First Baghdad Court-Martial May Set Table for Later Ones

[CShine]

The trial next week of an American military policeman on charges of mistreating Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison is likely to disappoint people eager for a thorough airing of the available evidence. It may also frustrate those who would like to see tough punishment should his guilt be established.

Both the speed with which the policeman, Specialist Jeremy Sivits, has been brought to trial and the relatively minor sanctions he faces suggest that prosecutors are working their way up the chain of culpability from the bottom. These factors also suggest that Specialist Sivits has entered into a plea agreement in exchange for his testimony at later trials. Six other soldiers are also facing criminal charges in the abuse and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

"They've probably got a domino theory of prosecutions," said John D. Hutson, the dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center and a former judge advocate general of the Navy. "And there may be a race to the courthouse among the potential defendants to see who can get the best deal."

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"The facts are probably not going to be aired at the first trial," said Michael F. Noone Jr., a law professor at Catholic University and an expert in military justice. "Critics of the administration are going to say there is a cover-up here."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/11/international/middleeast/11COUR.html

[saigon68]

1. It will be a cover up trial

karl rove is running the military show trial---plea bargaining galore and all rats (the soldiers) looking for the shortest way back to amerika to become prison guards to expand their bag of tricks on minorities and the poor.