An attorney for an Army reservist shown in photographs smiling at naked, tied-up Iraqi prisoners said "the 20-year-old farm girl from West Virginia" is taking the fall for military shortcomings that include a lack of troops.
Private First Class Lynndie England, 21, of Fort Ashby, West Virginia, was charged last Friday with mistreating prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in a scandal that has drawn worldwide outrage.
Six other soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company are also charged and one of them, Specialist Jeremy Sivits, will face a Baghdad court-martial next week.
PHOTO: REUTERS
One of England's attorneys, Giorgio Ra'Shadd, said on Monday that the US military was so short of troops in Iraq that untrained people were being used as guards.
"Because there was a shortage of personnel the commander on the scene took people who had no idea how to be MPs [military police] and cut them off at the neck from their leadership," he said. "That is crazy."
He said his client was being offered up as a scapegoat for the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners.
"What is offensive to me is that we have generals and the secretary of defense hiding behind a 20-year-old farm girl from West Virginia who lives in a trailer park," Ra'Shadd said.
Asked if his client considered refusing to obey unlawful orders from jail commanders, he said her rank meant she took orders from most other ranks.
Ra'Shadd plans to ask for a change of venue because he does not believe England can get a fair court-martial at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where she is now assigned, said Rose Mary Zapor, another defense attorney.
England faces military charges including conspiracy to maltreat prisoners and assault consummated by battery, and faces more than 15 years in prison, McGuire said.
In photographs shown in news reports, England is smiling, cigarette in her mouth, as she leans forward and points at the genitals of a naked, hooded Iraqi. Another photo shows her holding a leash for a naked Iraqi man lying on his side, his face contorted.
Ra'Shadd said England joined the Reserves out of patriotism and to prevent another Sept. 11. He said intelligence operatives staged many of the scenes in the photos to frighten prisoners into talking.
But, he said, "the spooks from the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and State Department won't show up when we subpoena them. They will go into hiding."
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