US general dodges questions in detainee abuse
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-13 09:37

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, a key player in the treatment of detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, has invoked his right not to incriminate himself in the cases of two soldiers charged with abusing Abu Ghraib prisoners with dogs, officials said on Thursday.

In addition, Army Col. Thomas Pappas, former top military intelligence officer at the prison on the outskirts of Baghdad, was granted immunity from prosecution and directed to testify in the upcoming courts-martial of the Army dog handlers.

Miller headed the prison camp at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, helped shape detention practices at Abu Ghraib and later oversaw all detention operations in Iraq.

Army Maj. Michelle Crawford, a military lawyer representing him, said Miller had been questioned extensively in congressional inquiries, administrative probes and criminal cases against soldiers in the military justice system.

Miller "stands by all of his prior responses and statements" but has decided "to stop answering these same questions," Crawford said by e-mail.

With defense lawyers preparing to question Miller, the general invoked his right under Article 31 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice barring compulsory self-incrimination. Defense lawyers are hoping to show that the detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib was ordered by superiors.

Sgt. Santos Cardona and Sgt. Michael Smith are accused of using military dogs to harass, threaten and assault prisoners at Abu Ghraib from November 2003 to January 2004.

Cardona, of Fullerton, California, is due to go on trial on March 6 at Fort Meade, Maryland, with Smith, of Boyton Beach, Florida, going on trial on February 21.

The Army last May reprimanded and fined Pappas in the Abu Ghraib detainee abuse scandal, finding he committed dereliction of duty in part by authorizing interrogators to have military working dogs present during questioning of detainees without the approval of superior commanders.

'TELLING THE TRUTH'

Asked about Miller, Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon briefing, "I fully expect that leaders of every rank will do the right thing at the right time as far as telling the truth as they know it."

Pace added, "I will simply tell you that we expect our leaders to lead by example, but we do not expect them to give up their individual rights as people."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sidestepped a question about whether Miller's action suggested culpability of senior military officers in detainee abuse, noting that there have been numerous official investigations and criminal cases.

"And I'm certainly not going to inject myself into the middle of any one of those particular activities," Rumsfeld said.

Under military law, rights enshrined in Article 31 for military personnel are roughly the same as those given by the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which prohibits forcing a person to be a witness against himself.

Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said he could not recall another general or admiral invoking Article 31 rights.

"You're not supposed to invoke it unless you are, in fact, suspected of an offense," Fidell said, while adding that merely invoking it does not prove Miller is guilty of wrongdoing.

The Pentagon in summer 2003 sent Miller, at Guantanamo at the time, to Iraq to improve detention operations there. Janis Karpinski, a former one-star Army Reserve general in charge of the prison who was later demoted to colonel, has accused Miller of introducing abusive techniques at Abu Ghraib.