Soldier cleared of Iraqi prisoner abuse charge
A military court acquitted a US Army officer of failing to control lower-ranking soldiers who humiliated and abused detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq during the autumn of 2003.
But the panel at Fort Meade, Maryland, convicted Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan of disobeying a general's order not to talk to others about a subsequent investigation into the abuse.
Jordan faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, forfeiture of pay and allowances and dismissal from the armed services.
The jury recessed for the night after deliberating on the sentence for an hour and 15 minutes.
Prosecutors recommended that Jordan be reprimanded and fined one month's pay - about $7,400 (€5,451).
The defence asked the panel for no punishment.
The verdict effectively closes the military's investigation into a scandal that first came to light with the release of pictures of inmates in painful and humiliating positions that embarrassed the Pentagon and shocked the Muslim world.
The panel absolved Jordan, the only officer charged in the scandal, of responsibility for the actions of 11 soldiers previously convicted for their roles at Abu Ghraib.
The verdict means criminal liability went no higher than Staff Sgt Ivan Frederick, a military police reservist from Buckingham, Virginia, who is serving an eight-year sentence.
The 10-member jury acquitted Jordan of three counts: failing to obey a lawful general order by ordering dogs used for interrogations without higher approval, punishable by up to two years; cruelty and maltreatment for subjecting detainees to forced nudity and intimidation by dogs, punishable by up to one year; and dereliction of a duty to properly train and supervise soldiers in humane interrogation rules, punishable by up to six months.
Attorneys for the government and the defence declined to comment on the verdict.
The jury deliberated on the verdict for seven hours over two days.
Jordan, a 51-year-old reservist, stood facing the jury as the panel president, a brigadier general, read the verdict.
During the sentencing hearing that followed, Jordan told the panel in a choked, halting voice that he respected its decision and took sole responsibility for his actions.
"When I first saw photographs of the horrible abuses at Abu Ghraib, I was shocked and I was saddened. It did not represent the US soldiers that I know and love," he said. "After today, I hope the wounds of Abu Ghraib can start to heal."
During the sentencing, the defence called 13 witnesses who praised Jordan's dedication and leadership.
The verdict followed four days of testimony that offered conflicting notions of command responsibility.
In closing arguments on Monday, a prosecutor said Jordan was not court-martialled for what he did at Abu Ghraib, but for what he did not do.
The defence countered that Jordan was outside the command chains - and therefore not responsible for - the military intelligence soldiers who interrogated detainees and the military police who guarded them.
Jordan was director of the prison's interrogation centre from mid-September until mid-November 2003. And he was the senior officer inside a prison cellblock on November 24, 2003, during at least part of an episode that included a strip-search of Iraqi correctional officers for smuggled weapons and ended with a dog being brought in to intimidate a detainee during questioning in his cell.
Jordan is the only officer among the 12 people charged in the scandal, and the last to go to trial.
Of the 11 enlisted soldiers convicted of crimes, the longest sentence, 10 years, was given to former Cpl Charles Graner Jr in January 2005.
