Denver, May 11: An attorney for an army reservist shown in photographs smiling at naked, tied-up Iraqi prisoners said "the 20-year-old farm girl from West Virginia" is taking the fall for military shortcomings that include a lack of troops. Pfc. Lynndie R. England, 21, of Fort Ashby, West Virginia, was charged Friday with mistreating prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in a scandal that has drawn worldwide outrage.
Six other soldiers from the 372nd military police company are also charged and one of them, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, will face a court-martial in Baghdad next week.
One of England's Denver-based attorneys, Giorgio Ra'shadd, said yesterday the US 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 (military police) 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.
Asked if his client considered refusing to obey unlawful orders from jail commanders, he said her rank meant she took orders from most other ranks.
Bureau Report