Abu Ghraib dog handler stopped from returning to Iraq

[David]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US Army dog handler who was court-martialed for abusing Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison has been stopped from returning to Iraq with his unit and ordered to return to his home base, the army said.

The army acted after Time magazine reported that Specialist Santos Cardona, 32, had been ordered to return to Iraq after serving his sentence.

Cardona, who deployed from Fort Bragg, North Carolina on October 30 with the 23rd Military Police Company, got as far as Kuwait when US military commanders intervened to stop him from going on with his unit to Iraq.

Cardona "will depart Kuwait and will return to Fort Bragg immediately where he will be assigned duties commensurate with his military occupation specialty and rank," the army said in a statement.

Cardona was sentenced in June to hard labor without confinement for 90 days, demoted one rank and docked 7,200 dollars by a military court.

Time magazine said Cardona's military police company would be training Iraqi police.

"The symbolic message perceived in Iraq will likely be that the US is simply insensitive to the abuse of their prisoners," retired US general Barry McCaffrey told Time.

The Abu Ghraib scandal erupted in 2004 after photographs were leaked to the press showing US guards mistreating and sexually humiliating prisoners. Some pictures showed naked inmates cowering in front of unmuzzled dogs.

The military court found Cardona guilty of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault in connection with the use of unmuzzled dogs.

But it acquitted Cardona on seven other counts, including a more serious charge of letting his dog bite an Iraqi prisoner.

He was also cleared of using his dog to terrify inmates into defecating and urinating on themselves, for what prosecutors had argued was "entertainment."

Time quoted one of Cardona's family members saying he was "depressed" at the prospect of returning to Iraq.

A friend also told Time he feared for Cardona's life. Cardona appears in one or more Al-Qaeda propaganda films, Time noted.