Soldier's defense team wants 100 witnesses from Cheney on down for Abu Gra

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04165/331166.stm

Defense attorneys preparing for Pfc. Lynndie England's upcoming hearing on charges she abused detainees at Abu Ghraib prison have compiled a list of 100 potential witnesses stretching from the halls of power in Washington, D.C., to the sand-swept vistas of Iraq.

By putting top government officials like Vice President Dick Cheney on their witness list, England's attorneys are serving notice that in defending their client, they will attempt to put on trial the Bush administration's policies on intelligence gathering from detainees. Like most other military police reservists charged in the abuse scandal, England has claimed military intelligence officers ordered the MPs to "soften up" the detainees prior to interrogations.

However, just because her attorneys want those witnesses doesn't mean that many of them will be on the stand later this month at England's Article 32 hearing in Fort Bragg, N.C. That's because a military investigating officer, the presiding authority at the Article 32 hearing, will decide which witnesses are most relevant.

<snip>

The wished-for witness list, obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, includes, in addition to Cheney, other high-ranking officials such as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Stephen Cambone; Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and other high-ranking Army officers; White House General Counsel Alberto Gonzales; and Justice Department officials.

[wryter2000]

1. LOL

Maybe she can serve some useful function, after all. I know she's a scapegoat, but she's loathsome, imho.

[cliss]

2. Well, she's right.

Why should she be singled out for jail time, when she obeyed orders. Orders that were probably coming from civlians, by the way.

Well, good for her. She's going to pay, but why should she be the only one to pay? In particular, I'd like to see indictments for the interrogators of CACI and Titan Corporations.

Right now, they're being sued by a group of 9 Iraqis who were tortured. Expect to see LOTS more of these.

[ET Awful]

3. Sorry, but the "just following orders" defense went out . . .

with the Nuremberg trials. When you have photos showing that you obviously ENJOYED what you were doing.

Everyone else should be prosecuted as well, but to try and use the "just following orders" argument ANYWHERE along the line is complete b.s.

[bahrbearian]

4. I wasn't aware they taught torture 1 weekend a month in

National Guard Training.

[jmowreader]

9. No, that's in the "two weeks a year" part ;)

Seriously, guys, I can't understand why they're not calling the Bush boy.

[Dr Fate]

6. Except it leads to the question: "Who gave the orders?..."

"...and who gave the orderers THEIR orders?"-and so forth...

[jdj]

5. I think the this whole process will be very interesting.

We will be tallying up the #'s of lies they tell about how they did not authorize torture and Lyndie et al are just deranged redneck ne'er do wells.

[0007]

7. How in the world is junior gonna wag the dog in these types of cases?

[Disturbed]

8. Pvt. England

She is going to have a difficult time of any sort of defense becaause of the Video of her having sexual intercourse with several soldiers in front of detainees. That Video won't be shown at her trial but you can be assured that the judges on the panel have seen it. Of course, this won't be spoken of but it will be in their minds as they hand down the verdict and sentence.

The systematic policy of "abuse", "humiliation" and outright torture is emerging and I have no doubt that documents, more photos, videos and testimony of victems will surface.

The next step will be War Crimes. There are at least 27 cases of detainees that died in various prison facilities maintained by the US Military. These cases are the ones that the Military is attempting desperately to keep in the background.

Having the Military investigate itself is ludricrous!!!!

[lucky777]

10. Watching her have sex IS torture, imho

She's kind of odd looking; I wouldn't want to be forced to watch her have sex.