After having sat through over 50+ hours of testimony, marked and read hundreds of exhibits, and examined hundreds of pages of more documents that were not given to the court that were produced during the investigations, there is NO credible evidence that this posse was given any instructions to do anything of the kind. Unless you believe that the colonels and the generals were coming to visit this young corporal personally to tell him to beat up these prisoners, all of the middle-echelon leaders .. the Staff Sergeant and the Sergeants .. who have already pled guilty and been sentenced stated that no such instructions came from anyone in the chain of command. The only ones that Graner could point to specifically who told him that it would be helpful for him and his gang to "soften them up" came from low-ranking .. E-4 and below .. personnel who had NO standing in his chain of command.
Secondly, not one of the detainees who were abused .. against, it should be noted, a written SOP/rules of engagement specifically laying out what could and could not be done to detainees .. were there for intelligence purposes. Every one had been picked up and was being incarcerated for "common crimes": theft, assault, attempted rape (Iraqi-on-Iraqi), and .. in the case of one female who was forced to strip so this "fine upstanding young soldier" and his buddies could get some nude photos .. prostitution. So, for no more purpose than their own enjoyment, they successfully disobeyed standing orders against maltreatment for no reason at all. Testimony came out that specifically stated that Graner was, in general, someone who didn't obey orders or regulations: he had been repeatedly called to the carpet for uniform violations, wearing unauthorized patches on his uniform, haircut violations, and disrespect to senior NCOs and officers. Simply put, he did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it, and d@mn the leadership.
Third, he repeated violated the posted directives in the confinement area that no cameras were permitted in the cell areas, in the hard site, or within Abu Ghraib prison. He also violated procedures by allowing his girlfriend, Lynndie England .. a person who had no standing as either an MP or an MI .. to enter the secured areas for no more reason than to have their pictures taken together.
Fourth, the pictures quite clearly show someone who was enjoying his work. Despite his right to not testify, when the trial began, his attorney stated that he was so confident of his legal standing that Graner wanted to testify to tell his side of the story. Needless to say, he did not do so .. at least, until the sentencing portion of the case when he made an UNSWORN statement, which is not evidence, merely a "here's who I am, don't punish me for what I did" kind of statement.
Finally, discipline is the cast-iron rod that holds units together. This was an undisciplined vigilante posse who decided that, because they could do these things, they would. (Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Isn't that what Clinton said for his excuse?) From almost Day 1 in the military, you're trained to obey orders, but you're also told that YOU .. personally and individually .. only have to obey legal orders. Probably the only thing that Graner truthfully said in the proceedings was that he knew that these were illegal and, in his words, immoral orders. Yet he said that he obeyed them nonetheless. As a Corporal, a non-commissioned officer in the military, that, in and of itself, is enough to demand some serious jail time. The old "I was only obeying orders" died at Nuremberg.
When push comes to shove, if you were arrested for assault or theft, and not yet prosecuted or sentenced, would YOU or your children want to be incarcerated in this man's jail?
He's a uniformed bully .. one of the few times that I've actually seen one of those archetypical "jackbooted thugs" that a lot of people on FreeRepublic are always so worried about. Yet it is those same people who seem to be defending this scum and his unrestrained posse.
Samauri Court Reporter