Harman was convicted of maltreatment of detainees, conspiracy to maltreat detainees, and dereliction of duty. She was sentenced to six months in prison, forfeiture of all her pay and benefits, demoted, and given a bad conduct discharge.[1] She was imprisoned in the Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar in San Diego, California.[2]
Harman consistently acknowledged a fear that the abuses being committed at Abu Ghraib, both during her time at the facility,[3] and afterwards during her sentencing,[4] would be a cause for the rise of further radicalization in the region, as would later be seen in the formation of groups such as ISIL.
Sabrina Harman posing in a photo with Charles Graner behind a group of naked detainees stacked in a pyramid in Abu Ghraib.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Harman joined the Army Reserves and was assigned to the Cresaptown, Maryland-based 372nd Military Police company. Harman worked for a time as an assistant manager at Papa John's Pizza in Alexandria, Virginia, before her company was activated for duty in Iraq in February 2003, and was deployed to Fort Lee, Virginia for additional training; however, this was in combat support, not internment and resettlement.
Harman, an MP, was stationed at Abu Ghraib as a guard.
Abu Ghraib facility
Harman was the second soldier to be tried for allegedly mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib. She was depicted in several of the most notorious photos taken at Abu Ghraib in late October and early November 2003, and she is accused of taking other pictures.[1]
In late October 2003, Harman wrote to her wife in Virginia (as quoted by The New Yorker:[3])
Oct 20, 03
10:40pm
Kelly,
Okay, I don't like that anymore. At first it was funny but these people are going too far. I ended your letter last night because it was time to wake the MI prisoners and "mess with them" but it went too far even I can't handle whats going on. I cant get it out of my head. I walk down stairs after blowing the whistle and beating on the cells with an asp [expandable baton] to find "the taxicab driver" handcuffed backwards to his window with some underwear over his head and face. He looked like Jesus Christ. At first I had to laugh so I went on and grabbed the camera and took a picture. Again I thought, okay that's funny then it hit me, that's a form of molestation. You can't do that. I took more pictures now to "record" what is going on. They started talking to this man and at first he was talking "I'm just a taxicab driver, I did nothing." He claims he'd never try to hurt US soldiers that he picked up the wrong people. Then he stopped talking. They turned the lights out and slammed the door and left him there while they went down to cell #4. This man had been so fucked that when they grabbed his foot through the cell bars he began screaming and crying. After praying to god he moans a constant short Ah, Ah every few seconds for the rest of the night. I don't know what they did to this guy. The first one remained handcuffed for maybe 11⁄2-2 hours until he started yelling with pain for god. So they went back in and handcuffed him to the top bunk on either side of the bed while he stood on the side. He was there for a little over an hour when he started yelling again for god. Not many people know this shit goes on. The only reason I want to be there is to get the pictures and prove that the US is not what they think. But I don't know if I can take it mentally. What if that was me in their shoes. These people will be our future terrorist. Kelly, its awful and you know how fucked I am in the head. Both sides of me think its wrong. I thought I could handle anything. I was wrong.
Sabrina
Harman explained that her Military Police unit deferred to practices already being conducted by military officers and civilian contractors present at the facility:[6]
[She] said she was assigned to break down prisoners for interrogation. "They would bring in one to several prisoners at a time already hooded and cuffed," Harman said in interviews by e-mail this week from Baghdad. "The job of the MP was to keep them awake, make it hell so they would talk." She said her military police unit took direction from the military intelligence officers in charge of the facility and from civilian contractors there who conducted interrogations.
Sentencing
In 2005, Harman was convicted on six of the seven counts she had been initially charged with, which related to the maltreatment of detainees, conspiracy relating to abuse, and dereliction of duty;[7] She was sentenced to six months in prison the following day, for which she would serve approximately four months due to credit for time already served.[4]
Despite the gravity of the accusations involved, Harman received a fairly light sentence, serving just four months in prison. Throughout the case, various individuals, including two former prisoners at Abu Ghraib, proclaimed her innocent nature submitting testimonies in her defense, which were officially accepted by the court. These prisoners noted Harman’s 'gentle' treatment of detainees, something unusual compared to other guards at the facility,[4] who generally saw the prisoners as more or less as a proxy for Intelligence - “She has no cruelty in her, even though she is an American woman, she was just like a sister.”[4] Her defense attorney, Frank Spinner, was quoted as saying: “I felt very strongly in Sabrina Harman, I feel she’s a very naive, very innocent person. … She didn’t know how to react to that experience (at Abu Ghraib).”
At her sentencing, Harman stated:
As a soldier and military police officer, I failed my duties and failed my mission to protect and defend. I not only let down the people in Iraq, but I let down every single soldier that serves today. My actions potentially caused an increased hatred and insurgency towards the United States, putting soldiers and civilians at greater risk. I take full responsibility for my actions. ... The decisions I made were mine and mine alone.[8][9]
Harman's attorney said he hoped to see the military chain of command put on trial, rather than low-ranking reservists like Harman:
"I don't think we can even begin to imagine the kind of environment that she was in. First of all, she wasn't trained to be a prison guard, so she didn't even know the basic rules. She wasn't trained in military intelligence. I don't think any American can really truly appreciate the stress that existed along with the fact they were undermanned and not trained to perform this mission."[10]
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