Free Republic

The American military beret used to be something hard earned ("Mistrial for Lynndie," May 5). Thanks to former Chief of Staff, General Eric Shinseki, however, the Ranger black beret is now issued to all Army recruits — even if desk-bound or in a non-combat zone. If ever a symbol of excellence and sacrifice in soldiering has been diluted, this is it. The adoption of a beret for everyone is nothing short of an insult to all elite Airborne, Ranger and Special Forces units, past and present, who've earned the special right to wear the black beret. If no other good...

KILLEEN - The government will file new charges soon against Pfc. Lynndie England, whose guilty plea was thrown out and her court martial canceled Wednesday over testimony by the convicted ringleader in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, an Army defense lawyer said Thursday after meeting with military prosecutors. But the charges will have to be investigated anew in what the military calls an Article 32 hearing -- similar to a civilian grand jury but open to the defense and the public -- before England, 22, can be faced with a new trial. A new trial could occur sometime this summer...

This stain on America's honor warranted accountability much higher on the Pentagon's chain of command L ooking tired, puffy and somewhat bewildered, Pfc. Lynndie England took center stage this week as the face of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. If only she really were. The true face of this national disgrace has found refuge in much higher places, safely beyond the spotlight's glare. Thus the role goes to 22-year-old England, the star of so many of those putrid pictures that began flooding the world one year ago. We all saw the grinning England, posing with hooded prisoners in a pyramid,...

Six lower-level enlistees have been punished, though Lynndie England's fate is unsettled. WASHINGTON - The trial that was supposed to close the book on a year of shame and condemnation of US military operations at Abu Ghraib didn't follow the script. And now the infamous photographic icon, Pfc. Lynndie England, is likely to be the focus of new military legal machinations for weeks, if not months. But what the latest case did accomplish, even though it ended abruptly in a mistrial, was to refocus attention on who is facing courts-martial and who isn't. So far, six lower-level enlisted men and...

FORT HOOD, Texas - A military judge Wednesday threw out Pfc. Lynndie England's guilty plea to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, saying he was not convinced the Army reservist who appeared in some of the most notorious photos in the scandal knew her actions were wrong at the time. The mistrial marks a stunning turn in the case and sends it back to square one. The case will be reviewed again by Fort Hood's commander, Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, who will decide what charges, if any, England should face. If she is charged, the case would go back...

FORT HOOD, Texas — A military judge on Wednesday rejected Pfc. Lynndie England's guilty plea agreement in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal after another prisoner's testimony cast doubt on the prosecution's case. Earlier in the day, Pvt. Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader in the scandal, contradicted a key part of England's guilty plea, in which she said she knew she was committing wrongful acts when she took part in the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees. Graner said that the notorious photos taken of England at the prison had a legitimate use, endangering England's guilty plea to seven abuse charges. Under...

England's Sentencing Hearing Begins; Defense Seeks Leniency, Says England Oxygen-Deprived at Birth FORT HOOD, Texas May 3, 2005 — Defense lawyers sought leniency for Pfc. Lynndie England at a hearing Tuesday to determine her punishment in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, with a psychologist testifying that the reservist was oxygen-deprived at birth, speech impaired and had trouble learning to read.

The court-martial of Army Private Lynndie England will be transferred from Fort Bragg to Fort Hood, military officials said Friday. England is a 22-year-old Army Reservist from Fort Ashby, W. Va. who is charged with 19 counts of abuse and indecent acts in the alleged abuse of prisoners at Baghdad’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Her attorneys argue that she and other soldiers in her Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company were acting on orders to soften prisoners up for interrogations by keeping them nude and humiliating them. She is one of seven members of the unit charged in the alleged abuse....

While leftist critics entertained high hopes of deeply wounding the Bush administration over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, they will now have to shelve their hopes for another day. Testimony from the MPs involved in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, including key figure Lynndie England, indicates that no higher officials were involved; a fact the independent commission investigating the scandal confirmed in Washington last week. Naturally, the left and those who hate America have never considered the possibility that Bush administration officials did not orchestrate the abuse and that the Abu Ghraib MPs acted alone. To do so would blunt...

FORT BRAGG, N.C., Aug 7 (Reuters) - A U.S. military court on Saturday temporarily halted a hearing to decide if Pfc. Lynndie England, the soldier photographed holding a naked Iraqi prisoner on a leash, should stand trial for abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison. Lawyers for England asked hearing officer Col. Denise Arn for permission to call more than 50 additional witnesses, including some top U.S. government and military officials, after the court heard 25 witnesses over the first four days. England was charged with 19 counts of prisoner abuse, committing indecent acts and disobeying orders in a scandal that...

The International Criminal Court (ICC), which had receded into the shadows over the past few years, may soon be back in the limelight, propelled by sensational stories and photos indicating that some U.S. military personnel and civilian contractors grossly abused prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. This is certain to fuel a campaign to bring international war crimes charges against U.S. citizens serving in Iraq. This, in turn, will reignite a full-scale campaign to empower the new ICC, which was launched at the UN’s 1998 Rome Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court. One of the principal non-governmental...

I like to think our leaders were as clueless as the rest of us, and are now furious and demanding justice in the same way.