Posted on 04/26/2007 1:12:18 AM PDT by Cornpone
Baghdad - The commander of the US military prison in Iraq which held former dictator Saddam Hussein has been detained by military police and is under investigation, a military spokesperson said on Thursday.
Lieutenant Colonel William Steele will face a hearing before a panel of officers to decide whether he should face a court martial, Lieutenant Colonel Josslyn Aberle told AFP in Baghdad, without specifying the charges.
"He has been detained and is now in Kuwait. His current status is that he is in confinement and waiting for his Article 32 hearing. All other details will be released soon, including the charges against him," she said.
According to the website of the US television network NBC, citing a statement from the US army, Steele could be prosecuted for "aiding the enemy" and having improper relationships with his translator and another Iraqi woman.
The military in Iraq was not able to immediately confirm this.
Prior to his arrest, Steel was the commander of Camp Cropper, a major US detention facility outside Baghdad used to hold "high value detainees" such as Iraq's former dictator Saddam, who was executed on December 30.
Must be a Democrat.
At least he didn’t put panties on their heads.
Them durn translators again... they still don't know what the meaning of 'is' is.
Heard anything about this?
Just great
Yeah, made my day. /sarc
What’s the deal? Did he Nail her or that and something else?
Sounds like there is something else.
Interesting
“Booze or p-tang.”
Bert Lancaster in “Go Tell the Spartans”
No, but I'll start asking around.
bump
WAIT!!!
Is this the SAME Col Steele who was CAPT Steele in Black Hawk Down??
IF SO, that means he is the SAME LtCol Steele who issued orders to KILL EVERY MILITARY AGED MALE, had 5 of his men charged with MURDER for it, and he himself just got an article 15 for it!!
SSgt Girouard just went to jail for covering for one of his men for that incident while not shooting anyone himself!!!
IF this is THAT Col Steele , then he is a piece of scum, not worthy of respect!
If it is established that any of our men and/or women lost their lives because this guy traded military intel for sexual favors he needs to be put up against a wall and executed by firing squad.
I’ve been looking around to see what I could find on the spokeswoman. Looks Army.
Not the same guy.
Col Mike Steele is now back at Ft. Campbell.
This guy is not a full bird.
I’m willing to give any member of our armed forces the benefit of the doubt.
But if it turns out he’s guilty... execute him.
Different person. The Mike was the first name of the Steele in BHD.
The guy at Mogadishu was named Cpt. Michael Steele. Col. Michael Steele is also the guy that gave the orders to kill all military age males to his troops.
Thanks for posting that Seattle link. More details for people who don’t click on links (from the above article):
“Lt. Col. William H. Steele was accused of providing “aid to the enemy” by supplying an unmonitored cell phone to detainees, a U.S. statement said.”
“The other charges included unauthorized possession of classified information, fraternizing with the daughter of a detainee, maintaining an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter, storing classified information in his quarters, as well as possessing pornographic videos, the statement added.”
There are other charges as well.
US soldiers are not allowed to have pornography? Don’t they sell Playboy and Penthouse on base?
He was having "sexual relations", perhaps?
WTFIGO
Depends on the type of pr0n, I would think.
Ex-commander of US prison in Iraq detained-military
26/04/2007
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=8771
BAGHDAD, (Reuters) - The former commander of a major U.S. military detention centre in Baghdad has been detained and charged with “aiding the enemy”, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
Lieutenant-Colonel William Steele is also charged with having an improper relationship with a translator and with the daughter of a detainee, providing mobile phones to prisoners, and unauthorised possession of classified information. “He has been in detention in Kuwait since last month pending an Article 32 hearing, which is a preliminary hearing where evidence will be presented to determine whether this should go to court-martial,” U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Josslyn Aberle said.
Aberle said Steele was commander of Camp Cropper, a detention facility near Baghdad international airport that holds more than 3,000 detainees. They are reported to include former senior members of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The U.S. military said in a statement that Steele faced charges under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice. The date of the alleged offences ranged from October 2005 to February 2007. No personal details of Steele were available.
Steele was accused of “aiding the enemy” by providing detainees with unmonitored mobile phones between October 2005 and October 2006, it said.
Other charges included:
— knowingly and wrongfully fraternising with the daughter of a detainee, wherein such acts constituted conduct unbecoming an officer in the armed forces.
— wrongfully providing special privileges to and maintain
an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter.
— having unauthorised possession of classified information ... and wilfully retaining the same and failing to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States.
— wrongfully and knowingly storing classified information in his living space.
— wrongfully and knowingly possessing pornographic videos.
“These charges are merely an accusation of wrongdoing. Lieutenant-Colonel Steele is presumed innocent unless and until he is proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offence,” the U.S. military said.
Camp Cropper was made famous by media reports that Saddam was held there during his three years of incarceration. But for the first time, the military said on Thursday the former Iraqi leader had been held in another, secret facility. He had visited Camp Cropper only for medical checkups and stayed there in the days leading up to his execution on Dec. 30. “Saddam was occasionally detained at Camp Cropper but it was not his full-time residence. We won’t say where he was held for operational reasons,” U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said.
It depends on what the definition of "was" is.
The other charges included unauthorized possession of classified information, fraternizing with the daughter of a detainee, maintaining an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter, storing classified information in his quarters, as well as possessing pornographic material, the statement added.
I’m still waiting for the charges against them!
IF he’s guilty, he’s just aping the Congressional Democrats, who are All giving aid and comfort to the enemy. The penalty for treason should be death by hanging.
I think it would depend on the pornography, or where he kept it (in with the classified stuff on his office PC?).
But I’d say the charges above that are pretty serious. Also included, according to the article, are failing to obey an order and mismanagement or careless financial accounting for funds.
Preferably with Reid and Murtha standing side by side with him.
Depends on whose daughter...from the article, I’d say he was apparently trading favors at the jail, such as unsupervised cell phone use, for said “fraternizing” with a detainee’s daughter. And remember, this is a prison where the high-value prisoners go.
No, and no. Possession of pornographic materials while in Iraq are a violation of General Order #1 (which is a very broad article also including the drinking of alcohol, keeping of pets, and lots of catch-all prohibitions).
As far as being able to buy it anywhere else, you can't buy dirty magazines at the PX anymore, not since the 90s.
Doubtful that any officer with that kind of history would ever get another command, let alone a sensitive one like this LTC holds (held).
I’m sure that Reid, Pelosi, and Murtha will ralley to his defense and hold him up as a true patriot who knows who the good guys really are in this war.
THe Somalia/Black Hawk Down character was MIKE Steele, this is WILLIAM Steele. Are you sure that was a real name, anyway, in Black Hawk Down?
Thanks.
I believe that was his name.
Camp Cropper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Cropper
Camp Cropper is the name of a holding facility for security detainees operated by the United States Army near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. The facility was initially operated as a high-value detention site (HVD), but has since been expanded increasing its capacity from 163 to 2,000 detainees.[1] Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was held there awaiting the death penalty and was cared for by Master Sergeant Robert Ellis.[2]
Contents
1 History
2 Critisism
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
[edit] History
Camp Cropper was established by the Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) 115th Military Police Battalion in April 2003. Almost immediately after being established, it was designated as the site for the Corps Holding Area (CHA). Initially, the facility was meant to serve as “central booking” for the US forces operating in Baghdad and central Iraq, though detainees from northern Iraq were brought there as well. The original concept called for a small temporary camp that could hold up to 300 detainees for no more than 72 hours.[citation needed] After being processed at Camp Cropper detainees were supposed to be shipped to other detention facilities in Baghdad and throughout Iraq. However, in practice, this proved unworkable since most other prisons in Baghdad were badly damaged by looting after the fall of the Baath regime. This resulted in overcrowding and at one point shortly after the end of the war, Camp Cropper held over 1500 detainees.[citation needed]
In August 2006, a new hospital was opened near Baghdad International Airport that would treat both coalition soldiers and detainees from Camp Cropper. The hospital was staffed by members of the 21st Combat Support Hospital from Fort Hood, Texas who transferred to the new facility after the closure of the Abu Ghraib detention facility.[3]
(snip)
Any truth to the rumor that after establishing Camp Cropper, the Army went on to establish Camp Donald “Duck” Dunn and Camp Matt “Guitar” Murphy?
Sorry. Couldn’t resist the Blues Brothers Band reference.
Man, if these charges are true, that guy is (deservedly) in deep caca. High-value targets are not the kind of people you want to give an unmonitored cellphone, even if the guy gives you his daughter and she looks like CZJ. This is bad, bad stuff, but it won’t get the same play as panties-on-heads did.
}:-)4
That is one of the problems with this situation. You can't win hearts and minds when you end up killing some of the people you are trying to save. I wish I had an answer for this.
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