US sergeant pleads guilty to abusing Iraqi prisoners

8.20am

BAGHDAD -The highest-ranking US soldier to be court-martialled in Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib jail case on Wednesday admitted beating and humiliating prisoners, including forcing some to masturbate.

Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick told the hearing at a military camp on the outskirts of Baghdad he had been trying to prepare the detainees for interrogation.

Frederick, 38, pleaded guilty to five charges, including indecent acts and dereliction of duty and assault. But he denied some of the details.

"I was wrong about what I did and I shouldn't have done it. I knew it was wrong at the time because I knew it was a form of abuse," Frederick told the court.

The charges relate to three incidents in October and November last year. In one, naked prisoners were piled into a pyramid, an incident that became notorious when photos were published in April, provoking worldwide outrage.

Frederick admitted forcing three detainees to masturbate, saying of one: "I grabbed him by the elbow and put it on his penis and moved it back and forth. I lifted his hood and gave him a hand gesture, telling him to keep doing it himself."

The army reservist painted a picture of life inside the jail in which prisoners were stripped naked, sometimes dressed in women's underwear and physically and mentally abused.

He also told how Iraqi police smuggled in guns and drugs for prisoners and how he was too scared to report the abuses.

"I was afraid of retaliation by other soldiers. We all walked around with loaded weapons. It was very high stress," he said.

Frederick said on one occasion he punched a prisoner in the chest after a female guard had been attacked. The prisoner was so badly hurt he needed resuscitating. Frederick attached wires to another prisoner, telling him he could be electrocuted.

Judge Colonel James Pohl is due to sentence Frederick on Thursday. In return for pleading guilty, some charges have been dropped, Frederick's lawer Gary Myers said.

Frederick said he had watched as other soldiers piled naked prisoners into a human pyramid last November. Asked by Pohl if he took photographs, he said: "Yes. Once."

Frederick, a prison guard in civilian life, appeared calm and confident throughout the hearing.

He is the third soldier to be court-martialled over the Abu Ghraib affair. The first two also pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to between eight months and a year in jail.

In all, seven military police personnel and an intelligence soldier have been indicted for involvement in the abuses.

A top-level US inquiry blamed the military chain of command, right up to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfield, for creating conditions that allowed the abuses to take place.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq