A United States Army dog handler court-martialed for abusing Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison has been ordered to return to Iraq after serving his sentence, Time magazine said.
NEW YORK: A United States Army dog handler court-martialed for abusing Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison has been ordered to return to Iraq after serving his sentence, Time magazine said.
Sergeant Santos Cardona, 32, was sentenced in June to hard labor without confinement for 90 days, demoted one rank and docked $7,200 by a military court.
Time said on Thursday that Cardona left this week for Kuwait, a staging area for a return to Iraq.
The magazine said Cardona's military police company would be training Iraqi police.
"The symbolic message perceived in Iraq will likely be that the US is simply insensitive to the abuse of their prisoners," retired US general Barry McCaffrey told Time.
The Abu Ghraib scandal erupted in 2004 after photographs were leaked to the press showing US guards mistreating and sexually humiliating prisoners.
Some pictures showed naked inmates cowering in front of unmuzzled dogs. The military court found Cardona guilty of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault in connection with the use of unmuzzled dogs.
But it acquitted Cardona on seven other counts, including a more serious charge of letting his dog bite an Iraqi prisoner.
He was also cleared of using his dog to terrify inmates into defecating and urinating on themselves, for what prosecutors had argued was "entertainment."
Time quoted one of Cardona's family members saying he was "depressed" at the prospect of returning to Iraq.
A friend also told Time he feared for Cardona's life. Cardona appears in one or more Al Qaeda propaganda films, Time noted.
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