GI: Army should drop Abu Ghraib discharge

[rainbow4321]

http://njo.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1108186343309010.xml


The lawyer for Javal Davis, the New Jersey soldier sentenced last week for his role in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, yesterday said he will ask clemency for his client. At a news conference in his Newark office, Paul Bergrin said he will file a petition with Gen. Thomas Metz, the field commander of American forces in Iraq, asking that Davis, who grew up in Roselle, be allowed to remain in the Army.

"He knows he will have to serve his time," said Bergrin. After pleading guilty to assault, dereliction of duty, and filing a false statement, Davis was sentenced to six months imprisonment and given a bad conduct discharge by a military jury last week in Fort Hood, Texas. "But he really wants to remain in the Army," Bergrin said. "He wanted it to be his life".

To bolster his argument for clemency, Bergrin contended that top American officials -- from the president on down -- pressured subordinates to "break" Iraqi detainees. In that atmosphere, Bergrin said, Davis and other soldiers "snapped" and did things "they knew they shouldn't do."

Bergrin also displayed an enlargement of a photograph showing a smiling Metz at a Christmas party little more than a month ago with Davis and other Abu Ghraib defendants, including Charles Graner, who was found guilty on all charges and received the stiffest sentence so far, 10 years. "Obviously, Gen. Metz liked these soldiers," Bergrin aid. "We hope he will show mercy to Sgt. Davis"