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Scaring prisoners 'a game'
14/03/2006 21:53 - (SA)
Fort Meade - An army dog handler charged with abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq said he was competing with another canine team to frighten the prisoners into soiling themselves, a soldier testified at a court-martial on Tuesday.
The testimony on the second day of the trial was the most-damaging evidence the government had presented against sergeant Michael J Smith.
Human-rights advocates say the trial could help clarify who approved the harsh treatment that they say amounted to torture. Defence attorneys in other Abu Ghraib cases have argued that the approvals reached to the Pentagon.
Sergeant John H Ketzer, who had worked as an interrogator at the prison in Iraq, testified that he followed the sounds of screaming to a cell where Smith's black Belgian shepherd was straining against its leash and barking at two cowering, teenage male detainees in a part of the prison reserved for juveniles and women.
'Rogue policemen'
Ketzer said Smith laughed as he told Ketzer shortly thereafter: "My buddy and I are having a contest to see if we can get them to (defecate on) themselves because we've already had some (urinate on) themselves."
Under cross-examination, Ketzer said he had thought Smith was just joking about the contest.
Ketzer's testimony came a day after prosecutor Matthew Miller told jurors in his opening statement that Smith and another dog handler, sergeant Santos A Cardona, were rogue military policemen.
"We contend that there is no soldier who would honestly and reasonably believe that this conduct was lawful and authorised," Miller said Monday.
Smith, 24, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is accused of using his dog to harass, threaten and assault detainees in late 2003 and early 2004 - the same period during which guards at Abu Ghraib subjected inmates to sexual humiliation and other abuses documented in widely-seen photographs.
Unmuzzled dog
Cardona's trial is set for May 22.
Prosecutors presented as evidence on Monday a series of photographs showing Smith restraining an unmuzzled dog that appeared to be snarling at al-Qaeda suspect Ashraf Abdullah Al-Juhayshi.
The nine American soldiers convicted so far in the Abu Ghraib scandal have all been low-ranking reservists.
- AP
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