An American soldier confessed yesterday that US guards abused Iraqi detainees at the notorious Abu Ghraib jail in a scandal threatening to undermine US President George W. Bush's bid for a second term.
Specialist Jeremy Sivits, pleading guilty at the first court martial of soldiers accused of abuses which caused outrage when pictures of naked and terrified Iraqi inmates were published around the world, pointed the finger at others.
Chief among them, said Sivits as he was convicted on three of four charges, was Specialist Charles Graner, who, he said, pulled out a camera after stomping on naked prisoners.
Sivits, who faces the lightest charges of seven US soldiers accused so far, also confessed to pushing a prisoner into the now infamous picture of a pile of naked Iraqis.
He made a plea bargain under which he would give evidence at future courts martial and was sentenced to a year in prison.
Three other guards at the prison near Baghdad were arraigned on more serious charges as the abuse scandal and guerrilla violence increased pressure on Washington to hand over real power to Iraqis on June 30.
Graner, Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick and Sergeant Javal Davis all deferred pleas at quickfire hearings and will appear again on June 21.
About 200 Iraqis protested outside the fortified "Green Zone" headquarters of the US-led occupiers in central Baghdad as the court martial began at a makeshift court inside.
The abuses and guerrilla violence are increasing pressure on Washington to hand power along with formal sovereignty to an interim government due to lead Iraq to elections in January.
Washington says a sudden US departure would risk bloodier anarchy in a country of religious and ethnic divides.
But the scandal has shattered faith in the US across the Arab world and Monday's assassination of Izzedin Salim, head of the US-appointed Iraq Governing Council, prompted loud calls for Washington to hand over real power.
After a car bomb, for which a group headed by al-Qaeda figure Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility, killed Salim at a Green Zone checkpoint, even allies joined the chorus.
Italy and Poland, major contributors to the US-led force in Iraq, urged Washington to give Iraqis power when it hands over sovereignty in six weeks.
"We want to be sure that there will be a clear breakthrough in the Iraqi situation that will truly give sovereignty," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told Rete 4 TV as he flew to the US to meet Bush.
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