Army Dog Handler Gets 90 Days Hard Labor

By DAVID DISHNEAUAssociated Press Writer FORT MEADE, Md.

A military jury sentenced an Army dog handler to 90 days hard labor and a reduction in rank Friday for allowing his Belgian shepherd to bark within inches of an Iraqi detainee's face at Abu Ghraib prison. Army Sgt. Santos A. Cardona was the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from the abuse of inmates at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004.

He was found guilty of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his dog to bark in the face of a kneeling detainee at the request of another soldier who wasn't an interrogator. The military jury acquitted him of other charges, including unlawfully having his dog bite a detainee and conspiring with another dog handler to frighten prisoners as a game. It wasn't clear where Cardona, who was based at Fort Bragg, N.C., will serve the sentence or what sort of hard labor he will be require to do. He won't be confined during the sentence. Cardona's rank was reduced to specialist and the court ordered him to forfeit $600 a month in pay for 12 months.

You can read the rest of the article at Breitbart.com

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm disgusted. The Army is fighting a war; a war against people who want to kill you, your brothers and sisters, husbands, wives, and children. It's not a Sunday School picnic, it's a bloody war! and we're punishing our soldiers for "allowing a dog to bark within inches of a detainee's face"? When a case like this is prosecuted to a conviction, the terrorists are laughing up their sleeves at us. It's sad to see that "shock and awe" has evolved into "tail between our legs."