PFC England: Soldier Disputes Her Claims
From The New York Post:Most of this story is about Ms. England's sexual antics, but here are some interesting quotes:
Another soldier involved in the scandal, Spc. Jeremy Sivits, told Army investigators Graner would mock the detainees and brutalize them, The Los Angeles Times reported last night.
In one incident, he allegedly punched a detainee so hard, he knocked him unconscious. "His eyes were closed and he was not moving," Sivits was quoted as saying. Afterward, Graner shook his fist and said, "Damn, that hurt," the report says.
Sivits, who the paper said is expected to plead guilty at a court-martial proceeding next week, also disputed England's claims that she was ordered to pose for the snapshots that shocked the world. One picture showed her holding a naked Iraqi man on a dog leash, and in others, she is shown making thumbs-up signs in front of a pyramid of naked Iraqi men and pointing at the genitals of a naked prisoner.
Sivits said England was "laughing at the different stuff that they were having the detainees do."
He also shot down her claim that the soldiers were ordered to abuse the prisoners, and said Graner warned him not to tell higher-ups about how they were being treated.
"Our command would have slammed us," Sivits said.
(emphasis is ours)
Mark's Remarks
Also in this story, despite there being video evidence apparently, Ms. England through her surrogates is claiming she did not engage in multipartner fornication at the base. A friend also claimed that the tapes were personal and private for Ms. England and her lover, the Cpl. Graner who appears to have been spearheading this abuse. If it was so private and personal, why video tape it?
Sivits is an interesting character in this. He was there, he participated. Is he trying to plea to a lesser deal and sell England up the river? According to some sources, it is indeed her in the pictures shown on Capitol Hill, and according to my sources, there are more soldiers collaborating Sivits's descriptions of events. So, it appears, especially in light of Sivits's testimony, that Ms. England and her lover were sick and twisted, and that orders did not come from higher up the chain, and that Ms. England and her lover were amused by it. If this is proven and vetted out, Ms. England and her lover have much explaining to do to America, to Nick Berg's family, and to every family of a soldier in Iraq whose lives they endangered, apparently for their own sick fetishes. Disturbing, but also vindiction for our military as a whole.
