A Soldier's Tale

iVillage ^ | 10-13-06 | TARA MCKELVEY

[kingattax]

She's the face of the atrocities at Abu Ghraib. Now serving 36 months in military prison, Lynndie England breaks her silence about what happened in Iraq, and how it all started with falling for the wrong man. Lynndie England smells like soap. She rubs her hands constantly, and her cuticles are raw and bleeding. Her hair is pulled back in four tortoiseshell clips, and it's streaked with premature gray.

She is no longer the waiflike girl with a devilish grin who appeared in the infamous Abu Ghraib photos. On this warm fall afternoon, England, 23, now 30 pounds heavier, wears short-sleeve Army fatigues and black, waffle-soled boots. Her name is stitched across her chest. Dangling from her waist is a yellow-and-white badge that reads, "PRISONER."

This is England's 332nd day of a 36-month sentence. She's serving time in a flat, sandy-colored building surrounded by a 13'4" fence topped with concertina wire at the Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar in San Diego. Since her arrival, she hasn't had a single visitor — not even from her family.

Not that people haven't tried. England receives requests every week, according to her lawyer, Roy T. Hardy, who says that she doesn't give interviews. If she did, though, the first step would be reaching out to her family, with whom she is extremely close.

[boxerblues]

Sad story...too bad they left out the damage done to the rest of Army's image, not all of our troops are dirtbags

[Constantine XI Palaeologus]

I forgot, was Karpinski punished? After all, if we're going to blame someone, she'd be a good candidate.

[boxerblues]

demoted and went on to write about it

http://www.amazon.com/One-Womans-Army-Commanding-General/dp/1401360122

[pandoraou812]

I read the whole story. It is sad. I can well understand how a small town girl who was scared could get involved with a guy like Charles Graner. I hope she can someday get on with her life and find happiness with her son.

[Turbo Pig]

Typical media BS story. "Feel sorry for the perpetrator", "Whoa is them". I hope that England , and the other dirt bags, that started this mess, lose many nights of sleep. I guarantee that their actions directly led to the deaths of US and Iraqi servicemen and Iraqi civilians, as the Jihadis used this as fuel for their fire.