In September 2005 Lynndie England was convicted of one count of conspiracy, four

Question

In September 2005 Lynndie England was convicted of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act on detainee of the Abu Ghraib prison following the US occupation of Iraq. The media was flooded with photos and reports of what occurred and who was responsible.

Research Lynndie England and the Abu Ghraib situation. Then take a pro or con position regarding whether England should be held accountable for her behavior. Defend your position using at least three key concepts covered in this chapter.

Explanation / Answer

The case of former reservist Lynndie England and the Abu Ghraib prison conspiracy exemplifies the situation of establishing the trial of military personnels for war crimes. Based on the media portrayals and England’s own narratives in the interviews, it is believed that England needed to be held accountable for her role in the Abu Ghraib torture. Firstly, her conviction can be validated based on the fact that while she was obeying commands of the higher authority, it was ultimately her personal decision whether to carry out the orders to express dissent for being misled into maltreatment. Thus, while she testified in the court that she and her colleagues were working somehow for military intelligence, this is not supported by fact. Second, the evidence which were brought or the court in the form of the explicit photographs of England and her colleague and ex husband, Col. Garner posing with tthe prisoners in derogatory manner are a strong proof of her active role in the inhumane treatment of war prisoners. Thirdly, her biographer Graveline mentions that the detainees in the photos involving England, were not suspected terrorists, but some of the thousands of convicts of inland or domestic crimes in Iraq. Interestingly, there is no account of the men in the England photos being ever interrogated for war intelligence. All this builds to strong evidence in favour of the charge of conviction of Lynndie England on grounds of responsibility in war crimes.

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