Military dogs bit at least two detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, one severely enough to require stitches, witnesses testified at a pretrial hearing for two US army dog handlers.
The unmuzzled dogs were also used to terrify inmates at the direction of the highest-ranking military intelligence officer at the prison, one witness said Tuesday.
The allegations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and the surfacing of photos last year of US soldiers humiliating the detainees triggered international concern over the US military's treatment of war prisoners, in Iraq and at other sites including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"They were trying to Gitmo-ize Abu Ghraib," argued Harvey Volzer, a civilian attorney for Sergeant Santos Cardona, one of the Army dog handlers.
Prosecutors portrayed Cardona, 31, and Sergeant Michael Smith, 24, as rogue soldiers who used the dogs in a competition to frighten prisoners into urinating on themselves.
Both are charged with cruelty and maltreatment, aggravated assault, dereliction of duty and making false statements. Cardona could face up to 16 1/2 years imprisonment if convicted. Smith, also charged with committing an indecent act, could face 29 1/2 years.
The Article 32 hearing will determine whether the two will be court-martialed. Defense witnesses were expected to testify yesterday.
Guards were on edge at Abu Ghraib in December 2003 and January last year, and interrogators were under pressure to get information from three prisoners captured along with Saddam Hussein, witnesses said.
Private Sabrina Harman, another witness now serving a six-month sentence for her role in the scandal, said one bite on the detainee's thigh required 12 stitches.
"It seemed like a lot of blood, sir," Harman said.
Frederick also testified that he saw a dog bite another detainee on the wrist, and that he once saw a dog in the doorway of an interrogation booth.
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