Lynndie England Convicted in Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse Scandal  

September 26th 2005

Lynndie England has been convicted on six of the seven criminal counts in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse case.  Monday 22 year old Army pfc England was found guilt of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. She was acquitted on one of the conspiracy counts.

The jury of five male Army officers took about two hours to reach its verdict according to the Associated Press news service.  She will begin the sentencing phase Tuesday. 

The prison abuse scandal damaged the United States’ image in the Muslim world.  The scandal was caught on film.  One of the photos showed England holding one of the detainees by a leash.  Other photos showed England pointing at the prisoners while they were in humiliating poses. 

In a U.S. Department of Justice Memo to Alberto R. Gonzales, Counsel to the President,  interrogation methods that did not inflict pain were lawful.  The memo can be seen on the antiwar.com website.  In it, torture is defined as an act that “must inflict pain that is difficult to endure”. 

The document also interpreted torture to be extreme acts only, and these extreme acts were banned under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 

In another declassified document the Wall Street Journal reported that the President was advised that prohibitions against torture do not apply to the war on terrorism.    

According to testimony given to Congress in 2004, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the “real issue” was that the photographs had been leaked to the media and had generated a firestorm that has threatened to undermine U.S. efforts in Iraq. 

Rumsfeld told Congress the guards were instructed to follow the Geneva Conventions in their treatment of the prisoners.  The Secretary also told Congress that "anyone who recommended the kind of behavior" depicted in the photographs "needs to be brought to justice." But he disputed any suggestion that there was a policy that encouraged abuse.

England’s trial is the last in a series of nine trials in conjunction with the scandal.  Two other prison guards were convicted and the other six made plea bargains.  Several of those soldiers testified at this trial.  Prosecutors also used the photos to prove she was the key figure in the abuse conspiracy. 

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By Dan Wilson
Best Syndication Staff Writer

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