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Lawyers say charged soldier is scapegoat Mon May 10 2004 11:16:55 ET An attorney for an Army reservist shown in photographs smiling and gesturing at naked Iraqi prisoners said Monday that she is taking the fall for military shortcomings that include a lack of troops. Pfc. Lynndie R. England, 21, of Fort Ashby, W.Va., was charged Friday with mistreating prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in a scandal that has drawn worldwide outrage. One of England's Denver-based attorneys, Giorgio Ra'Shadd, said the military was so short of troops in Iraq that untrained people were being used as guards. "Because there was a shortage of personnel the commander on the scene took people who had no idea how to be MPs and cut them off at the neck from their leadership," he said. "That is crazy." He said his client was being offered up as a scapegoat for the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. "What is offensive to me is that we have generals and the secretary of defense hiding behind a 20-year-old farm girl from West Virginia who lives in a trailer park," Ra'Shadd said. Asked if his client considered refusing to obey unlawful orders from jail commanders, he said: "She's a private. Privates take orders from privates first class." Ra'Shadd said his client joined the Army Reserves out of patriotism and to prevent another Sept. 11. He accused intelligence operatives of staging many of the scenes captured in the photographs in order to scare prisoners into talking. "That is a standard psychological war method," he said. But when it comes to defending his client, he said, "the spooks from the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and State Department won't show up when we subpoena them. They will go into hiding." END |
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