Jury Deliberates Case Of High Ranking Officer Charged With Abuse

Tuesday, August 28th 2007, 7:12 am

By: News On 6

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) _ A military jury heard closing arguments and began deliberating in the court-martial of the highest-ranking officer charged with abusing Abu Ghraib detainees.

If convicted on all four counts, Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan could be sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison. Jury deliberations were to resume Tuesday.

Jordan, 51, never appeared in the inflammatory photos of U.S. soldiers with naked and abused detainees at the U.S.-run Iraqi prison, but he was accused of fostering the abuse.

During closing arguments, Jordan's lawyer took aim at one of the government's top witnesses, saying that Maj. Donald Reese falsely testified that Jordan condoned prisoner nudity as an interrogation technique. Reese commanded the 372 Military Police Company in Iraq.

``Maj. Reese is not telling the truth,'' defense attorney Maj. Kris Poppe said, citing contradictory testimony by others. ``To deflect blame is a time-honored tradition, and that's what he did.''

Earlier Monday, a prosecutor said Jordan is not being court-martialed for what he did during his brief assignment as director of the Abu Ghraib interrogation center _ but for what he didn't do.

``It's about what he divorced himself from doing,'' Lt. Col. John P. Tracy told the panel of nine colonels and one brigadier general. ``He didn't train. He didn't supervise.''

Tracy reminded the panel repeatedly that Jordan was the senior officer at Abu Ghraib in September and October 2003, when witnesses said they saw detainees naked and handcuffed in their cells.

Tracy also said Jordan was the senior officer inside a prison cellblock on Nov. 24, 2003, during at least part of an episode that ended with a dog being brought in to intimidate a detainee during questioning.

The defense contended that Jordan had no obligation ``to train, supervise and ensure compliance by soldiers under his control'' in following interrogation rules requiring humane treatment of prisoners.

The most serious charge Jordan faces is disobeying an order not to discuss an Abu Ghraib investigation with others, an offense punishable by up to five years in prison.

Jordan also is charged with failing to obey a regulation by ordering dogs to be used for interrogations without higher approval, punishable by up to two years; cruelty and maltreatment for allegedly 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 interrogation rules, punishable by up to six months.

Jordan is the only officer among the 12 people charged in the scandal, and the last to go to trial. Eleven enlisted soldiers have been convicted of crimes, with the longest sentence, 10 years, given to former Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., of Uniontown, Pa., in January 2005.