namelesstavern.net

SAN ANTONIO - Pfc. Lynndie England will plead guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison, her lawyer said late Friday, months after photos of her sexually humiliating inmates made her the face of a scandal that damaged the credibility of the U.S. military.

England will plead guilty in a military court Monday to seven of the nine counts against her: two counts of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating prisoners and one count of dereliction of duty, said Rick Hernandez, her civilian lawyer.

England, a 22-year-old Army reservist who was a clerk at the Baghdad-area prison, was scheduled to go to trial Tuesday at Fort Hood.

Hernandez said the plea deal was reached Friday afternoon during a meeting with military prosecutors at Fort Hood.

"This is in her best interests," he said.

One count of committing indecent acts and one count of failure to obey a lawful order will be dismissed, Hernandez said. That will drop the maximum sentence she faces from 16 1/2 years to 11 years, he said.

England, from Fort Ashby, West Virginia, was one of seven members of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company charged with humiliating and assaulting prisoners at the prison near Baghdad. She became a focal point of the scandal about a year ago after photos of her surfaced, include one that showed her smiling and posing with nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid.

In one notorious photo from the prison, England is shown holding a hooded, naked Iraqi prisoner on a leash. In another she is smiling and pointing at a naked detainee's genitals while a cigarette dangles from the corner of her mouth.

Her lawyers had argued England and others in her unit were acting on orders from military intelligence to "soften up" prisoners for interrogations.

But Army investigators testified during hearings last summer that England said the reservists took the photos while "they were joking around, having some fun."

Five other members of the 372nd have entered guilty pleas, with sentences ranging from no time to 8 1/2 years.

The only soldier in the case to stand trial, alleged ringleader Spc. Charles Graner Jr., was convicted on all charges earlier this year and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Graner and England were once lovers, and authorities believe he is the father of England's baby.

One other member of the 372nd is awaiting trial: Spc. Sabrina Harman, a guard who faces up to 6 1/2 years if convicted on charges of conspiracy, maltreating detainees and dereliction of duty.

England had initially been charged with 19 counts of abuse and indecent acts that carried a combined maximum sentence of 38 years in prison. Prosecutors filed a new, reduced set of charges in February.

Diabolik wrote:Yeah.. I sleep safer today because prisoners at Abu Ghraib were dragged around on leases, sodomized with sticks, made to walk around naked while covered in their own excrement, made to stick their fingers up into their rectums and then into their mouthes, and threatened with bodily harm unless they masturbated. That's only what they were caught doing.

You truly are a piece of work, Mindia. I'm still not convinced that you aren't one of the other NT regulars playing a sick joke on everyone.

Diabolik wrote:Yeah.. I sleep safer today because prisoners at Abu Ghraib were dragged around on leashes, sodomized with sticks, made to walk around naked while covered in their own excrement, made to stick their fingers up into their rectums and then into their mouthes, and threatened with bodily harm unless they masturbated. That's only what they were caught doing.

You truly are a piece of work, Mindia. I'm still not convinced that you aren't one of the other NT regulars playing a sick joke on everyone.

Mindia wrote:6 1/2 years for protecting her country. That's just great.

Arlos wrote:Oh yes, so Christian to support torturing people, many of whom who had comitted no crime and were later released, un-charged. You are such a credit to your religion. Unfortunately, most of your ilk are just like you, which is why Christianity has such a bad image with other religions.

-Arlos

Mindia wrote:6 1/2 years for protecting her country. That's just great.

Mindia wrote:Diabolik said

Lyion wrote:Anyone who has ever served in the military knows that accountability goes from the top down. My problem with Abu Ghraib is accountability is going from the bottom up.

None of the people convicted were Officers or NCOs. Why not? What about the Intel people who were in charge of these people?

Make no mistake, The real culprits here got away, and the E-nothings got creamed. It is a travesty.

These people needed to be punished, but they should have gotten smaller charges, with the larger penalties going to those in charge who ran this circus

Scoota McGee wrote:

Mindia wrote:6 1/2 years for protecting her country. That's just great.

I take it you've never served. If you had you would have some concept of what it is to protect your country. Anyone who had served honorably in the military would be repulsed and embarrassed by the behavior the Abu Ghraib guards exhibited. I know I am.

Kizzy wrote:Mindia have you ever heard of the Geneva Convention?

Ginzburgh wrote:lol I don't see what everyone is getting into a fuss about. Mindia is not a religious man in the least. That should have been evident by now. He's like that 15 year old girl who says, "I LOVE THE YANKEE'S" but couldn't name 5 people on the team.

Martrae wrote:Mindia, do you even know where Scoota has been the last year?

BTW, are you back yet, Scoota?