NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- A military lawyer for a soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib abuse case testified that a captain at the Baghdad prison said the highest-ranking U.S. military officer in Iraq was present during some ” interrogations and/or allegations of prisoner abuse,” The Washington Post reported on its Web site Saturday, citing a a recording of a military hearing it said it obtained.
The Post reported that the lawyer said he was told that Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez and other senior military officers were aware of what was taking place on Tier 1A of Abu Ghraib. The lawyer, Capt. Robert Shuck, said a sargeant at the prison as prepared to testify that intelligence officers told him the abuse of detainees on the cellblock was “the right thing to do.”
According to the report, Shuck is assigned to defend Staff Sgt. Ivan L. “Chip” Frederick II of the 372nd Military Police Company. During an April 2 hearing that was open to the public, Shuck said that the company commander, Capt. Donald J. Reese, was prepared to testify in exchange for immunity. The military prosecutor questioned Shuck about what Reese would say under oath.
“Are you saying that Captain Reese is going to testify that General Sanchez was there and saw what was going on?” The Post quoted military prosecutor Capt. John McCabe as saying.
“That’s what he told me,” Shuck was quoted as sayijng. “I am an officer of the court, sir, and I would not lie. I have got two children at home. I’m not going to risk my career.”
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