TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Army Officer Acquitted Of Aiding Enemy

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: October 20, 2007

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq - A former U.S. commander at the Iraqi jail that held Saddam Hussein was acquitted Friday of aiding the enemy but received two years imprisonment for convictions on other charges after pleading for leniency from the judge.

Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele, 52, of Prince George, Va., could have faced a life sentence if convicted of accusations he allowed prisoners to use his cell phone to make unmonitored calls.

Steele was acquitted of the charge of aiding the enemy for allegedly lending his cell phone to former members of Saddam's regime, including those on death row, and an al-Qaida member at Camp Cropper prison in Baghdad. It was not known whether Saddam was among them.

The judge, Lt. Col. Timothy Grammel, convicted him of unauthorized possession of classified documents, behavior unbecoming an officer for an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter and failing to obey an order.

The alleged incidents took place between October 2005 and February when Steele commanded the 451st Military Police Detachment at Camp Cropper prison. Saddam was held at the facility before he was hanged in December 2006.

Steele later served as a senior patrol officer at nearby Camp Victory with the 89th Military Police Brigade. The charge of illegally holding masses of classified documents on downloaded and unmarked CDs pertained to that period.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT