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CNN Live Saturday
3 U.S. Soldiers Accused Of Abuse Were Arraigned Today
Aired November 15, 2003 - 16:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Was it self-defense or a crime? Three U.S. soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners of war will face separate court martials to determine the answer. They faced arraignment in Kuwait. And CNN's Chris Plate joins us from the Pentagon with details. So what happened, Chris?
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The three U.S. soldiers were arraigned today at Camp Doha in Kuwait on charges they abused a number of Iraqi prisoners of war back on May 12. They prisoners of war were either at Camp Abuka (ph), as it was called, a prisoner of war camp in southern Iraq, or transferred to Camp Abuka (ph) from other locations at the time of the alleged incidents.
The three soldiers have been identified by the army as a Master Sergeant Lisa Marie Girman, a staff sergeant named Scott MacKenzie and Specialist Timothy Canjar. All three of the accused are military police officers assigned to the 320th police battalion based in Ashley, Pennsylvania and the charges that they face stemming from these incidents range from dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment of enemy prisoners of war to filing of false official statements, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
To give you some sense of how seriously these charges are being taken, if convicted on all counts, Sergeant Lisa Girman could face up to 25 years in prison, Sergeant MacKenzie 23 years prison, and the specialist Canjar up to 25 1/2 years in prison, in addition to other more minor disiplinary actions -- reduction of rank and loss of benefits and that sort of thing.
For their part the three claim they acted only in self-defense with these prisoners of war. The situation at Camp Buka (ph) was described very often as being somewhat chaotic. Prisoners of war being out of control, the MP's understaffed. They claim that they acted, as I said, only in self-defense, in an effort to keep these prisoners of war in line.
All of that will presumely come out in the courts martial which will take place on three separate dates in late January. Courts martial will be held at Camp Bukha (ph) where the incident allegedly curt and Camp Doha in Kuwait where they were arraigned today.
It's worth noting also that a fourth soldier a sergeant Shirshana Edmonson (ph) also was implicated in this incident, she was able to negotiate a deal, however, with the army legal authorities and she was discharged from the army under less than honorable circumstances, but will not be facing court-martial on this issue -- Andrea. KOPPEL: All right. So we got to wait a couple months to see the outcome of those three individuals' fate. Thank you so much, Chris Plante, at the Pentagon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 15, 2003 - 16:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Was it self-defense or a crime? Three U.S. soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners of war will face separate court martials to determine the answer. They faced arraignment in Kuwait. And CNN's Chris Plate joins us from the Pentagon with details. So what happened, Chris?
CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The three U.S. soldiers were arraigned today at Camp Doha in Kuwait on charges they abused a number of Iraqi prisoners of war back on May 12. They prisoners of war were either at Camp Abuka (ph), as it was called, a prisoner of war camp in southern Iraq, or transferred to Camp Abuka (ph) from other locations at the time of the alleged incidents.
The three soldiers have been identified by the army as a Master Sergeant Lisa Marie Girman, a staff sergeant named Scott MacKenzie and Specialist Timothy Canjar. All three of the accused are military police officers assigned to the 320th police battalion based in Ashley, Pennsylvania and the charges that they face stemming from these incidents range from dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment of enemy prisoners of war to filing of false official statements, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
To give you some sense of how seriously these charges are being taken, if convicted on all counts, Sergeant Lisa Girman could face up to 25 years in prison, Sergeant MacKenzie 23 years prison, and the specialist Canjar up to 25 1/2 years in prison, in addition to other more minor disiplinary actions -- reduction of rank and loss of benefits and that sort of thing.
For their part the three claim they acted only in self-defense with these prisoners of war. The situation at Camp Buka (ph) was described very often as being somewhat chaotic. Prisoners of war being out of control, the MP's understaffed. They claim that they acted, as I said, only in self-defense, in an effort to keep these prisoners of war in line.
All of that will presumely come out in the courts martial which will take place on three separate dates in late January. Courts martial will be held at Camp Bukha (ph) where the incident allegedly curt and Camp Doha in Kuwait where they were arraigned today.
It's worth noting also that a fourth soldier a sergeant Shirshana Edmonson (ph) also was implicated in this incident, she was able to negotiate a deal, however, with the army legal authorities and she was discharged from the army under less than honorable circumstances, but will not be facing court-martial on this issue -- Andrea. KOPPEL: All right. So we got to wait a couple months to see the outcome of those three individuals' fate. Thank you so much, Chris Plante, at the Pentagon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
