Reuters reports that Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick, one of the soldiers charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal, has pled guilty to various charges of abuse and photographing naked prisoners.

American Thinker readers may remember that Sgt. Frederick figured prominently in the chain of connection in the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative documents and photos to CBS news.  Once Frederick had figured out he would have charges preferred under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), he called his father for help.  His father, in turn, sought help from his brother—in—law, who then contacted retired Colonel David Hackworth.  From this point, the Abu Ghraib photos, which are evidence in a criminal investigation, and the classified Taguba Report, appeared in open source media, including being used by Dan Rather for a concerted attack on SecDef Rumsfeld and President Bush.

A CENTCOM News Release  is more specific on the charges and the Sergeant's plea,

On Oct. 20 Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Fredrick II pled guilty to and was found guilty of one specification of conspiracy to maltreat detainees, one specification of dereliction of duty for failure to protect detainees from maltreatment, four specifications of maltreatment of detainees, one specification of assaulting a detainee and one specification of committing an indecent act.

Of note in the press release is that, as the proceedings moved into the sentencing phase, Sgt. Frederick provided an unsworn [emphasis added] statement to bolster his defense.  As the sentencing phase continued, the defense called Dr. Alvin Jones, a psychologist from Landstuhl, Germany, and Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo from San Francisco, CA.  Dr. Zimbardo's specialty is unknown.  In spite of the defense's efforts,

...the military judge sentenced Staff Sgt. Fredrick to be reduced to a private, forfeit of all pay and allowances, to be dishonorably discharged and to be confined for 10 years.  As a result of the pretrial agreement Staff Sgt. Fredrick's confinement will be reduced to eight years.

It seems that Sgt. Frederick and his family's efforts to muddy the waters in order to divert attention from his criminal actions were all for naught.  And despite his legacy media allies' best shot to hold the National Command Authority responsible for his actions, it is clear in his plea agreement that he plainly knew he and his comrades were acting in contravention of the UCMJ.  And, his unsworn statement certainly doesn't lend credibility to any claim of mitigating circumstances for his criminal behavior.

Other Soldiers and their family members should take note: spilling your beans to the media is not a good way to conduct a legal defense of your case before a military court.

Doug Hanson    10—22—04