Abu Ghraib officer gets Army jury reprimand

FORT MEADE, Md. -- A military jury recommended a reprimand yesterday for the only officer court-martialed in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, sparing him any prison time for disobeying an order to keep silent about the abuse investigation.

The jury had acquitted Army Lieutenant Colonel Steven L. Jordan a day earlier of all three charges directly related to the mistreatment of detainees at the USrun prison in Iraq.

Those acquittals absolved Jordan, 51, of responsibility for the actions of 11 lower-ranking soldiers who have already been convicted for their roles at Abu Ghraib. The allegations surfaced after the release of photographs showing US soldiers grinning alongside naked detainees held in humiliating positions.

Jordan was convicted of a single charge: disobeying a general's order not to discuss the abuse investigation. The defense acknowledged that Jordan e-mailed a number of soldiers about the investigation after meeting with Major General George Fay in spring 2004.

"We believe that for Colonel Jordan, the vindication arises out of the not guilty findings on the Abu Ghraib abuse charges, and we view that as very much a victory," said Major Kris Poppe, one of his lawyers. Jordan could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Prosecutors had recommended a reprimand and a fine.

Jordan, a reservist from Fredericksburg, Va., never appeared in any of the inflammatory photos, but was director of the prison's interrogation center and the highest-ranking officer there at the time.