Where are Lynndie England and Charles Graner now?

Lynndie England and Charles Graner inside Abu Ghraib - 2003

As photographs of Abu Ghraib and the abuse that went on there shocked the world in 2004, one of the main faces of the scandal was Lynndie England. Throughout several of the photos England, only 21 years old at the time, was almost always seen smiling, even posed next to a dead body and when pointing at the detainees' genitals.

Charles Graner, accused in some circles as the "ringleader," was also another well known smiling face of the Abu Ghraib scandal. Both him and England were convicted of their roles in the scandal and sentenced to prison time. Graner sentenced to 10 years, of which he served six and a half, and England sentenced to three years, of which she only served half.

After serving time, where are they now?

Lynndie  England returned home to Fort Ashby, West Virginia after being released from prison. There she lives in a trailer park with her parents and four year old son, fathered by Charles Graner. In the very small town she tries to move on with a "normal" life of looking for a job, staying out the way of the public and getting on with a life. During an interview with Emma Brockes, England was asked about the photos and her relationship with Graner. At one point when Brockes asks why she didn't walk away from the pictures, England remarks, "I didn't want them. But he was so persistent. Go on! Just for me! If you loved me, you'd do it. I'm like, gee, OK just take the damn picture." England goes on to talk about Graner and the things he did that influenced her into her actions. England's mother went on the record stating that she felt is was her daughters own fault but her father hasn't spoken about the scandal. While England was serving her time in prison her parents got a divorce after it was revealed her father was having an affair. England blames herself and states, "Yeah. I pretty much broke up a 30-year marriage." England is now on antidepressants and experiences nightmares but is worried she will not be able to afford the medication once she is officially discharged from the military.

Emma Brockes "Interview: She's Home from Jail, But Lynndie England Can't Escape Abu Ghraib," The Guardian, 2 January 2009.

Charles Graner was "convicted of offenses that included stacking the prisoners into a pyramid, knocking one of them out with a head punch and ordering prisoners to masturbate while soldiers took pictures." While Graner stuck to his story that these sort of actions were the plans of military intelligence officers to "soften up prisoners for interrogation" he received the longest sentence of those convicted and served six and one half years on a ten year sentence before released from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Graner married his fellow Abu Ghraib defendant Megan Ambul after his conviction but since being released from prison neither of their whereabouts have been released. Graner maintains his innocents in the reasons he carried out the actions He continue to fight and appeal his conviction with an attorney who states, Graner was a "political prisoner of the failed United States Iraq policy and uncessary war."

 

David Dishneau, "Charles Graner Released. Abu Ghraib Abuse Ringleader Set Free From Kansas Prison," The Huffington Post, August 6, 2011.

The Senate Armed Services Committee Report on Treating of Detainees in December 2008

The leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee released a report about the abuse committed by American troops and included Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay along with other military centers. In the report blame was placed heavily on Donald Rumsfeld for the abuse. In "Report Blames Rumsfeld for Detainee Abuse" Senator Carl Levin and Senator John McCain "explicitly rejects the Bush administration's contention the tough interrogation methods have helped keep the country and its troops safe." Donald Rumsfeld was accused of knowing what was going on and reiterates, as other reports do, that there was no way the soldiers at Abu Ghraib were acting alone. The report goes on to state how the MPs were following top officials' messages of the pressures and techniques they were using were appropriate. One of the main opponents of the harsh interrogation was Senator John McCain, who himself was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

What is SERE? - Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape
SERE was designed as a program and training techniques for soldiers to "resist interrogation by enemies that refuse to follow the Geneva Conventions and international law."- Senate Armed Services Committee Report on Treatment of Detainees.  During these trainings the U.S. troops would be in controlled environments but exposed to things such as: stress positions, forced nudity, use of fear, sleep deprivation, etc... These would later be the same techniques used at Abu Ghraib. The SERE techniques were put into place but never meant to be used against detainees in U.S. custody.  The report also point out that the abuse that went on in these facilitates could not have "chalked up to the actions of a few bad apples. Attempts by senior officials to pass the buck to low ranking soldiers while avoiding any responsibility for abuses are unconscionable.

Antonio Taguba and His Report, May 2004

Army Major General Antonio M. Taguba met with Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, one week after the photographs were released on the Abu Ghraib torture. General Taguba's stance was that what happened at Abu Ghraib was torture! In Seymour H. Hersh, The General's Report: How Antonio Taguba, Who Investigated the Abu Ghraib Scandal, Became One of Its Casualties, reports, "Nevertheless, Rumsfeld, in his appearance before the Senate and the House of Armed Services Committees on May 7th, claimed to have no idea of the extensive abuse." Rumsfeld takes the stance that he wishes someone would have stopped the abuse and reported sooner so they could have taken care of it. General Taguba knew this was absolutely not true.

General Taguba was tasked with the intensive investigation into the Abu Ghraib scandal. He repeatedly asked the officers, why was nothing done if they knew what they were doing was wrong? Upon investigation into the role of Lieutenant Colonel Steven L. Jordan, Taguba recalls "I suspected that somebody was giving them guidance, but I could not print that." General Taguba also reports he believed Lieutenant General Sanchez, the Army Commander in Iraq, had knowledge of what was going on. He argues that General Sanchez had visited the prison on several occasions and could not have been blind to what was going on. Again.... insinuating that these MPs were getting their orders from higher up and what was going on was absolutely tolerated by everyone on the site and around. It has even been mentioned that their would have been no recourse or action taken if their had been no photos.  

How did the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal become known and what was the immediate result?

PICTURES........ PICTURES........ PICTURES........

Interested in capturing the things he had experienced, First Specialist Joseph Darby asked Sergeant Graner for pictures. Harmless right??? While scanning the CDs he was given (total of 2) Darby realized the disc held pictures of the abuse at Abu Ghraib. He turned the CDs over to CID thinking he would remain anonymous. This was not the case!!!After discovering Darby was still in the location where the MPs were brought for questioning Darby was wrapped in blankets to leave in an attempt to keep his identity secret. - How professional?

 

The internal investigation BEGINS....

    Everyone that had anything to do with Abu Ghraib was ordered to turn it over. This is when many things started to be destroyed. "In spring 2004, The New Yorker and 60 Minutes II broke the story and released the photos." This made worldwide news and the MPs were seeing themselves on the news. On national TV the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, thanks Specialist Darby for releasing the pictures when Darby was still supposed to be anonymous.

 

Upon the investigation, the finger was continuously pointed at "a few bad soldiers" and the government denied the authorization of any such acts. They said the few responsible had "let us down" and the defense department released documents stating they were not aware of what was going on and it was the activities of "the people on the night shift."

James Schlesinger - Former Secretary of Defense: 

"Sadism that was certainly not authorized." "Animal House on the night shift."

There were several problems and holes in the story of "animal house on the night shift." One of the reporters describes the pictures and how they depict practices well known to the interrogators. How do you deny that??? How are the untrained prison guards who were just recently brought to Abu Ghraib to know how to use the specific techniques depicted in pictures?

What happened at Abu Ghraib?

Interrogators called the shots at Abu Ghraib. The power went to the heads of the people overseeing the detainees. The torture became "part of the job" and "normal" for them. A riot broke out at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and this enraged the MPs who were now responsible for the detainees and a part of the interrogation staff. In the fall of 2003 the abuse was caught on camera by the MPs themselves.

 

After the prison riot broke out one of he MPs said, "it set everybody off." This enhanced the aggression and abuse in the facility while justifying it in their minds and they just kept reminding themselves of what the detainees had done.  

 

During the interrogations the abuse was eminent as well. The detainees were yelled at, abused, made to crawl and "scrape their genitals on the floor." The interrogations were conducted with the same abuse. 

*The reading: Seymour M. Hersch, "Torture at Abu Graib" notes:

"The military-intelligence officers have "encouraged and told us, 'Great job,' they were now getting positive resulted and information, " Frederick wrote. "CID has been present when the military working dogs were used to intimidate prisoners at MI's request." At one point, Frederick told his family, he pulled aside his superior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Phillabaum, the commander of the 320th M.P. Battalion, and asked about the mistreatment of prisoners. "His reply was "Don't worry about it."



Military Police Moved from Incarceration Staff and Placed Under Military Intelligence (MI)

As discussed earlier in the blog, the Military Police (MPs) drove up to Abu Ghraib with NO TRAINING and were instructed to put their weapons away because they would no longer need them. These men and women had then spent months as "incarceration staff" for the detainees rounded up in Iraq and now had to face another BIG change........

 

The MPs now had the job of "softening up, creating the conditions for affective interrogation by the Military Interrogators." They were essentially responsible for making sure the detainees experienced the events before being interrogated the next day. In the video the MPs recall having to do things such as, showering the detainee several times while pointing and laughing, waking them up every few hours, utilizing loud noises to keep them up, throwing water on them, etc.... Whatever it took to keep them up and ready for the interrogators. 

Major General Geoffrey Miller, Donald Rumsfield, Ricardo Sanchez and Interrogation Techniques

Who was sent to Iraq to get answers????

       The man Donald Rumsfield chose to go to Iraq to get answers was Major General Geoffrey Miller, valued for his part in running the prison operations at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. After becoming very frustrated with the lack of intel the Americans were receiving in Iraq Donald Rumsfield sent General Geoffrey Miller based on what he knew of the things General Miller had implemented at Guantanamo Bay. General Miller was known for "getting results." He had implemented using harsher interrogation techniques in order to get information from the detainees at Guantanamo. FBI later released what they found when visiting Guantanamo prison. The practices of chaining detainees, leaving them in their own urine and feces without food or water were released. In response Donald Rumsfield was pressured to respond. He issued a memo approving several "enhancing interrogation techniques." Things that were approved in the memo included some of the following:

• solitary confinement
• noise
• light/dark (enhanced or extreme sensory disorientation)
• stress positions
• phobias
• removal of clothing - this included sexual orientation techniques

**** In August of 2003 General Miller was sent to Iraq.

 

 

Upon General Miller's arrival in Iraq he voiced his opinion that the "prisoners were being treated to well, and they don't know who is in charge." After the visit of General Miller, General Ricardo Sanchez released a memo about extreme techniques. Only a month later he rescinded some of the approved techniques he had issued before. The situation this leaves in the Abu Ghraib prison facility is confusion and misunderstanding. The MPs reported that things were very unclear and "nobody could answer questions for us." They were removed from their original order and placed under the control of military intelligence. They were no longer considered the guards when this shift of control happened. They were then part of the interrogation staff.