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US officer in Iraq may face life sentence
A US officer has been sent to court-martial in connection with seven charges that may send him into prison for good, the US army said here Sunday. US Colonel William H. Steele has been convicted in three charges, while four charges are still being investigated, the army said in a release.Steele has been charged with nine violations, including fraternizing with the daughter of a detainee, mishandling classified information and government funds, having an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter and possessing pornography. When Steele left his job at western Baghdad's Camp Cropper detention center for another position in Iraq, he took 18,000 electronic and printed classified documents, witnesses testified. Like the Abu Ghraib scandal, the allegations against Steele have raised questions about the behavior of military jailers in Iraq. But one of the key questions about Steele seemed to be whether he was treating detainees far too well, in violation of military law. If Steele is convicted in the other four charges during a trial to be held on October 15, he may face life sentence. Steele is now held in Theater Field Detention Facility in the State of Kuwait pending trial. Posted by: Seafarious 2007-10-15 |
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