FORT HOOD, Texas, Jan 15 (AFP) - The mother of a US soldier jailed for 10 years Saturday said his superiors should be put on trial, and claimed President George W. Bush had convicted the MP before his court-martial even started.
Specialist Charles Graner was punished "for something he was told to do," his mother said as her son was led away from the military courtroom in hand and leg shackles.
"You know its the higher-ups that should be on trial ... they let the little guys take the fall for them. But the truth will come out eventually," Irma Graner told journalists outside the courtroom at the Fort Hood army base in Texas.
She also denounced Bush for comments he made last year after pictures of the abuses at the US-run Iraqi prison caused worldwide condemnation.
"My son was convicted the day President Bush went on TV and said that seven bad apples disgraced the country. But Bush and (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld are the ones who disgraced the country," she said.
Graner is among the seven military police who have been charged in connection with the abuses. A military intelligence soldier also was charged in the scandal.
A military jury Saturday sentenced Graner to 10 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge from the army, after finding him guilty of beating prisoners and sexually abusing them.
Asked how he felt about the sentence, Graner simply said: "I was a soldier, if I did anything wrong, here I am."
"I'll be smiling," he said in response to a question about how he would cope with a decade behind bars.
He was driven to a nearby jail where he is expected to spend a few days until he is transferred to a military prison.
01/16/2005 00:38 GMT - AFP