Officer is acquitted of abuse at Abu Ghraib

The only military officer to be court-martialed in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was acquitted Tuesday of any criminal responsibility for the widespread abuse of Iraqi prisoners, but he was found guilty of disobeying an order not to talk about the investigation.

Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, 51, a career Army soldier, was in charge of gathering military intelligence at the prison. But according to testimony at the weeklong court-martial at Ft. Meade, Md., he was not directly involved in the handling of captives at the overcrowded detention camp near Baghdad once used by Saddam Hussein to hold political prisoners.

He was found not guilty of three counts of abuse for forcing detainees to disrobe in front of intimidating dogs, not properly training and supervising soldiers how to treat prisoners, and allowing dogs to be used to force prisoners to talk. The jury convicted him of the single count of ignoring a general’s order against talking about the Abu Ghraib investigation.

The maximum penalty for Jordan on the sole conviction is five years in a military brig and dismissal from the Army after 23 years in the service.

Asking for leniency from the jury, Jordan said Tuesday that the abuse at Abu Ghraib “shocked and saddened” him. “It did not represent the U.S. soldiers that I know and love,” he testified. “I hope the wounds of Abu Ghraib can start to heal.”

The case against him appears to be the last military trial in the infamous prison abuse case of 2003, which roiled the Pentagon, prompted then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to offer his resignation and heaped criticism on the Bush administration for its handling of prisoners.

The inhumane treatment -- which included beatings, sexual humiliations and several deaths -- also outraged much of the Muslim world. Photographs showed prisoners in female underwear shackled to prison bars, piled naked atop each other, threatened by lunging guard dogs and one hooded inmate posed atop a makeshift electrical box.

Jordan has maintained that he did nothing wrong and that the Army used him as a scapegoat to show its willingness to discipline senior officers as well as the 11 lower-ranking military guards and others at the prison who were convicted of abuse.

Col. Thomas M. Pappas, one of the senior officers who was disciplined, told the jury of nine colonels and one brigadier general that Jordan was never directly tasked with dealing with prisoners. Instead, Pappas testified, Jordan’s duties involved making sure intelligence-gathering operations ran smoothly and improving the quality of life for guards.

Maj. Kris Poppe, one of Jordan’s military defense lawyers, argued in court that Jordan had “no command authority over anyone at Abu Ghraib.” Jordan not only did not abuse prisoners, Poppe maintained, but was not even at the infamous site inside the prison where the worst mistreatment occurred.

But Lt. Col. John P. Tracy, a military prosecutor, told the jury that it was unbelievable that Jordan would be unaware of the abuse. He noted that Jordan was assigned to the prison for only a brief stint, and that “during that period of time, a lot of things went wrong.”

At the beginning of the trial on Aug. 20, Jordan faced a maximum punishment of 17 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

But just as the jury was being seated, the military dropped two charges against Jordan that alleged he lied in 2004 to investigators reviewing the abuse at Abu Ghraib. They said they dismissed those counts only because they learned he had not been read his legal rights before talking to investigators.

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richard.serrano@latimes.com