Lynndie England to plead guilty in Abu Ghraib case

On Monday, England will make a personal appeal to a military jury for a lighter sentence. Army prosecutors agreed to drop two of nine charges against England, the lawyer said. If convicted on all the original charges, she could have faced 16 1/2 years’ imprisonment.

The 22-year-old reservist will plead to two counts of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating prisoners and one count of dereliction of duty, Hernandez said.

She will be the seventh enlisted soldier to face criminal penalties in the Abu Ghraib case. No commissioned officers at the prison and no senior officer in the chain of command has been charged in the case.

Defence lawyers had argued that England, a records clerk who had no training as a prison guard, was following orders of officers and CIA agents at the prison when she took part in the prison abuse.

An attorney said England was ordered by her commanders to pose for the leash picture. ‘‘They picked her to get the smallest, youngest, lowest-rank woman they could find and that would increase the humiliation for an Iraqi man,’’ said defence attorney Rose Mary Zapor. But the just-following-orders defence has not worked for other soldiers charged with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. Six enlisted soldiers have entered guilty pleas in the case.

The White House and Pentagon have said abuses at Abu Ghraib were the fault of a few low-ranking enlisted soldiers. —LAT-WP

UN admits to sexual abuse in Liberia

The UN has admitted that its peacekeepers sexually exploited and abused women and girls in Liberia. ‘‘The allegations range from the exchange of goods, money or services for sex, to the sexual exploitation of minors. The peacekeeping department at the headquarters as well as the mission on the ground are taking appropriate follow-up action,’’ an embarrassed UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday. ‘‘As we continue to clamp down on misconduct throughout all peacekeeping missions, it is likely that the number of allegations will increase,’’ he added. —PTI