Word: 372nd
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Standing behind a pyramid of naked inmates at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, Specialist Charles Graner became the poster boy for detainee abuse. Now Graner could spend more than 17 years in his own cell for his alleged leading role in the abuses. Three other members of Maryland's 372nd Military Police Company have pleaded guilty; three more, including Graner's girlfriend, Private First Class Lynndie England, face charges. Specialist Joseph Darby, the unit member who first reported the abuses, is in hiding after multiple threats...
...into the allegations of abuse last January, Sivits depicted a sordid camaraderie in which a handful of young soldiers willingly followed the lead of the older Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick and Specialist Charles Graner into perverse revelry. Sivits described nights of violence and debauchery, during which soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company joked and laughed and subjected the prisoners under their control to sexual humiliation and physical pain. When detainees were reluctant to strip, he said, Graner punched one in the temple so hard, he lost consciousness. Sivits said the blow apparently injured Graner's hand, quoting Graner...
...copies of two photos he intends to use to defend his client, who was formally charged last week on seven counts of maltreatment and committing indecent acts. According to Graner, the photos, taken from a vantage point above graphic scenes previously made public, show two more sergeants from the 372nd and four military-intelligence officers watching with him as a chubby man in fatigues pushes naked Iraqi prisoners into a pile. Graner says the plump man is a civilian intelligence contractor and the military intelligence guys include two high-ranking sergeants. The pictures, attorney Womack told TIME, prove Graner...
...telling the truth? The differing accounts of Sivits and Graner go to the heart of the scandal: How high up does responsibility go? Everyone agrees that the despicable treatment the 372nd inflicted at Abu Ghraib violated the Geneva Conventions, U.S. rules on interrogation and common decency. And no matter what superiors order, soldiers are ultimately culpable for their own actions. But across Capitol Hill, many also fault senior Pentagon civilians and brass for loosening the rules of interrogation in Iraq and the top guns of the Bush Administration for setting a tone of tolerance as far back as Sept...
...much was ordered by higher-ups and how much was free-lance sadism will presumably become clearer when the accused men and women of the 372nd face the criminal-justice system. The equivalent of a grand jury that is under way will probably lead in coming weeks to courts-martial that could result in punitive discharges or imprisonment. Frederick, who was in charge of the others and thus appears to be most culpable, is likely to be tried first. He and five others facing charges remain on duty in Iraq, although the unit has been transferred out of Abu Ghraib...