US Officer Cleared Over Abu Ghraib

The only officer who faced a court-martial over the torture at Abu Ghraib has been cleared of all criminal wrongdoing. The BBC reports that Lt. Col. Steven Jordan was convicted in August of disobeying a gag order, but that decision was annulled and his record is now clean. No officer has been dismissed or faced any direct charges for the Abu Ghraib scandal, although 11 lower-ranking soldiers have been convicted.

Jordan's defense attorneys argued that although he was officially in command of the interrogation center, he had no control over the interrogations. Human rights activists expressed anger at the decision, pointing out that the military has reneged on its promise to investigate those higher up on the chain of command at Abu Ghraib. "Although the abuse was systemic and widespread, the accountability for it has been anything but," said the ACLU. (More Abu Ghraib stories.)