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Sept. 27, 2005 In May, Pvt. Lynndie England pleaded guilty on to seven counts of abuse of abuse of Iraqi Prisoners in return for a shorter sentence and the dropping of two charges. A accused person will plead guilty to avoid the humiliation of a trail and to get the best deal possible A good lawyer will advise the client when it is in their best interest to plea-bargain and when to let the case go to trail. The judge overseeing the case, Col. James L. Pohl, declared a mistrial and blocked the plea deal. He said Private England's admission of guilt had been contradicted by testimony from Private Graner suggesting that the episode with the leash was a legitimate use of force. At first, I thought the judge may have been protecting a young woman from being unfairly thrown to the wolves. Now I am not so sure. At this point, Private England did not avoid the humiliation of a public trail and she no more ahead than when she decide to plead guilty. In the second trail we learned about her history of depression, learning disabilities and the fact that she gave her boyfriend oral pleasure in public. Private England was found guilty of six of the seven counts against her, including four counts of mistreatment, one count of conspiracy and one count of indecency. She was acquitted on another conspiracy charge. She is faces a maximum of 10 years in a military prison. What was this Prisoner Abuse Poster Child's great crime? Did she beat up the prisoners or torture them in any way? She smoked a cigarette, pointed at prisoner genitals and smirked. She laughed as she stood next to her boyfriend beside a pyramid of naked men. She was holding a leash tied around the neck of a naked detainee. If she had been smart, she would have put the leash on her boyfriend and take a whip to him instead. She admitted her guilt. So why didn't Judge Col. James L. Pohl just allow her to plea and get it over with. She could pay her debt to society and go on with her life which is already in ruins. Perhaps the Judge was getting his jollification by listening to all that dirty laundry. The detainees were humiliated but not tortured by Private England. Perhaps some of the detainees like these responsible for the kidnapping and video taping aid worker Margaret Hassan crying., fainting, having water thrown over her face to revive her, only to have her cry again. A Video was sent to a television station showing a hooded figure shooting a blindfolded woman wearing an orange jumpsuit in the head. She was presumed to be Mrs. Hassan. Numerous hostages have been video taped being tormented and executed. Two wrongs don't make a right but there is a difference between pointing at a penis and laughing versus beheading someone on videotape. There are some things that go on between closed prison doors that we don't need to know. It was a mistake to let the privates run the show. It would have been better to have the CIA run the operation from top to bottom. Should we really give a hoot about what the military to prisoners, if it saves lives, and smashes terrorism and protects our country? It would be preposterous to believe that prison's superior officers did not know what a handful of enlisted soldiers were up to. Some of the soldiers actually reported the abuse to their superiors and it got put on ignore. England and lower ranking soldiers will pay the price with ruined lives and reputations. If the officers who looked the other way or even gave tacit approval are unlucky, they will get a reprimand. ------------ About the author: Bonijean Isaacs is a freelance writer and Astrologer in West Virginia. Email: inez4liberty@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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