‘…bad things happen in war’

‘‘I didn’t enjoy anything I did there,’’ Graner said. ‘‘I did what I did. A lot of it was wrong. A lot of it was criminal. And of all things, that is what I wanted to get off my chest most.’’ Moments after the sentence was announced, Graner turned to reporters and said he had no regrets. ‘‘Bad things happen in war,’’ he said.

Along with the 10-year sentence, Graner also forfeited all of his pay and allowances, was reduced to the rank of private and ordered dishonourably discharged as soon as his sentence is served.

Graner could have received as much as 15 years in prison. Under military court rules, his case will be automatically appealed to the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

At dusk, Graner was driven to the Bell County Jail in nearby Belton, Texas, his temporary home until he is moved to a permanent prison cell inside the military’s disciplinary system. On the stand, he had pleaded with the jury not to toss him out of the Army. He said he would easily accept prison time over losing his uniform in a military career that spanned Desert Storm in 1991 and the ongoing Operation Iraqi Freedom.

‘‘I would rather take confinement,’’ he told the jury of 10 officers and enlisted men. ‘‘I still want to be part of the Army. I would ask the panel to just give me that chance.’’

After the sentencing, Graner, 36, said he was not bitter that no officers were ever charged in the scandal, though his defence attorney, Guy Womack, said an Army investigation into their conduct was continuing.

‘‘That’s just the way life goes,’’ Graner said about the chain-of-command eluding any criminal responsibility. ‘‘Sometimes, life’s not fair. You just trudge on.’’

Despite his soldier-like appearance before the jury on Saturday, Graner continued to laugh and make jokes and to flirt with female reporters during court breaks, much as he has done all week.

Graner is a divorced father from western Pennsylvania who became romantically involved with two female soldiers also charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal. One of them, Pfc. Lynndie England, last fall gave birth to a baby believed to be fathered by Graner.

The jury announced the sentence after two hours of deliberation. The same panel convicted him on Friday on charges of conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment, aggravated assault, battery and indecent acts. — LAT-WP

US ‘weapons of mass affection’

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon considered building up chemical weapons that would disrupt discipline among enemy troops, and even cause homosexual behaviour among them, Newscientist.com revealed. The article refers to an ‘aphrodisiac’ chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other, as some of the new ‘non-lethal’ weapons. — PTI