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Woman in Iraq abuse photos 'obedient,' court told

Posted on: Friday, 23 September 2005, 17:21 CDT

By Adam Tanner

FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. soldier Lynndie England was so blindly obedient to her boyfriend she gave no thought to posing in the notorious photos of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, a defense psychologist testified on Friday.

"Her compliant personality in the context of her relationship with Charles Graner explains those pictures," said Xavier Amador, a New York clinical psychologist.

Graner, 37, the abuse ringleader with whom she has a child, had asked her to pose in at least some of the Abu Ghraib images that incited worldwide condemnation when they were made public in April 2004.

Members of the five-man jury of officers sought to get to the heart of the matter and in written questions asked if England, 22, could tell right from wrong. Judge Col. James Pohl later told the jury the issue is legally irrelevant because the defense is not arguing that England was criminally insane and thus could not tell right from wrong.

"There's no contemplative process," Amador said later. "She doesn't understand things that are so obvious to us."

Graner, now serving a 10-year sentence, said on Thursday that he was acting properly to control prisoners by stacking them into a naked pyramid and by putting a leash on one mentally ill Iraqi.

In the pyramid photo, taken in November 2003, England was viewed smiling in front of piles of naked Iraqi prisoners. "She was enjoying being with Charles. There was nothing relevant to her other than Charles," Amador said. "It's like a little kid being overwhelmed by daddy putting a hand around you."

Amador, who had testified for the defense in the Unabomber case, is being paid at what he said was a reduced rate for his services for the defense.

EXPERT TESTIMONY

Faced with photographic evidence of her involvement, England's lawyers closes their defense on Friday by calling two psychologists who said learning disabilities contributed to her development into an overly compliant person.

"It is my opinion that Lynndie England carries with her an immense amount of baggage," said Thomas Denne, a school psychologist who knew her from age 4. "Lynndie England has a very complex language-processing dysfunction.

"She is overly compliant in social settings, especially in the presence of perceived authority."

The defense is arguing that because of her compliant personality, England has only "partial mental responsibility" and thus did not intend to participate in criminal conspiracies which account for two of the 11 charges.

Amador said England had been beaten as a child and suffered severe depression after Graner ended their relationship in December 2003. "She was wishing she were dead," he said.

Since he became an inmate at the U.S. military prison Fort Leavenworth early this year, Graner has married another woman who pleaded guilty in the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Prosecution psychiatrist Maj. Jennifer Lange said England, who had once worked in a chicken factory in civilian life, told her of depression in February 2004.

"Her answer was she was suicidal once in February (2004) after the investigation began," she testified. Then "she found out she was pregnant and the thought went away."

England is the last of several low-level American soldiers accused of abuses at Abu Ghraib, once a site of torture under Saddam Hussein. Two, including Graner, have been convicted at military trial, and six have pleaded guilty.

Source: REUTERS

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