Military punishes key Abu Ghraib scandal figure

WASHINGTON - The US military has reprimanded and fined Army Col. Thomas Pappas, a key figure in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, but will not bring criminal charges against him, a US Army official said.

Pappas, the former top military intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib, became the second senior officer to be disciplined in the scandal over the physical abuse and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at the jail on the outskirts of Baghdad.

Following an administrative disciplinary proceeding in Germany on Monday, Pappas was given a letter of reprimand by Maj. Gen. Bennie Williams and was docked US$8,000 for committing dereliction of duty at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 and early 2004, said the Army official, who asked not to be named.

The official said no criminal charges will be brought against Pappas in light of the administrative punishment.

The Army found Pappas committed dereliction of duty in two ways, the official said, but was not specifically found to have ordered prisoner abuse.

The first was by failing to ensure subordinates were adequately informed of, trained in and supervised in using interrogation procedures, and the second was by authorising interrogators to have military working dogs present during questioning of detainees without the approval of superior commanders, the official said.

News of his punishment came six days after the Army announced that Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski had been demoted in rank to colonel due to dereliction of duty and concealing a past shoplifting arrest, calling her job performance "seriously lacking."

Pappas and Karpinski were the two officers in charge of Abu Ghraib, and military investigators have said their deeply antagonistic relationship contributed to the chaotic atmosphere in which widespread prison abuse occurred.

Pappas commanded the Germany-based 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. Karpinski headed the 800th Military Police Brigade.

Pappas remained in command of his brigade "as of this evening, and there has been no decision whether he'll be relieved," the Army official said. Karpinski, who has called herself a scapegoat in the scandal, was relieved of her command.

POOR JUDGMENT

An investigation completed in August by two Army generals found that Pappas improperly authorised the use of guard dogs during interrogations and the forced nudity of prisoners, failed to take aggressive action against soldiers who violated US rules and the Geneva Conventions, showed poor judgment and failed to put in place a system to detect and prevent abuses.

Williams, who gave Pappas the letter of reprimand, heads the Army's 21st Theater Support Command, based in Germany. Williams handled the case after Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who had been slated to deal with it, recused himself, the Army official said.

Sanchez was the top US commander in Iraq at the time of the abuses. Last month, he and three other top officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.

The August report by Army Maj. Gen. George Fay and Lt. Gen. Anthony Jones said that while Pappas ran Abu Ghraib's intelligence-gathering mission, the jail suffered from poor communication among key officers, insufficient training of interrogators and understaffing. At the same time, the jail population was ballooning amid an escalating insurgency.

Sanchez's office had placed Pappas in charge of cell blocks at Abu Ghraib, previously infamous as a torture centre under deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, where serious detainee abuse would occur.

The Fay-Jones report faulted Pappas for failing to remove Lt. Col. Steven Jordan, who headed the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center at Abu Ghraib, after it was clear Jordan was not up to the job.

The Army official said no decisions had yet been made regarding disciplinary action for Jordan.

Karpinski is the only general to have been punished in the scandal, although the Army stated her actions had not "contributed specifically" to prisoner abuse.

- REUTERS