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Graner lawyer points finger at chain of command { January 7 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-010705graner_lat,0,6275660.story?coll=la-home-headlineshttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-010705graner_lat,0,6275660.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Graner's Lawyer Points Finger at Chain of Command
By Richard A. Serrano
Times Staff Writer
1:25 PM PST, January 7, 2005
FT. HOOD, Texas — With a jury selected, the attorney for Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., charged as a central figure in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, predicted today that military supervisors would either refuse to testify or deny that Graner and others were ordered to mistreat detainees.
"They should prosecute those people who were giving those unlawful orders," said Houston lawyer Guy Womack. "We have to hold the order-givers to a higher standard. We don't want soldiers in combat debating whether orders are lawful or not."
Womack spoke outside the courtroom at Ft. Hood after a jury of 10 Army servicemen was impaneled to begin hearing Monday the first contested court-martial in the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Graner appeared buoyed by his lawyer's confidence that they would prevail at trial.
"It's been ups and downs, but the ups have so outweighed the downs," he said, dressed in his Class A uniform and making his first public comments since emerging last spring as allegedly a key figure in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the detention facility outside Baghdad.
"Whatever happens is going to happen," Graner said. "But I still feel it's going to be on the positive side."
Asked how he could be so upbeat when he is possibly facing a long prison sentence, the former prison guard broadened his smile and said, "The sun is still shining, the sky is blue. We're in America."
Womack said it was an "absolute defense" that his 36-year-old client believed he was following direct orders to "soften up detainees" for future interrogations. The lawyer said that even though Graner is often smiling in the photographs taken of the abuse, it was merely "gallows humor," and that Graner believed he was obeying commands.
"He's a calm, cool professional," Womack said.
But the defense lawyer acknowledged that it may be difficult to convince the jury of four officers and six enlisted men that orders were passed down to military prison guards to abuse and humiliate prisoners to make them more cooperative for interrogations.
Womack said several top officials at the prison have refused to testify at the trial for fear their testimony would be used against them. As for others in the chain of command, Womack said, "There are some that will lie."
Graner is eager to testify, but Womack has not decided whether he will.
Womack said it would be "cathartic" for Graner to take the stand and publicly defend himself against the allegations that have put him in the spotlight as the driving force behind a group of seven guards and one intelligence officer who have been charged in the case.
He said of his client: "He is very articulate. He is very bright."
The all-male jury was picked in an hour this morning. While everyone questioned for jury duty expressed awareness of the case, only one, who was rejected, said he was so deeply disturbed that he could not be fair to Graner.
"Frankly, I've got to tell you it had a strong impact on me," said Lt. Col. Allen Batschelet.
"As an Army officer, I was embarrassed by what I saw in the media. I don't want to pull any punches here....The values I hold dear as a soldier were called into question by the whole affair."
Of the 10 chosen, each told the military judge that he was aware that there was "high interest in this case, including from the president of the United States." None had military police experience, like Graner, and only two said they had served overseas — one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
Womack said all the jurors had some kind of combat experience, saying there was no better jury for the defense than one made up of "combat veterans trying a combat veteran."
Graner is charged with abusing prisoners, forcing them to strip naked and pile into a pyramid on the prison floor, and humiliating them by posing them in sexual positions with one another. He also is charged with posing himself in some of the photos, and smiling and flashing a thumbs-up before the camera.
He faces 17 1/2 years in prison, a dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of pay.
Other upcoming courts-martial in the Abu Ghraib scandal include those of Sgt. Javal S. Davis and Spec. Sabrina Harman, both next month here. Pfc. Lynndie England is awaiting a trial date.
Four others have pleaded guilty. They are expected to testify against Graner next week. In addition, testimony will probably be heard from two detainees called by prosecutors, and a third called by the defense.
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