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Saturday, March 08, 2008

IVAW Member Claims Already Debunked by Army Discharge Review Board

Yesterday I posted about Jennifer Spranger and her statement that she poisoned detainees at Camp Bucca. In the same article, Spranger related an event involving MPs beating detainees in retaliation for the sexual assault of Pvt Jessica Lynch...

Then there was the time when the prison brass turned the other way after one prisoner bragged of raping Jessica Lynch. Three men from Jen's unit tied his hands, dragged him off, and beat him until he could hardly stand, she remembers.

"It was pretty bad," Jen says. "He was still walking, but barely.... Our superiors knew what was going on and they just didn't care.... At the time, I didn't care either, I was glad they did that."

Seems that 4 MP's were charged with crimes related to detainee abuse in May 2003 at Camp Bucca. The Battalion Commander claimed the abuse was retaliation for the sexual assault of Pvt. Jessica Lynch.

The four MPs were charged with crimes related to punching and kicking several Iraqis -- including breaking one man's nose -- while escorting prisoners to a POW processing center in May 2003.

Family members identified the other three soldiers involved as Staff Sgt. Scott McKenzie, 37; Sgt. Shawna Edmondson, 24; and Spc. Tim Canjar, 21 -- all from Pennsylvania. The four denied any wrongdoing and said the force they used was necessary to subdue unruly prisoners.

Girman, McKenzie and Canjar were fined and discharged from the Army over the abuses at Camp Bucca. Edmondson agreed to an "other-than-honorable" discharge in exchange for dismissal of criminal charges.

OK I'll give Spranger a pass on the claim of 3 men when it was actually 2 men and 2 women charged. BUT Spranger left out this little very important tidbit - three of those discharged over the abuse claims HAD THE CHARGES REVERSED by the Army Discharge Board...

Two army reservists discharged last year over allegations they mistreated Iraqi prisoners have been cleared by an Army review board and can rejoin the military, their attorney said Friday.

The Army Discharge Review Board this week reversed the former soldiers' discharges and findings of misconduct, said Gary Myers, an attorney who represented Scott McKenzie, Lisa Girman and a third former soldier who was cleared in the same manner in January.

McKenzie and Girman were among four Army reservists with the Pennsylvania-based 320th Military Police Battalion who were charged with punching and kicking several Iraqis, breaking one man's nose, while escorting a busload of prisoners to a POW processing center near Umm Qasr in May 2003....

All four had maintained their innocence and said they used only necessary force to subdue unruly prisoners.

"We were made scapegoats and nothing we were going to say would have changed it," McKenzie said Friday.

Although McKenzie and Girman had initially been accused of charges punishable by more than a decade in prison, they ultimately agreed to an Article 15 review, which allows punishments without a court proceeding or public record. That paved the way for the Army to discharge them for misconduct, but they said it also allowed them to challenge their dismissal before a review board.

So Spranger's claim has already been proven to be false but yet she continues to repeat it. Does that call into question her other claims about her poisoning detainees? You bet your sweet bippy it does.

And how's this for a coincidence - The lawyer who represented McKenzie and Girman was Gary Myers. Yes - the same Gary Myers that represented LCpl Justin Sharratt in the Haditha hearings. I'll pop David Allender an email to see if we can get a response from Mr. Myers on Spranger's claims...

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