The only US officer to be charged over the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal in Iraq will be court-martialled on eight charges, the Baltimore Sun reported Saturday, citing the defendant's lawyer Kris Poppe, according to Deutsce Presse Agentur dpa. The commander of Washington military district, Major General Guy C Swann, decided after the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing that Lieutenant Colonel Steven Lee Jordan, 50, would stand trial. Previously, only lower-ranking soldiers had faced a court martial over the scandal in which pictures of US troops abusing Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib facility near Baghdad were broadcast around the world, resulting in revulsion and indignation. Other senior officers involved in the case were either demoted or just reprimanded. The newspaper report said that Jordan was not directly involved in the abuse in Abu Ghraib, but was accused of negligence in supervising the troops below him and of lying during an investigation into the case. Jordan was head of the interrogation centre at Abu Ghraib when the photos of soldiers abusing prisoners were taken. Jordan could face up to 22 years in prison if he is found guilty of all eight charges, the newspaper report said. dpa ch wjh 271612 GMT Jan 07
