An Abu Ghraib Offender Heads Back to Iraq (To Train Iraqi Police)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1554326-1,00.html

As if the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal weren't bad enough for America's image in the Middle East, now it may appear to much of the world that one of the men implicated in the scandal is returning to the scene of the crime.

The U.S. military tells TIME that one of the soldiers convicted for his role in Abu Ghraib, having served his sentence, has just been sent back to serve in Iraq.

Sgt. Santos Cardona, 32, a military policeman from Fullerton, Calif., served in 2003 and 2004 at Abu Ghraib as a military dog handler. After pictures of Cardona using the animal to threaten Iraqis were made public, he was convicted in May of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault, the equivalent of a felony in the U.S. civilian justice system. The prosecution demanded prison time, but a military judge instead imposed a fine and reduction in rank. Though Cardona was not put behind bars, he was also required to serve 90 days of hard labor at Ft. Bragg, N.C.

Before Cardona boarded a plane at Pope Air Force Base this week for the long flight to his unit's Kuwait staging area, he told close friends and family that he dreaded returning to Iraq. One family member described him as "depressed," though stoic about his fate. According to a close friend with whom Cardona spoke just before his departure, the soldier is fearful that he remains a marked man, forever linked to the horrors of Abu Ghraib — he appears in at least one al-Qaeda propaganda video depicting the abuse — and that he and comrades serving with him in Iraq could become targets for terrorists. To make matters worse, his 23rd MP Company has been selected to train Iraqi police, which have been the target of frequent assassination attempts and, according to US intelligence are heavily infiltrated by insurgents. Attempts to reach Cardona directly were unsuccessful.


Sgt. Santos Cardona, second from right, using his dog Duco in an attempt to control Abu Ghraib prisoner Mohammad Bollendia at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq on Dec. 12, 2003.

:wtf: :banghead:

[ECH1969]

1. The Iraqi police have electric drills for torture

They don't need to freeking dogs.

[NOLADEM]

2. Sometimes you cannot put into words the disgust you have for what you see in front of you

This is one of those times.

[grytpype]

3. Jesus, it's true. He's going to be training Iraqi police.

You know, every time I think I've heard everything and the news can't be any worse, I get surprised.

[mom cat]

19. Same here. This is outrageous!

[Drum]

4. Deplorable.

Horrible that the infection continues to spread.

And to add insult to injury, TIME's photo caption---not a misprint in the OP---identifies "Sgt. Santos Cardona, second from right" while overlooking the fact that four people are depicted...second from right is actually the victim.
:mad:

[mom cat]

20. Obviously you can count, but the captioner cannot, or at least does

not think that a tortured prisoner counts.

[saigon68]

5. I wish him well this time

Hope the Iraqi people welcome him with open arms

and closed bolts.

[saigon68]

6. Here's Mr. Mohammad Bollendia in OTHER somewhat trying times

seen giving a little blood for sabrina harmann

[FormerOstrich]

7. Geez....

:wtf: is right!

What's this little gem: he appears in at least one al-Qaeda propaganda video depicting the abuse

A propaganda video? He didn't really do anything wrong it's just propaganda?

[wellst0nev0ter]

8. B-But Kerry Said Our Troops R Stoopid!

Oy, this war can't end fast enough :eyes:

[saigon68]

9. They aren't STOOPID--- They just don't study hard

That's why they are in Iraq-Nam

[Solly Mack]

10. uh...uh...uh... Damn

[tanyev]

11. Holy feck. Why didn't he get punished and discharged?

[Rose Siding]

12. Good God. How much more deadly damage can we do before it gets better

Are bushbots able to make ANY good decisions? At all?!!

[LynnTheDem]

13. Jeebus fucking Cripes...why doesn't george w bush just publicly announce

to the world the rise of the 4th Reich.

Never mind, the world doesn't need any official pronouncement.

[Canuckistanian]

14. The Iraqis should prepare a welcoming party for him

After all, he stopped a ticking time bomb, right? :sarcasm:

[grizmaster]

15. between him and Negroponte

you can be sure that the bush junta has decided to turn up the torture and death squad heat.

[Barrett808]

16. Deployment of convicted soldier stopped (for "his personal safety")

Deployment of convicted soldier stopped
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - A soldier convicted in connection with prisoner abuse in Iraq was sent this week with his military police unit for another tour in Iraq, but the Army on Friday stopped him before he got there, a spokesman said.

Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said the soldier, Spec. Santos A. Cardona, deployed on Monday from Fort Bragg, N.C., with the 23rd Military Police Company. He and his unit were in Kuwait preparing for movement into Iraq when the Army decided that for safety reasons he would not go into Iraq.

"We are extremely concerned, in light of the publicity about his situation, about his personal safety," Boyce said. "So for the good of the soldier, as well as the situation, he has been stopped in Kuwait pending review by the chain of command."

In a court martial this summer, Cardona was convicted of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his police dog to bark within inches of a prisoner's face at

Abu Ghraib prison. The Army said he did 90 days of hard labor, was reduced in rank from sergeant to specialist and ordered to pay $600 per month in fines for 12 months. His sentence did not include jail time, and after his 90 days of hard labor he chose to remain in the Army, although he is no longer assigned dog handling duties in his MP unit, Boyce said.

The Army believes his personal safety, and potentially the safety of others in his unit, would be endangered if he deployed into Iraq because he might be targeted by insurgents who know of his link to the Abu Ghraib abuse.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061103/ap_on_re_us/prison_abuse_dogs

[electron_blue]

17. erm, they changed their mind. He's not going there anymore.

[ourvoicescount]

18. They shouldn't have "considered" it in the first place...

[saigon68]

21. :-(