[Mb-civic] Top Officer Ordered To Testify on Abuse - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Top Officer Ordered To Testify on Abuse
Use of Dogs to Scare Detainees at Issue

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 19, 2006; A14

A military judge in Washington yesterday ordered prosecutors to produce 
Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller as a defense witness in the trial of a 
military dog handler accused of abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib 
prison in Iraq, the first time a general officer will be compelled to 
testify in court about controversial U.S. interrogation and detention 
policies.

The order by Marine Lt. Col. Paul H. McConnell will give defense 
attorneys a chance to question Miller about the use of dogs in security 
and interrogation operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Iraq. It 
also means lawyers could use Miller's testimony to attempt to draw 
connections between the alleged abuse and the policies developed by top 
Pentagon officials, who had regular contact with Miller when he was the 
commander at Guantanamo Bay.

Miller would be the highest-ranking officer to take the stand in any 
prosecution arising from the notorious abuse at Abu Ghraib. Attorneys 
for Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, 31, a police-dog handler, are the first to 
convince a judge that his involvement could shed light on how dogs came 
to be used to threaten high-value detainees during interrogations in 
Iraq in late 2003.

Miller originally invoked his military Article 31 rights not to 
incriminate himself, but in recent weeks he spoke for several hours with 
Cardona's attorney, Harvey Volzer. At a hearing yesterday in a small 
courtroom at the Washington Navy Yard, Volzer said Miller has agreed to 
testify at Cardona's court-martial, which is scheduled to begin May 17.

An attorney for Miller did not return calls and an e-mail requesting 
comment. Miller has declined numerous requests for comment.

Volzer said he plans to press Miller for information about a trip he 
made to Iraq to advise U.S. officials on how to get better intelligence, 
using his Guantanamo Bay experience as a base line. Top Pentagon 
officials ordered Miller to go to Iraq in September 2003. Shortly 
thereafter, military working dogs were shipped to Abu Ghraib and 
approved for use in interrogations.

"He said, 'Get dogs,' " Volzer told the court yesterday.

Col. Thomas M. Pappas, the top military intelligence officer at Abu 
Ghraib, testified last month at the trial of another dog handler that 
Miller and his team of intelligence experts recommended using dogs to 
exploit Arab fears of the animals. Pappas said he approved the use of 
dogs for interrogations of one high-value detainee after Miller's visit. 
In a memo written shortly after photos of abuse were turned over to Army 
investigators, Pappas urged an end to the use of dogs and recommended 
that charges not be brought against the dog handlers.

Maj. Christopher Graveline, who is prosecuting Cardona, said that there 
have been many attempts to build Miller up "as some sort of boogeyman" 
and that the general is irrelevant to the charges against Cardona. 
Cardona could face 16 years in prison if he is convicted of using his 
dog to frighten detainees. Interrogation records show two of the men 
Cardona allegedly abused were considered high-value detainees. One was 
an Iraqi general and the other was believed to be an al-Qaeda operative.

Graveline said that Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are "two separate 
things" and that Miller was not actively involved in the operations in 
Iraq until he was transferred to the country to work full-time in April 
2004. He said there is no evidence that Miller ever gave an order to use 
military working dogs in interrogations.

McConnell said he would limit the questioning of Miller to the use of dogs.

"I think that what he said in September could be relevant to what 
happened in November," McConnell said. Witnesses have testified that 
Miller went to Iraq at Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's request 
and wanted to "Gitmo-ize" Abu Ghraib.

Tactics used on detainees in Iraq -- including dogs, a dog leash and 
placing women's underwear on their heads -- appeared to mimic tactics 
used on one detainee at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002.

"I expect Miller to say that the methods that were used in Guantanamo 
were exported to Iraq," Volzer said after the hearing.

Also yesterday, the judge denied a defense request to produce Rumsfeld 
at the trial. Sources close to the abuse cases also said a decision 
about possible charges against Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, a military 
intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib, could come within the next few 
weeks. His is one of the last outstanding Abu Ghraib abuse cases.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801588.html
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