EL PASO, Texas – Apologizing for embarrassing the Army, a military intelligence interrogator admitted abusing an Afghan detainee who later died and was sentenced to two months in jail.
Spc. Glendale C. Walls (search) pleaded guilty Tuesday to dereliction of duty and assault. Besides the prison sentence, Walls was reduced in rank and pay and will receive a bad-conduct discharge.
He admitted that he stood by in December 2002 as former Sgt. Selena M. Salcedo (search) lifted a detainee known as Dilawar by his ear and former Spc. Joshua R. Claus (search) made another detainee roll around on the floor and kiss Walls' boots.
Walls also admitted to pushing Dilawar against a wall during the interrogation in which Salcedo abused him. Dilawar's death has led to charges against a number of service members.
"I'm sorry because ... it was my duty to stop it and by not doing so I've embarrassed my unit, I've embarrassed the Army," Walls said in a soft voice. "It was humiliating. It was just wrong. I should have stopped it."
Doctors blamed Dilawar's death on "blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease."
Walls had faced up to a year of confinement, a 75 percent pay cut for 12 months, a reduction in rank and a bad-conduct discharge.
Salcedo, a military intelligence interrogator who worked with Walls at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to similar charges earlier this month. She will be demoted, given a letter of reprimand and ordered to forfeit $250 a month for four months.
The most serious charges in the case were against Pfc. Willie V. Brand, who was convicted by a military jury of assault, maltreatment, maiming and making a false official statement. He was spared jail time but got a reduction in rank and pay to a private, the Army's lowest rank.
Spc. Brian E. Cammack was sentenced to three months in prison for abuse; Claus has said he intends to plead guilty in the case.
Also Tuesday, military officials said six members of a California Army National Guard unit will face courts-martial for allegedly mistreating detainees in Iraq.
The trials were ordered after investigators reviewed allegations of prisoner abuse by 12 soldiers with the 1st Battalion of the 184th Infantry Regiment.
Two cases involve a so-called general court-martial, reserved for the most serious infractions, while four involve a midlevel court called a special court-martial, according to Lt. Col. Robert Whetstone, a Task Force Baghdad spokesman.
The soldiers involved were not identified.
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