Monday, June 21, 2004

The Abu Ghraib Seven

A military judge has agreed to have the entire Taguba report declassified.. He also granted defense attorneys the right to question General Sanchez, but has denied for the time being the right to question Rumsfiend and Herr Busch, pending proof of relevancy of their testimony.

[Attorney] Bergrin has also said he wants to question Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the prisoner abuse, though he did not formally present a request in court.

"We would like to interview Bush because we know as a matter of fact that President Bush changed the rules of engagement for intelligence acquisition," Bergrin said Monday.
  ABC article

A couple of the soldiers' attorneys are trying to get the trials moved to Germany or the U.S., but so far the requests have been denied. The judge says he'll consider it if there is a good reason to think they could not get a fair trial in Iraq. Chip Frederick's civilian attorney failed to show up for a hearing, which resulted in a postponement and an angry military judge, who said the attorney, who requested to appear "by telephone" because Iraq was too dangerous, is just SOL and he better get his ass to Iraq for the next hearing date.

The same judge denied a request by one defense lawyer to question one of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib on the grounds that the defendants have a right to confront their accusers, because, the judge says, it's too dangerous around the prison now to either go there or have the prisoner brought to the hearings.

....and hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

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