Graner gets 10 years for torture

[Gondring]

Does anyone know what charges/counts were dropped earlier, and then which of the counts received a guilty verdict? I understand one of the ten counts was not guilty.

Also, I have to admit that I previously hadn't realized that England was still married when Graner and she hooked up.

[Shazolene]

It fries me that people think that Rumsfeld, or anyone else at the Pentagon, would order up an orgy for plain ol' prisoners. There was no interrogation planned for these guys. There was no reason to 'soften them up,' at all.

The tactics used by interrogators are measured and designed for effectiveness. They do it because they have to, because lives depend on it.

What these people did was for their own pleasure. This is just sick and depraved behavior... behavior that they would have indulged in at an S&M club in civilian life... the fact that the prisoners were under their complete control just made it more enjoyable for them.

I do think 10 years is a bit much, but it sends a message. We police our own. And we don't welcome sexual sadists into our armed forces.

[nopardons]

Well,YOU get it! :-)

[MilspecRob]

You go to war for one reason, to win. You do not let PR/PC get in the way.

Members of the SS felt the same way.

[BlueLancer]

Graner was originally charged with two Specifications of conspiracy to commit maltreatment, two Specifications of aggravated assault with a means or force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm, four Specifications of maltreatment, three Specifications of dereliction of duty, one Specification of adultery, and three Specifications of indecent assault.

Two of the Specifications of dereliction of duty were dismissed but the remaining Specification had 25 specific instances of such dereliction noted in the Specification. The Specification of adultery was dismissed. Two of the Specifications of indecent assault were dismissed. All of the Specifications dismissed were dismissed prior to the presentation of evidence but after arraignment.

Of the Charges and Specifications before the panel .. which was composed of five officers (three colonels, one light colonel, and one major) and five senior enlisted (three Command Sergeants Major, one Sergeant Major, and one First Sergeant) .. the panel found him, for the most part, guilty of everything. He was found not guilty of eight of the 25 specific acts of dereliction of duty, but convicted of the remaining 17. He was found not guilty of one of the aggravated assaults, but, instead, found guilty of the lesser-included offense of assault consummated by a battery. So, I guess, as the MSM put it, he was found "not guilty" of one of the offenses, but only insofar as to the element that he used a means or force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm. He was convicted instead of a simple assault and battery.

One of the things that also came up in the testimony was that Graner had been specifically ordered to have no contact with PFC England, but ignored the orders and continued the affair. The "unofficial" word is that the adultery charge was dropped because the government decided that it was "unable" to prove that Graner and England actually had a sexual affair ... because it cannot be shown with any degree of certainty that the child is his (or even that it's not the offspring of intercourse with an Iraqi prisoner).

Samauri Court Reporter

[I got the rope]

An Iraqi prisoner got her pregnant?

[BlueLancer]

Again, that's the scuttlebutt that was circulating. The only thing certain that can be said is that the government either couldn't or didn't want to make the effort to try to prove up his part in her pregnancy.

[aculeus]

the child is his (or even that it's not the offspring of intercourse with an Iraqi prisoner)

Sheesh.

[L,TOWM]

That's something for the "Just Damm" list. Speechless.

[nonliberal]

The only mistake this guy made was forgetting which side the media was on.