A lawyer defending a US soldier charged with abusing prisoners in Iraq has said he will seek to put the US President, George W Bush, and the US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, on the witness stand.
Paul Bergrin has accused Bush and Rumsfeld of side-stepping the Geneva Convention in their ‘war on terror’
He added that his client was instructed on a daily basis to soften up Iraqi prisoners to obtain intelligence.
Meanwhile, a US military judge has agreed to a request by a lawyer acting for a soldier accused of prisoner abuse in Iraq to question top US generals.
Judge Colonel James Pohl agreed to a request by the defence to interview Central Command chief John Abizaid and top Iraq commander Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez.
