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US soldiers receive reprimand
03/05/2004 11:04 - (SA)
Baghdad - Six US army soldiers have received the highest letter of reprimand over the prison scandal in Iraq, clearing the way for proceedings to throw them out of the military, a coalition official said.
The six were slapped with the General Office Memorandum Reprimandum (GOMR), an effective career killer, which blocks any promotion and could see them expelled if the military decides to take further action, the official said.
A seventh soldier has been handed a "letter of admonishment", a punishment one grade below the GOMR.
All seven are now appealing the rulings.
The officers, whose reprimands were issued in the last month during one of three investigations into the abuse of detainees at Abu Gharib prison near Baghdad, include Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who oversaw the prison system in Iraq.
The official refused to say if Karpinski, a reserve officer, received a GOMR or the lesser reprimand.
The investigation kicked off last January when a soldier stepped forward with lurid tales of abuse by prison guards inside the walls of Abu Gharib, once the most dreaded prisons under fallen dictator Saddam Hussein.
Detainees were stripped naked, forced to simulate sexual acts and paraded hooded with electrical cables attached to their bodies.
Besides the soldiers, six US prison guards have been charged with criminal conduct for abusing detainees at Abu Gharib and four more guards are still under investigation.
A third inquiry has also been opened into interrogation procedures at Abu Gharib that could lead to criminal indictment or administrative punishment of intelligence officers, both military and CIA, and civilian contractors involved in questioning detainees.
- AFP
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