We're going to quickly highlight two stories buried in this morning's paper.
Kate Zernike's "Reservist to Offer Guilty Plea in Jail Assault":
Sergeant Davis was one of seven military police soldiers accused of the abuse that set off a scandal last year after photographs of detainees in Iraq being beaten and forced into sexually humiliating poses were made public. He had faced eight years in prison on charges of aggravated assault, conspiracy, maltreatment, dereliction of duty and making false statements to investigators.
At a court-martial scheduled to begin Tuesday at Fort Hood, Tex., he will plead guilty to charges of simple assault and making false statements, said the lawyer, Paul Bergrin. The trial will then move immediately to the sentencing phase.
Also pay attention to an Associated Press article (no byline given) entitled "Ex-G.I. Writes About Use of Sex in Guantánamo Interrogations." From that article:
Female interrogators tried to break male Muslim detainees at the United States prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by sexually touching them, by wearing miniskirts and thong underwear, and, in one case, by smearing a Saudi man's face with red ink, which he was led to believe was menstrual blood, according to part of a draft manuscript written by a former Army sergeant.
The manuscript, which was obtained by The Associated Press, was written by Erik R. Saar, who was an Arabic translator at Guantánamo from December 2002 to June 2003.
. . .
In another case, Mr. Saar's manuscript describes a military woman interrogating an uncooperative 21-year-old Saudi detainee. The interrogator wanted to "break him," according to Mr. Saar's manuscript, adding that the woman removed her uniform top to expose a tight-fitting T-shirt. She began taunting the detainee, the manuscript says, touching her breasts, rubbing them against the prisoner's back and commenting on his apparent erection.
When asked how she could break the prisoner, a Muslim linguist told the woman to tell him she was menstruating, then to touch him and to turn off the water in his cell so he could not wash. "The concept was to make the detainee feel that, after talking to her, he was unclean and was unable to go before his God in prayer and gain strength," the manuscript says.
Please check out both articles if you have the time.
