Attorneys for four soldiers charged with smothering to death an Iraqi general during an interrogation said their commanders had approved their methods.
"There is a failure of leadership all the way up the chain of command," Frank Spinner, the civilian lawyer for Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, said on Thursday.
Welshofer and the other three soldiers are charged with murder and dereliction of duty in the November 2003 death of Major General Abid Mowhoush of Qaim, Iraq. Mowhoush, a member of the Republican Guard's air defense branch, was captured in a raid in Qaim. Military officials have said he was believed to have been financing attacks on US forces.
Prosecutors allege the soldiers put him headfirst into a sleeping bag, tied him up with an electrical cord and threw him to the ground. The army accuses Welshofer of then sitting on Mowhoush's chest.
If convicted, they could get life in prison without parole.
The army has not yet decided whether to put the four on trial. A preliminary hearing for three of the soldiers, Chief Warrant Officer Jefferson Williams, Sergeant 1st Class William Sommer and Specialist Jerry Loper, ended on Thursday. All four men were assigned to the Fort Carson-based regiment at the time of Mowhoush's death.
Through their attorneys, all have denied wrongdoing, saying commanders had sanctioned their actions.
"The interrogation techniques used in this case were known and approved of by the upper echelon of the 3rd Armored Cavalry regiment," defense lawyer Bill Cassara said.
Major Jessica Voss, head of the 66th Military Intelligence Unit, which oversaw Mowhoush's interrogation, has testified that she also believed commanders had approved of their techniques.
Voss's testimony was made in a closed hearing in December, but a censored transcript of her statement was released this week after The Denver Post successfully sued to have the rest of the hearing open.
The transcript indicates Voss was reprimanded in the case, but she has not been charged.
Spinner said he may try to question top Bush administration officials in pretrial hearings about whether they created an atmosphere in which torture was overlooked.
Fort Carson commander Major General Robert Mixon will decide whether the soldiers are court-martialed, after he receives a recommendation from the investigating officer. No timetable was set.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was