended to shield superiors from being held responsible.

"The Army works in strange ways," he said. "They need to keep the  
public thinking they are going after more people, and they hope that  
eventually everyone will forget that none of the high-ranking officers  
were charged."

The charges against Cardona also accuse him of making a false statement  
to an Army criminal investigator by telling Special Agent Warren Worth  
that he and Smith never intended to harm anyone or use the dogs in a  
game to see which prisoners would urinate on themselves.

"There is no game that Smitty and me play," Cardona reportedly told  
Worth in an official statement to the investigator. "It's just that we  
would go through and the detainees would get scared and urinate."

But according to the charge sheet, Cardona "intentionally scared  
detainees to make them urinate on themselves as part of a game with  
Sgt. Michael Smith," and he knew his statement to Worth "to be false."

The charges also allege that Cardona conspired with others —  
specifically with Army Cpl. Charles A. Graner Jr., Army Staff Sgt. Ivan  
L. Frederick II and Steve Stefanowicz, a civilian interrogator — to  
harass and threaten detainees.

Graner and Frederick, who have since been demoted to the rank of  
private, described as the ringleaders of the abuse, were prosecuted in  
military courts and are serving prison sentences. Stefanowicz, who was  
employed by a defense contractor, cannot be charged in the military  
justice system.

"We deny that Mr. Stefanowicz conspired with anyone to commit any kind  
of unlawful act," his lawyer, Henry E. Hockheimer Jr., said Thursday.  
"His conduct throughout his time as a civilian interrogator was always  
appropriate and authorized."

"It's also extremely unfortunate and curious," he said, "that the  
military would feel it necessary to name an individual in these charges  
who has not been charged with any wrongdoing."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na- 
dogs3jun03,0,2319401.story?coll=la-home-nation
OR
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y27D5113B


from Brian Shannon - woof






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