American justice

An Army sergeant accused in the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal will plead guilty to reduced charges next week as part of a deal with military prosecutors, his lawyer said Thursday.

The deal would not require Sgt. Javal S. Davis to testify against anyone else, civilian defense attorney Paul Bergrin said. Davis doesn't have useful information to offer, Bergrin said.

Davis, 27, of Roselle, had been charged with conspiracy to maltreat detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, dereliction of duty for failing to protect detainees from abuse, and maltreatment of detainees.

Those charges will be dismissed, and Davis - who is not seen in any of the notorious photos from the prison - will plead guilty to simple assault and rendering false official statements, Bergrin said Thursday.

[...]

Under the plea deal, he would face a maximum of 1-1/2 years in prison, but Bergrin said he is hopeful the former high school track star can avoid jail time altogether and possibly remain in the military.

The deal still must be approved by Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, the U.S. commanding officer in Baghdad, Bergrin said, but military prosecutors already have signed documents agreeing to it.

"The victory here is the charges to which they're allowing him to plead guilty - simple assault and a false statement," Bergrin said. "In light of what he was facing, this is an extraordinary feat."

[Ed: emphasis added]
  Galveston County Daily News article

Extraordinary feat, indeed. The seriousness of the U.S. torture policy and the actual tortures that have taken place (and apparently are still taking place) cannot be, in my opinion, overstated. The inhumanity of it is the major part, but only part, of the story. The other part is that every GI in service in a foreign country can now reasonably expect to receive retaliatory in-kind treatment if taken prisoner. At least some of them recognize that, and I expect those few soldiers who were taken prisoner at the beginning of the invasion and then released are thanking whatever god or luck they believe in that those stories and pictures of the Abu Ghraib tortures hadn't been publicized before their release.

These are very grievous criminal charges for which no commanding personnel have been required to account or pay, and for which many of the actual torturers are receiving extremely light - or no - punishment. This is a terrible injustice and a terrible mistake whose full consequences remain to be seen.

Davis might have received more lenient treatment because he was not in any of the photos, legal analysts said. He acknowledged stepping on the fingers and toes of detainees, but denied hurting anyone. He said he could have refused directions from intelligence authorities to "soften them up," but would then have been in trouble for refusing orders.

His father, Jonathan Davis, said the family is pleased with the deal but still unhappy to think the solider might have to serve time for his actions.

"This is nothing that hasn't been done through all wars," the father said. "It should be a slap on the wrist, and that should be the end of it."

I can only shake my head in wonder and sadness.