The folks down in Lynndie England’s hometown are doing their best to defend her actions at the Abu Ghraib Prison. England is the woman shown in the CBS and Washington Post photos with the cigarette, giving the “thumbs-up” as she points to the genitals of a hooded prisoner. Another photo shows her dragging a naked prisoner on a leash.
“To the country boys here, if you’re a different nationality, a different race, you’re sub-human. That’s the way girls like Lynndie are raised.
“Tormenting Iraqis, in her mind, would be no different from shooting a turkey. Every season here you’re hunting something. Over there, they’re hunting Iraqis.”
Like many, England signed up to make money and see the world. After her tour of duty, she planned to settle down and marry her first love, Charles Graner.
Graner is also seen in the photos. He is the one behind the pyramid of bodies.
… this is not the first time Mr Graner was involved in abuse. His former wife, Staci, obtained three separate “temporary protection of abuse” orders against him. In a document passed to the court, she told of one occasion when he went to her house after their divorce.
“[He] yanked me out of … bed by my hair, dragging me and all of the covers into the hall and tried to throw me down the steps,” she wrote. “Both of the children witnessed this and were screaming at this point. He let go of me, turned around to the children and said, ‘See what your Mommy is doing to us’.”
Graner, a former US Marine, was working at Greene Correctional Facility when the prison was at the centre of an abuse scandal. Officials there have declined to say whether Mr Graner was involved or disciplined.