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Abu Ghraib US colonel reprimanded
A top US commander at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq - where detainees were abused by American guards - has been reprimanded and fined $8,000 (£4,274). The US army found Col Thomas Pappas guilty of two counts of dereliction of duty, including that of allowing dogs to be present during interrogations. Col Pappas was in charge of military intelligence personnel at the prison near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Last week, former commander of the jail Brig Gen Janis Karpinski was demoted. Nine junior US soldiers have been charged in connection with the abuse at the prison in late 2003, and seven of them have already been convicted. The verdict came at the end of a hearing in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in which Col Pappas presented evidence in his defence. Maj Gen Bennie Williams found the colonel guilty of two counts of dereliction of duty in late 2003 and early 2004. The first count said that Col Pappas "failed to ensure that subordinates were adequately informed of, trained upon and supervised in the application of interrogation procedures". The second referred to his failure in obtaining "the approval of superior commanders before authorising a non-sanctioned interrogation technique, specifically, the presence of military working dogs during the questioning". But Col Pappas was not found to have ordered the abuse of prisoners. No decision has yet been made whether to relieve Col Pappas of command of the Germany-based 205th Military Intelligence Brigade.
Posted by: Steve 2005-05-12 |
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