Spc. Jeremy Sivits, the first soldier to face a court-martial in the abuse scandal, is one of seven military police officers facing charges in the case. He will plead guilty at a court-martial proceeding next week, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
Sivits admitted in a sworn statement that he photographed the abuse but never reported it, according to the newspaper. He told investigators how guards led by Spc. Charles Graner abused the detainees during nightly rounds. According to the Times, Sivits said all of the abuse was done without the knowledge of their superiors in the Army chain of command. “Our command would have slammed us,” he said, according to documents quoted by the paper. “They believe in doing the right thing. If they saw what was going on, there would be hell to pay.” He said Graner warned him not to say anything, telling him: “You did not see (this).” According to the Times, Sivits said the soldiers appeared to be enjoying abusing the prisoners.
Sivits’ offer to plead guilty was accepted by the staff judge advocate overseeing his court-martial, according to a memo reviewed by The Washington Post and lawyers representing others charged in the case, the newspaper said. But the paper said it could not be determined to which charge he would plead guilty. Details
UPDATE

As expected, many arguments concerning the prisoners’ abuse in Iraq are created to save the reputation of the countries involved in the abuse and to save the soldiers from punishment.
First we heard the American soldiers claiming they had orders from higher ranks and not the free will to act the way they’ve acted. Which I personally think is nonsense. Because these “poor” soldiers could have at least had the courage of the one who was brave enough to pass the photos to the whole world and show the sick and sadistic behavior of soldiers in Abu Ghraib. Were they that afraid?! All those involved couldn’t gather together and say NO? couldn’t they complain to their government one way or the other during all these months of continues torture?! No they could, but they didn’t want to, because they were sick, and they enjoyed what they were doing… And now UK comes and claims: the pics weren’t even taken in Iraq!! Which is a very bad argument. Whether they were taken in Iraq or elsewhere, one fact cannot change, human beings have been tortured in the most horrible way. It doesn’t matter if that person suffering in the pic was Iraqi, Afghan, or even British, what matters is the terrible abuse and humiliation.
And even if those pics were a work of a “genius” who faked stuff and published it, then it proves only one thing, there are people who are expressing themselves and their sick desires through pics they’re faking, and this is not less dangerous than real abuse, coz even if it wasn’t practically applied in torturing people, having these evil ideas means there are so many sick people out there who can’t wait for a victim to practice their inner desires on.
I do understand that the situation is so delicate, and that each country is trying to save its reputation and prove it was not involved in these disgusting acts, but to prove yourself not guilty doesn’t mean go fabricate some emotional stories, or say some lies to doubt the reliability of a certain newspaper, or magazine or web site. To prove you’re not guilty, there is only one way: surrender to the truth and evidence, investigate, and punish all those involved. It’s known that every country has its good people and its bad people. You can’t fool other societies. You better take an immediate action. This way your will to be fair and helpful will be proven, and you might have one way to maybe make it up for the poor people who suffered and tasted insult, pain and death because of some maniacs who belong to you.
We should not wait for pics to wake us up. Taking part in war is a very big responsibility that all people of all kinds should be aware of, and therefore handle the situation right. Even if people are forced to believe the pics were fake –which is hard to believe- we know that such things and even worse acts are taking place, and even if we’re not talking about pics, we can still talk of the bad behavior of soldiers towards citizens even of non-Iraqi nationalities. Or are TV channels and journalists of the whole world faking stories too?! The world is watching, and all what we wish for is some justice, and some conscious.

Professor Michael Wolffsohn, an instructor in Munich at one of Germany’s top two military officer training schools, attracted controversy earlier this month when he told a German television reporter that “if we attempt to counter terror with gentlemanly methods, we will fail.”
Referring to the excesses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, he said, “In the anti-terror fight there are really no effective laws of war. I believe that torture, or the threat of torture, is legitimate as one of the instruments against terror, because terror basically… has nothing to do with our civilized order.”
On Wednesday, Struck was at pains to make clear that the country’s military establishment did not share Wolffsohn’s controversial views.
During a talk show on the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners, Struck said “A German soldier tortures no one”, and added: “I am firmly convinced that even a young and not particularly educated soldier would never do what we have seen”.
Angelika Beer, head of Germany’s Green party said that Wolffsohn had lost the right to continue in his teaching job and that he should voluntarily step down. Beer said the right to freedom of expression stopped “at the point when it departs from the fundamental principles of our democracy and constitution.”
For details in Arabic Click Here

“There were some awful scenes. It felt like you were descending into one of the wings of hell and sadly it was our own creation,” said Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat. “And when you think of the sadism, the violence, the sexual humiliation, after a while you just turn away, you just can’t take it any more. “I still cannot believe that this happened without the knowledge of those at higher levels,” Durbin added.
Lawmakers said images showed inmates apparently being coerced to commit sodomy, wounds possibly from dog bites, a number of dead bodies, and examples of “sadistic torture” and “sexual humiliation.”
Some top Republicans urged that the still pictures and video not be released publicly, saying they could endanger U.S. forces overseas.
Congress is trying to establish whether the mistreatment was encouraged by intelligence personnel to “soften up” prisoners for interrogations, maybe THIS EXPLAINS what Durbin said while describing one of the pics: “a picture of a man with half his head “blown off,” lying on the ground in blood and gore”… They sure were trying to “SOFTEN UP” prisoners for interrogation, not for DEATH!
Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat described images of a nearly naked man “handcuffed to a wall, beating his head against the wall, recoiling back and forward, probably trying to knock himself unconscious and avoid having to live through the experience.”
More reactions are available Here and Here

The family and friends of Berg are really angry with the US government for denying he was in their custody in Iraq.
Berg was missing from 24 March until his release on 6 April, when he told his parents he had been detained by Iraqi police in Mosul. He disappeared again on 9 April after telling his parents he was looking for a safe way out.
The family wanted to know why he had been held by Iraqi police for about two weeks and questioned by FBI agents three times.
“The Iraqi police do not tell the FBI what to do, the FBI tells the Iraqi police what to do. Who do they think they’re kidding?” Berg’s father, Michael, told reporters.
The intelligence agency said its agents emphasized the dangerous environment in Iraq and encouraged Berg to accept an offer from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq to facilitate his safe passage out of the country.
“Mr. Berg refused these offers,” the FBI statement said. “He also refused government offers to advise his family and friends of his status”. A family spokesman, however, rejected the suggestion that the 26-year-old Berg turned down a US offer to get him out of the country: “The idea that they offered to get Nic out and he turned them down, knowing his life was in danger, I don’t believe that,” neighbor Bruce Hauser said.
“I still hold him (Rumsfeld) responsible because if they had let him go after a reasonable time or given access to a lawyer we could have gotten him out of there before the hostilities escalated,” Michael Berg told a US radio station.
More Details

All I can say is: this is the price of war. More and more innocent people will get killed from all ages and all nationalities. The solution is not to limit ourselves to go look for who’s done this and who’s done that, the solution is to STOP war, get out of Iraq, give back Iraqis their rights and respect after the indescribable humiliation and torture they’ve experienced, and let the world live in peace.
One video of beheading Nicholas Berg have moved the whole world, I couldn’t have the courage to play the video, I knew I couldn’t tolerate it. At the same time, and till this moment I couldn’t stand watch all the photos of the Iraqi prisoners’ abuse. And we all hear of hundreds of kids, young and old Iraqis being shot and killed for no reason but some cheap fun.
This is horrible, PLEASE STOP WAR! I do believe that no one can stand a single extra pic or video from anyone getting tortured or killed. Every action has a reaction, unless the real problems are solved, there will always be more victims, more killing and more disgusting pics to be shown. And no one wants this to happen. No one wants war, it never was constructive.
Related Links: Subzero Blue who has written about his reaction and thoughts about the beheading.
More details of the Beheading of Nicholas Berg are available here: English 1 and English 2, Arabic, and Deutsch .