PFC England’s hearing restarts after a recess

Today, Monday, 30 August 2004, PFC England’s hearing is continuing. 
Questions about her participation in the Iraq prisoner abuse were the subject of scrutiny in todays questionings.  

The military judge had requested a recess so she could review the requests of the defense counsels to call 160 witnesses going up to Vice President Dick Cheney.  

Privet First Class Jeremy C. Sivits, took the stand and offered his testimony about several incidents that happened.   Under oath, PFC Sivits recalled that a sergeant who was in charge yelled at England and another soldier for "stomping on the fingers and toes" of a detainee, but after the Sergeant left, Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., started the continuing abuse had prisoners stripped, and forced to make a human pyramid by laying on the ground and others being piled on top.  PFC Sivits also informed the court PFC England was sitting in Graner’s lap, having a good time.  

Sivit’s has pleaded guilty to prisoner abuse and has been sentenced to one year in prison.   

Conflicts in stories abound. There are questions about whether military police controlled the area where the abuse occurred or, as England's attorneys contend, military intelligence was calling the shots. 

At the heart of the question is PFC England’s statement that her group was under orders to abuse the prisoners.  Others caught in the scandal denied any such orders were given. They painted a picture that instead indicates the abuse was more for sport, amusement, or revenge.