Wired Iraqi prisoner photo done in jest: lawyer (Abu Ghraib)

[Tinoire]

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.

[daleo]

1. A creative defense, straight from Rush Limbaugh.

Not only was it a frat prank, but the Iraqis were in on the gag. Maybe it was initiation night.

[Tinoire]

10. Exactly....

Totally disgusting. I couldn't believe what I was reading!

[Solly Mack]

2. what idiot is coming up with these excuses?

If that was a joke, I didn't get it.

[mmonk]

3. gee

real funny.:eyes:

[Barrett808]

4. So this is why the Iraqi prisoner's statement was barred?

For this idiotic defense?

Abu Ghraib victim's statement barred at trial (Hooded Man)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1463663

[Tinoire]

13. Goodness! I had missed that

I'm going to append my post to your thread so that if anyone ever links to yours later on, they'll have the rest of the story.

From your thread, a poster stated that there was no pretending and that he was indeed electrocuted. I seem to recall the same thing. Does anyone have any links that that?

This is all beyond sick.

[thebigidea]

5. its not abuse because they were hooded? there's some insane logic

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. Since the Twinkie defense was already taken....

[Barrett808]

8. "Twinkies are the best friends I ever had"

"I fought that law, and I won...You can get away with murder if you've got a badge..."

Love ya, Jello.

[TahitiNut]

7. "joke"?? Who was the audience? Psychopaths 'R' Us?

I've not heard anyone laughing, Sabrina. You're a disgrace to your name.

[ovidsen]

9. Doing what defense lawyers do...

A good defense attorney will argue anything, ANYTHING, to exonerate a client.

Of course, that doesn't make it right.

[Tinoire]

14. But one mustn't sink to nonesense either

I hear what you're saying but what a horrid system. The ENTIRE chain of command should be tried for these crimes.

Surely he could have found a credible defense that was still honorable/

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. We were jest laffin so hard, it was TORTURE! Wahahaha.

Jest like when soldiers shoot bullets at people, it's a joke that everyone shares.

Giant, cancer-causing laffs, to quote Milk and Cheese.

[demgrrrll]

12. We Keed ,We Keed! Hey can't ya take a joke? This is so beyond

the pale I can't think of a rational response.

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. Why? Aren't you mesmerized by the junior hypnotist's league?

They're treating us like dogs.

[bpilgrim]

15. and the GERMAN SHEPHERD'S, the dead guy?!?

and the children TORTURED in front of their mothers was a joke, too?!?




:puke:

peace

[lumpy]

22. I only feel rage when I see pictures of

this indecent bitch with her mocking smile.

[Boredtodeath]

16. Isn't this the same girl who married Graner?

Poor, stupid Lyndie got stuck with the kid and Graner got married to another girl - another guard at the Iraqi prison.

May not be the new bride, I'm not sure.

[Chicago Democrat]

18. hilarious

[AlCzervik]

19. Wow, what a creative and hilarious prank!

you know the only funnier would be mocking their religion.:sarcasm:

[Disturbed]

20. There must be a IQ limit for the NG.

If anyone's IQ is above 90 they are not accepted.

[chlamor]

21. It's all so funny

Should we play hide and go seek?
It's all fun and games in Sado-Maso land.

Hey Tinoire-Peace to you

[bpilgrim]

27. Worst Anti-US Protests Spread Across Afghanistan (into Pakistan)

Sardar Ahmad

KABUL -- The biggest anti-US protests since the fall of the Taliban spread across Afghanistan on May 12, as unrest sparked by alleged abuse of the Koran at the US jail in Guantanamo Bay left three more people dead.

Seven people have been killed and at least 76 injured during three days of violent demonstrations, all of them in clashes with security forces and police in conservative towns east of the capital Kabul.

Angry Afghans shouting "Death to America" poured onto the streets of Kabul itself for the first time on Thursday and protests at the reported religious slur have now broken out in 10 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

The Koran controversy has also spread to Pakistan, where demonstrations were held in Peshwar and Quetta, two major cities close to the border with Afghanistan.

Two protesters were killed on Thursday when gunfire broke out as police stopped them marching into the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad from a district just to the northwest, a provincial official said.

source...
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050512-030629-6571r

and not one of our fucking M$MWs nor our 'leaders' will hold the real fuckers account, nah, now they are the HEAD of JUSTICE and HOMELAND-SECURITY etc :argh:

The Whole World IS Watching

psst... pass the word

peace

[democracyindanger]

23. Didja know there's an interview with the man who may have been in that pic

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/hajali.html

Before the Iraq war Haj Ali was the mayor of the Al Madifai district, near Baghdad. After the U.S. took control of the area he was removed from his position. As an official, he was required to join the ruling Baath Party. Haj Ali then worked as an administrator for a mosque, until he was picked up off the street one day in October 2003. Today Haj Ali works for a prisoner's association. He says he has no part in the insurgency.
IN HIS OWN WORDS: THE MAN IN THE PHOTO


Q: How confident are you that you are the man in that photo?

HAJ ALI: Actually the hood covered my head, and they took almost a hundred photos. Because all those who were present-as those who speak English were telling me- that whenever a soldier is visited by a friend of his, they would pull a prisoner and take a photograph with him. They would put the prisoners in some abnormal positions and take photos with them. I experienced this situation. I am 100% sure of that.

I remember the American bean box, even the pipes behind me which were used to conduct electricity, they used two wires. I'm telling you what I remember from when they took the hood off my head, I saw the electric wires, one of them was black and the other was red. The end of the electric wires were hook shaped.

[Darranar]

24. Torture is not a "joke."

This is disgusting.

[WillyT]

25. Oh Yeah... A Good Joke Was Had By All...

:mad:

Oh... And this by the FreePukers

**************************************************************************

Hooded spectre of Abu Ghraib has his revenge

Posted by rightwinggoth to dead
On News/Activism 04/20/2005 8:49:18 AM PDT · 7 of 52



Rocking out to John Cougar Mellencamp's "Scarecrow" ?

**************************************************************************

Anti-American, Anti-Christian, Fascist Mule-Fuckers, ALL !!!

:nuke:

[chlamor]

26. Got Democracy?

Covering the city with 'got democracy?' posters, writer confronts our ideals, questions Iraq policy


Posters now available from Not in Our Name for a donation.

Jonathan Curiel
San Francisco Chronicle
June 19, 2004

In the past five days, the posters have appeared mysteriously on walls and buildings across San Francisco. They feature the most enduring image of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal -- the Iraqi man, hooded, his hands tied with electrodes -- but this time, the prisoner is set against an American flag, and this time, the image is juxtaposed with a headline that reads, "got democracy?"

The poster is designed to make people question whether the United States is adhering to democratic ideals if American soldiers have been guilty of widespread prison abuse, if the Patriot Act continues to trample civil liberties, and if Washington continues to instigate questionable policies, says the poster's co-creator, San Francisco novelist Robert Mailer Anderson.

http://www.notinourname.net/war/got-democracy.htm

To obtain a Poster or several to put up in your area go to link above.

[ninkasi]

28. I am by no means an expert on Mideast traditions

in general, or Iraqi traditions in particular. One thing that seems to come through, though, in every interview I've ever read from an Iraqi, seems to be that they have a strong, intense, sense of pride. Insults are not taken lightly, and dignity is given a great deal of weight.

I can conceive of no situation in which an Iraqi prisoner would subject himself to the conditions shown in the infamous photo as an inside joke between himself and a woman. He is a Muslim, she is not. The cultural differences, the religious differences, the different standards of what constitutes dignity, and what constitutes insults, would never have permitted this.

This lawyer is grabbing at straws that aren't there. Only a fool would believe this defence.