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3:35 PM PDT, May 13, 2004
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By Richard A Serrano, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON -- The first soldier who will be court-martialed in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal has told military authorities a harrowing tale of how a group of guards led by Cpl. Charles A Graner joked and mocked the Iraqi detainees as they stripped them naked, struck and kicked them, and, in the crudest of humiliations, forced them to hit each other. In an interview with Army criminal investigators, Spc. Jeremy Sivits said that Graner was always "joking, laughing, pissed off a little, acting like he was enjoying it," according to documents obtained today by the Los Angeles Times. Sivits, who according to sources is expected to plead guilty at a court-martial proceeding next week in Baghdad, also gave fresh details about the other suspects in the beating of Iraqi prisoners - for the first time describing their moods as the prisoners were stripped and abused. He also maintained, according to the documents, that all of this was done without the knowledge of their superiors in the Army chain of command. Graner's lawyers have said he and other soldiers were under pressure by military interrogators to "soften up" the detainees to get intelligence. All the other soldiers are expected to plead not guilty. Sivits said he first became aware of the abuse, and began photographing much of it, on Oct. November dates believed to have been the start of the harsh treatment against inmates in the overcrowded prison. Sgt. Ivan L (Chip) Frederick II seemed "mellow" as he abused prisoners and watched other guards join in, Sivits said. Just kind of enjoying it," Sivits said. He described Pfc. That is a marked difference from England's defense, in which she has claimed that she was ordered to pose in front of the abused inmates. Sivits said Spc. He added, "She did write the word rapist on the side of the leg of one of the inmates. She did this after she had found out from the processing sheets that he had raped someone. But Sivits stressed that it was Graner and Frederick who led the small band of guards in their nightly revelries. Asked specifically what was not funny, he said, "the tower thing" - referring to prisoners being forced to strip and form a pyramid on the floor. He described Graner striking inmates, and Sgt. Javal Davis, another of the suspects, running across the floor and jumping on them when they were handcuffed and piled on the floor. Davis would land on them," he said. Davis had done this, Davis then stomped on either the fingers or toes of the detainees. He recalled that the prisoners usually were reluctant to strip in front of each other, and that Graner forced them to do so anyway. He said Graner punched a detainee in the head so hard the man fell unconscious. Sivits said. They later had to check to see he was breathing. Another time two inmates were told to strike each other. They first refused, Sivits said, and then complied. TMS Reprints
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