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Witnesses Say Army Dogs Bit Detainees
By DAVID DISHNEAU
FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) - Military dogs bit at least two detainees at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, one severely enough to require stitches, witnesses testified Tuesday at a pretrial hearing for two Army dog handlers.
The unmuzzled dogs were also used to terrify inmates at the direction of the highest-ranking military intelligence officer at the prison, one witness said.
The allegations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and the surfacing of photos last year of American soldiers humiliating the detainees triggered international concern over the U.S. military’s treatment of war prisoners, in Iraq and at other sites including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
They were trying to Gitmo-ize Abu Ghraib,'' argued Harvey J. Volzer, a civilian attorney for Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, one of the Army dog handlers.
Prosecutors portrayed Cardona, 31, and Sgt. Michael J. Smith, 24, as rogue soldiers who used the dogs in a competition to frighten prisoners into urinating on themselves.
Both are charged with cruelty and maltreatment, aggravated assault, dereliction of duty and making false statements. Cardona could face up to 16 years imprisonment if convicted. Smith, also charged with committing an indecent act, could face up to 29 years.
The Article 32 hearing will determine whether the two will be court-martialed. Defense witnesses were expected to testify Wednesday.
Guards were on edge at Abu Ghraib in December 2003 and January 2004, and interrogators were under pressure to get information from three prisoners captured along with Saddam Hussein, witnesses said.
It was amid that pressure that Cardona released his dog on a frightened detainee, Pvt. Ivan L.Chip’’ Frederick II testified Tuesday, speaking by phone from the Kansas military prison where he is serving an eight-year sentence for his role in the abuse scandal.
He said the detainee, scared of the dog’s barking, had run toward Spc. Charles A. Graner Jr., a central figure in the abuse scandal who was sentenced to 10 years.
Pvt. Sabrina Harman, another witness now serving a six-month sentence for her role in the scandal, said one bite on the detainee’s thigh required 12 stitches.
``It seemed like a lot of blood, sir,’’ Harman said.
Frederick also testified that he saw a dog bite another detainee on the wrist, and that he once saw a dog in the doorway of an interrogation booth.
That incident apparently followed the interrogator’s request for guidance from Col. Thomas M. Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, on the use of dogs during interrogations.
The interrogator, Staff Sgt. Christopher S. Aston, testified that he thought Pappas had consulted with a higher-ranking officer before approving the limited use of dogs.
Pappas, who was reprimanded and fined in May in connection with the Abu Ghraib scandal, testified at his own investigative hearing that he had failed to get approval from his commander, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, Volzer said.
Cardona, from Fullerton, Calif., and Smith, from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., were the first regular Army members charged with criminal abuse at Abu Ghraib.
Eight Army reservists have been convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib. Another, Pfc. Lynndie England, is awaiting trial.