Four U.S. soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners say they're innocent

[thedrifter]

Four U.S. soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners say they're innocent


By Matt Kelley
ASSOCIATED PRESS
10:40 a.m., July 26, 2003

WASHINGTON ? The military has charged four U.S. soldiers with abusing prisoners of war in Iraq. The soldiers and their families deny the accusations.

The four military police from a Pennsylvania-based Army Reserve unit are accused of punching, kicking and breaking bones of prisoners at Camp Bucca, the largest U.S.-run POW camp in Iraq.

The soldiers, charged this month, are the first U.S. troops known to face charges of abusing prisoners during the Iraq conflict.

The military's investigation continues, said Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. Balice confirmed four soldiers had been charged as part of that investigation but said he could not release their names.

The soldiers say their actions were in self-defense when Iraqi prisoners attacked them.

"A few of my MPs were assaulted by the enemy prisoners, and we had to use force to regain control, all justifiable," one of the accused, Staff Sgt. Scott McKenzie, e-mailed to relatives five days after the May 12 incident.

The four are not jailed but have been given restricted duties, separated from each other and assigned to a base in Kuwait, away from the rest of their unit. Military authorities told the four this month to quit talking about the case, relatives said.

Family members say they are worried about the stress on the four soldiers.

"If one of them commits suicide, if one of them gets killed, somebody has to answer for that," said Carol Graff, mother of accused Master Sgt. Lisa Girman.

The soldiers are awaiting an Article 32 hearing, a military proceeding where prosecutors lay out evidence of a crime and a commander decides whether to convene a court-martial. At least three other soldiers from the 320th Military Police Battalion also are being investigated, relatives said. The unit is based in Ashley, Pa., a suburb of Wilkes-Barre.

"I can't believe they're treating the soldiers this way," said Linda Edmondson, mother of accused Sgt. Shawna Edmondson. "All they did was go help transport prisoners, and they are charged with this."

Pentagon officials say American soldiers scrupulously follow international guidelines for humane treatment of detainees.

Some released Iraqi prisoners have complained of rough treatment such as being kept in tightly bound plastic handcuffs and blasted with loud music and strobe lights. The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said last month it has gathered evidence indicating the United States violated international law by subjecting Iraqi prisoners to "cruel, inhuman or degrading" conditions.

U.S. military authorities are investigating the death last month of an Iraqi prisoner at a camp run by U.S. Marines in south-central Iraq near Nasiriyah. British authorities are investigating the deaths of two prisoners under their control and separate allegations of torture and mistreatment of prisoners by British troops.

American authorities also are investigating whether Iraqis committed war crimes such as torturing and murdering captured members of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, Pfc. Jessica Lynch's unit, which was ambushed in Nasiriyah in March.

The four accused members of the U.S. Army's 320th Military Police Battalion face up to five charges each of assault and mistreating prisoners. McKenzie, 37, and Girman, 35, also face charges of making false statements and obstruction of justice.

Edmondson, 24, is charged only with assault, mistreatment and dereliction of duty. Spec. Tim Canjar, 21, also is charged with making false statements.

The most serious charges, making false statements and obstruction of justice, each carry a possible prison term of up to five years. Dereliction of duty and mistreating prisoners carry penalties of up to a year in prison, and assault carries a penalty of up to six months in jail.

The trouble began the night of May 12 when a bus carrying 44 prisoners arrived at Camp Bucca, near Umm Qasr in southern Iraq. Members of the 320th Military Police Battalion escorted the prisoners of war from the bus to a processing center.

McKenzie wrote in an e-mail to Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., that the prisoners included Iraqis who had tortured and killed U.S. POWs.

Several of the prisoners resisted and had to be wrestled to the ground, McKenzie wrote. One prisoner kicked Girman's leg, and a second grabbed Canjar's wrist and had to be subdued after a struggle, McKenzie wrote.

Military authorities allege Canjar held the legs of prisoner Hamza Alajyly while Girman and Edmondson kicked Alajyly. Canjar also is accused of twisting detainee Abdul Amir Rasheed's previously injured arm. Other allegations are that the MPs dragged prisoners along the ground and broke a prisoner's nose. All four soldiers deny doing those things.

McKenzie wrote that military authorities found no blood on the accused soldiers' clothes, even though the prisoner with the broken nose allegedly was bleeding profusely.

Relatives say the accused soldiers are not the kind who would abuse prisoners. The soldiers helped quell two riots by rock-throwing prisoners at the camp in April, family members say.

McKenzie is a state prison guard and decorated soldier. Girman is a Pennsylvania state trooper who helped run a summer camp for teenagers at the troopers' training academy. Graff said some officers at Camp Bucca resented Girman's rapport with her fellow troops.

Both Edmondson and Canjar are slightly built, relatives say. Her mother says Edmonson, a public safety officer at the University of Scranton, is about 5-foot-1 and 110 pounds. Canjar wrestled in the 147-pound class in high school.

"I wasn't there, but I know my son," said Canjar's father, James. "He's not a bully. He would act in self-defense, and that's it."

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Sempers,

Roger