JAG CENTRAL

The England Family, A Match Made in Hell (AP)

From the New York Times, Belgium: Trial for 2 In Rwanda Genocide ("Belgium began trying two Rwandan half-brothers charged with helping Hutu militias who killed some 50,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu in 1994 by lending them vehicles and then rewarding them with beer after the slaughter. They are being tried under a law that allows Belgium to prosecute suspected war crimes, even if committed by foreigners in other countries. The two, Étienne Nzabonimana, above, 54, and Samuel Ndashyikirwa, 43, both wealthy businessmen, were living in Belgium when they were arrested in 2002. The trial is expected to last seven weeks and call about 180 witnesses, some to be flown to Brussels from Rwanda."); and Behind Failed Abu Ghraib Plea, a Tale of Breakups and Betrayal:

In a military courtroom in Texas last week was a spectacle worthy of "As the World Turns": Pfc. Lynndie R. England, the defendant, holding her 7-month-old baby; the imprisoned father, Pvt. Charles A. Graner Jr., giving testimony that ruined what lawyers said was her best shot at leniency; and waiting outside, another defendant from the notorious abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Megan M. Ambuhl, who had recently wed Private Graner - a marriage Private England learned about only days before.

To some, the grave misdeeds at Abu Ghraib, where the three soldiers worked for six months in 2003, have become a twisted symbol of the American military occupation of Iraq. But the scandal is also one rooted in the behavior of military reservists working at the prison, an environment that testimony has portrayed as more frat house than military prison, a place where inmates were routinely left naked and soldiers took pictures of one another simulating sex with fruit.

Wait, it gets better... Specialist (now Private) Graner was a real winner...

He was fresh from an ugly divorce in 2000. His ex-wife, Staci Morris, had taken out three protective orders against him, and after he was arrested for harassing her in 2001, Private Graner admitted that he had dragged her around by her hair.

From the beginning, it was a match made in hell...

In Iraq, Private England was disciplined several times for sleeping with Private Graner, against military rules. She flouted warnings to stay on the wing where she worked as a clerk, and spent most of her nights in the cellblock where he worked the night shift.

One night in October, he told her to pose for photographs holding a leash tied around the neck of a naked and crawling detainee. He e-mailed one home: "Look what I made Lynndie do." The now infamous pictures of detainees masturbating, he said, were a birthday gift for her.

Former Army SPC Megan Ambuhl, Prison Guard of Love (AP)

Ahh...the plot thickens... Enter Specialist Megan Ambuhl. From the beginning, it was hick West Virginia trailer-trash love...

She had been involved with another soldier in the unit. But by late December, she had ended that relationship and started one with Private Graner. In e-mail messages, the two dreamily recalled their nights stolen away in the crowded prison cells where the military police lived.

"I was missing u too," she wrote just after Christmas 2003. "When I heard your voice coming up the stairs, it made me happy and kinda nervous too (good nervous)." She reassured him that she would not get back together with her ex-boyfriend.

Ooops... Unfortunately, there was a little muffin in Lynddie's oven...

Private Graner, quickly identified as the ringleader in the abuse, e-mailed his father in early March to discuss the accusations against him, then popped "more good news:" Private England was two months pregnant - he spelled her name Lynndee - and the pregnancy would most likely get them sent home from Iraq.

They found out she was pregnant two days after breaking up.

You gotta love the Army... You separate soldiers from the unit because they're screwing each other, and guess what happens...

The Army moved Private Graner and Ms. Ambuhl, along with four other soldiers under investigation, to a tent apart from the rest of their unit. And they resumed their relationship.

In April, Ms. Ambuhl e-mailed Private Graner an article headlined, "Study Finds Frequent Sex Raises Cancer Risk." She added, "We could have died last night."

OKAY - Excuse me - I've got a question. WHERE WERE THE FRIGGING OFFICERS AND NCOS IN THIS PLACE???!!! Where was First Sergeant Schmedlap or Lieutenant Smith to put a boot up these jackasses? Somebody was asleep at the wheel, and they were probably wearing shiny bars.

On a serious note, the story reveals two previously unknown facts about this case. First, if the plea had gone through, PFC England would have received a maximum of 30 months, which is much less than the 11 years the newspapers were talking about. Secondly, it was Lynddie's lawyer--and not her--that put SPC Graner on the stand. He probably thought he was helping her, not knowing the intracacies of criminal law. PFC England's lawyer was a civilian and was probably not aware of the acute military-specific providence inquiry danger putting this loose cannon on the stand would pose:

Prosecutors advised defense lawyers against putting Private Graner on the stand, but they did it anyway. He testified that he had ordered Private England to remove a prisoner from a cell by a leash and that it had been a legitimate military exercise. This presented what seemed to be a contradiction - a defendant pleading guilty but presenting a witness who testified that she was innocent. The military judge threw out her plea agreement and ordered that the court-martial process start over.

"It's nothing you did," the judge, Col. James L. Pohl, told her, "It's what he did."

Private England turned to Ms. Morris. "Well, he screws everything up, doesn't he?" Ms. Morris recalled Private England saying.

"I have to agree with you," Ms. Morris replied.

From the Washington Post, U.S. to Expand Prison Facilities in Iraq ("Anticipating continued growth in the detainee population, U.S. commanders have decided to expand three existing facilities and open a fourth, at a total cost of about $50 million. The steady influx of prisoners has also required additional U.S. military police officers to guard the detention centers. Commanders had hoped to use the MPs to help train Iraqi police, but management of the detention centers has taken priority.").

From USA Today, these letters to the editor lamenting about how PFC England was a poor pawn in the big game of torture. They obviously didn't read the above article in the NY Times.