Army Zeroes In on Dog Handler in Abuse Scandal
Sgt. Michael J. Smith, who is charged along with a colleague, becomes the lead defendant in the Abu Ghraib case, files show.
By Richard A. Serrano
Times Staff Writer

June 15, 2005

WASHINGTON — The second of two Army dog handlers accused in the Abu Ghraib scandal is emerging as the lead defendant, with criminal charge sheets obtained Tuesday accusing him of abusing five Iraqi detainees, including a pair of juvenile prisoners, in a macabre game to frighten inmates at the U.S.-run prison near Baghdad.

Army Sgt. Michael J. Smith, 24, expected to appear soon at a preliminary hearing at Ft. Myer, Va., is one of two soldiers accused of using trained military dogs to scare prisoners into urinating and defecating on themselves.

His alleged victims include three Iraqi prisoners and two juvenile detainees. His alleged collaborator, Army Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, has been charged with abusing two prisoners.

Official charge sheets obtained by The Times say that on Jan. 13, 2004 — as the Abu Ghraib scandal was breaking — Smith committed "an assault on two juvenile detainees by unlawfully threatening them with a means or force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm, to wit: an unmuzzled military working dog." The juveniles were not identified.

He also is accused of threatening adult prisoners Ashraf Abdullah Al-Juhayshi, Kamel Miza'l Nayil and Mohammed Bollendia.

Smith also is charged with lying to an Army investigator. He allegedly told Special Agent Warren Worth that he had "never heard of a game where dog handlers were using their military working dogs to get detainees to urinate on themselves."

The charge sheets say the statement was "totally false and was then known by Sgt. Smith to be false."

He also is charged, along with Cardona, of conspiring with Army Cpl. Charles A. Graner Jr., Army Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Frederick and civilian interrogator Steve Stefanowicz. Graner and Frederick were demoted and are serving prison sentences for abusing Abu Ghraib inmates. Stefanowicz, who worked for a private company, has not been charged.

Smith, who joined the Army in 1999 and is assigned to Ft. Riley, Kan., could not be reached for a comment Tuesday. He is expected to challenge the accusations. Smith and Cardona told military officials investigating the Abu Ghraib scandal last year that the use of military dogs at the overcrowded prison had been approved.

They identified Army Col. Thomas M. Pappas, head of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade at Abu Ghraib, as the officer who authorized the use of military dogs to frighten prisoners into cooperating with interrogators.

Smith told investigators that he had talked to Pappas and that the colonel "said it was good to go."

Pappas was reprimanded last month for his role in the scandal. He was fined $8,000 and cited for two counts of dereliction of duty, all but ending his 24-year military career. He has not been prosecuted.

The Abu Ghraib scandal is notorious for the photographs and descriptions of naked inmates being abused and sexually humiliated at the prison once controlled by deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Seven U.S. soldiers have been punished with demotions and prison sentences. An eighth soldier is awaiting trial.