Abu Ghraib victim's statement barred at trial (Hooded Man)

[Barrett808]

FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - Testimony from an Iraqi photographed with wires attached to his arms and a hood over his head at Abu Ghraib prison will not be allowed at a prisoner abuse trial, a U.S. military judge ruled on Wednesday.

Lawyers for Army reservist Spc. Sabrina Harman had hoped that the man, whose image became one of the symbols of American abuse of Iraqi detainees, would provide a potentially exonerating statement.

Harman faces as much as six and a half years in prison if convicted on all charges, which include posing with a broad smile before a pyramid of naked detainees and attaching wires to the Iraqi and telling him he would be electrocuted if he stepped off a box.

Harman's court-martial is scheduled to begin on Thursday.

"I'm still just astonished that the government is objecting to the statement of the alleged victim," said Frank Spinner, her civilian lawyer. "The very person who had wires put on him does not identify my client as the one who put the wires on him."

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050511/ts_nm/abuse_iraq_dc

[truebrit71]

1. Wow....tell me again why I didn't take the blue pill?

...unbelievable..

[mike_c]

2. reality has no relevance in the Twilight Zone....

Don't adjust your sets. It's going to get weirder, I suspect.

[louis-t]

3. I still have no idea why soldiers are being persecuted/prosecuted

We know for a FACT that these actions fell within guidelines set up by rummy and approved by Gonzales and bushie. Yes, it was wrong but the neocons say it wasn't torture or abuse, yet they charge the soldiers with it anyway! Grrrrr!

[Rex]

4. So thats what Rummy does when he flies to Iraq!

And here they are blaming this guy! Althought this looks very bad and might mean someone else is to blame (the victim says it's not Harman), the MSM will leave it alone to wither and die on the vine.

[rocktivity]

5. And potentially exonerating statements are bad because...

:shrug:
rocknation

[wallwriter]

6. Duh!

Because he's a Terrist!

[Voltaire99]

7. Here's the little darling, again

And crown thy good with brotherhood...



"GIs pose behind a pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners. A smiling Sabrina Harman can be seen crouching just above the pile. Above her, with his arms folded, is another GI, Charles Graner." (CBS News)

[thebigidea]

8. because he says there was no "pretending," he was electrocuted

[lostnfound]

9. Is that true?

I'm not surprised, but wondering if you've heard specific reporting on this man's case. I seem to have heard a tidbit of that somewhere..

[thebigidea]

12. do a search here, there's a fairly recent article and interview

[Richard Steele]

10. Ahhhhh, I think you might be onto something, thebigidea!

We have consistently heard that there were WORSE pictures and video still being kept from us...

We know a few people left Abu Graib DEAD...

So maybe, allowing prisoners to testify about ANYTHING AT ALL could just prove the situation was/is MUCH worse than we think?

[tinanator]

11. Support (the prosecution of) the troops

What color is that ribbon supposed to be?

[Tinoire]

13. And now the rest of the story. Sabrina's defense: He was in on the "JOKE"

Wired Iraqi prisoner photo done in jest: lawyer

Debbie Stevenson
36 minutes ago



FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. Army reservist accused of attaching wires to a hooded Iraqi prisoner did so in a joke shared with the prisoner, her lawyer said at the start of a court-martial said on Thursday. Spc. Sabrina Harman, who pleaded innocent to charges of conspiracy, dereliction of duty and maltreatment of subordinates, also photographed abuses because she wanted to document what she felt was wrongful behavior, attorney Frank Spinner said.

"She was upset as early as 20 October, 2003, at some of the things she was seeing. She was offended by what she saw and she hoped at some point that she could prove it," Spinner told a military jury at the start of her trial.

The former pizza restaurant worker, who joined the Army reserves after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is linked to several of the most notorious Iraqi prisoner abuse photos.

She is accused of posing before a pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners and photographing them as they were forced to masturbate. She is also charged with placing wires on an Iraqi detainee dubbed Gilligan by guards and telling him he would be electrocuted if he stepped off a box in a picture seen worldwide.

"This was a joke. Gilligan understood it to be a joke. It was all part of their relationship," Spinner said. "It was a relationship beyond what the pictures showed."

Spinner also said other now notorious pictures did not constitute abuse as the prisoners were hooded and thus did not know they were being photographed. Earlier in the day, Harman pleaded innocent before the court chose a military jury.

(snip)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=9&u=/nm/20050512/ts_nm/iraq_abuse_dc

Wow. She wanted to document wrongful behavior? A joke? All a part of the relationship?

If I recall correctly, the wires were attached to his genitals. Some joke.

[pie]

14. Ah yes, the jokester defense!

Hooking a guy's nuts up to a car battery
never fails to amuse and amaze the entire family.

Unbelievable.