Legal Commentary

Abu Ghraib: Prison Guard From Hell Gets Appeal Heard Today

By Jeralyn

Charles Graner, the prison guard from hell, convicted and serving 10 years, is having his appeal of his conviction heard today by the top military appeals court in the U.S.

If there is anyone I won't lose sleep over being incarcerated 10 years, it's him. He's still claiming he acted at the behest of higher ups.

Spc. Charles Graner, of Uniontown, Pa., is serving a 10-year sentence for stacking naked prisoners into a pyramid, knocking one of them out with a punch and ordering prisoners to masturbate while other soldiers took pictures.

His defense will argue Monday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington that it was wrongly denied access to then-classified documents showing that some of the detainee treatment reflected "enhanced interrogation techniques" approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The government maintains there was no error and that any relevant information was already publicly available.

All of our coverage of his acts and his trial is accessible here. Just hearing his name makes me want to shower and get the filth off. He was a bad apple before going over to Abu Ghraib and I'll bet he hasn't changed a bit. Especially since he doesn't see what he did was wrong, let alone reprehensible. He acted with amusement and glee while administering atrocious abuses.

He said that he asked Graner, a Pennsylvania prison guard in civilian life, about the photographs. Graner replied: "The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the corrections officer in me says, 'I love to make a grown man piss himself.' "

....All the MPs who provided statements also described abuses that appeared to have little to do with intelligence gathering. Instead, they said detainees were beaten and sexually humiliated as punishment or for fun.

Considering we give white collar criminals and drug offenders a lot more than 10 years, Graner ought to just do his time and maybe, just maybe, if it's long enough, he'll reflect and realize he did go terribly awry, whether it was on orders from above or not. Didn't he ever hear of "Just Say No?"

I think he should have another punishment when he gets out:he should have to spend the rest of his life with his girlfriend, Lyndie England and their child.

What a couple they make.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 03, 2010 (boomark / email).