Intelligence soldier admits abusing priosoners
A US Army specialist pleaded guilty today to abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison – the first military intelligence soldier to stand trial in the scandal that has so far focused prison guard reservists.
Spc Armin Cruz, of Plano, Texas, was assigned to the 325th Military Intelligence Battalion at the notorious jail on the western edge of Baghdad. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to maltreatment of prisoners.
The prosecution said Cruz forced naked prisoners to crawl along the floor and later handcuffed the men together.
Cruz faces up to a year in prison, reduction in rank, a bad-conduct discharge and a cut in pay. The judge, Col James Pohl, was expected to decide whether to accept the plea later today and if so, impose a sentence.
Under military law, the judge must decide whether to accept a guilty plea.
The only defendant convicted so far is Spc Jeremy Sivits, who pleaded guilty to four counts of abuse at his court-martial in May and was sentenced to a year in prison, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge.
Six other enlisted soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company, an army reserve unit based in Cresaptown, Maryland, face charges in the scandal.
