CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — A prosecutor said Monday a former U.S. military police commander aided the enemy by letting top detainees make unmonitored cell phone calls at sites including the camp that held Saddam Hussein. But his attorney described the officer as only trying “to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis.”
The sides faced off at the opening of the court-martial of Army reservist Lt. Col. William H. Steele, who oversaw lockups that included the area where Hussein spent his final days.
The proceedings are being closely watched as the first known prosecution for aiding the enemy in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Steele, 52, of Prince George, Va., is accused of four charges that include allowing the prisoners to use a cell phone and giving special privileges to an Iraqi woman working as an interpreter. Allegations including approval of the purchase of Cuban cigars for the toppled Iraqi dictator.
Steele pleaded guilty this month to three other charges, including storing and improperly handling classified information. If convicted in the court-martial, Steele faces a life sentence for the most serious charge — aiding the enemy. The military waived a possible death sentence, said spokesman Lt. Col. Rudolph Burwell.
The prisoners Steele allegedly let make the cell phone calls have not been identified — and it was not known if Hussein was among them.
“This trial is not about aiding the enemy, but about a lieutenant colonel who wanted to ensure the humane treatment of civilians held at Camp Cropper,” said Steele’s defense attorney, Capt. Yolanda McCray. “He followed, to the best of his ability the guidance given to him … he sought to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqis. He wanted to do his job.”
Prosecutor Capt. Daniel Myers said “incidents” resulted from those phone calls that put lives of U.S. servicemen in danger, but he did not elaborate.
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