Defense attorneys preparing for Pfc. Lynndie England's upcoming hearing on charges she abused detainees at Abu Ghraib prison have compiled a list of 100 potential witnesses stretching from the halls of power in Washington, D.C., to the sand-swept vistas of Iraq.

	KCNC-TV via AP
	Army Pfc. Lynndie England during an interview with KCNC-TV on May 11.

By putting top government officials like Vice President Dick Cheney on their witness list, England's attorneys are serving notice that in defending their client, they will attempt to put on trial the Bush administration's policies on intelligence gathering from detainees. Like most other military police reservists charged in the abuse scandal, England has claimed military intelligence officers ordered the MPs to "soften up" the detainees prior to interrogations.

However, just because her attorneys want those witnesses doesn't mean that many of them will be on the stand later this month at England's Article 32 hearing in Fort Bragg, N.C. That's because a military investigating officer, the presiding authority at the Article 32 hearing, will decide which witnesses are most relevant.

The goal at this stage of the military justice system is to determine whether there is sufficient probable cause to believe a crime was committed and whether England committed it. If the investigating officer determines there is enough evidence to proceed to a court-martial, he will make that recommendation to a higher-ranking officer, who will make the final determination.

Given that, it would seem highly unlikely that the most prominent names listed will be asked to take the witness stand at England's hearing, tentatively scheduled for June 22.

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The wished-for witness list, obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, includes, in addition to Cheney, other high-ranking officials such as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Stephen Cambone; Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and other high-ranking Army officers; White House General Counsel Alberto Gonzales; and Justice Department officials.

An Army spokeswoman said last week that any military personnel chosen as witnesses by the investigating officer will be ordered to appear. Spokesmen for Cheney and the Defense Department did not return calls seeking comment.

England, 21, of Fort Ashby, W.Va., has become perhaps the most recognized of the seven soldiers from the 372nd MP Company who were charged in the prison abuse scandal. She provoked international ire for her exuberant smile and thumbs-up sign while posing with naked, hooded prisoners in widely published photographs. In one, she holds a leash attached to the neck of a naked Iraqi who is on the ground.

The witness list includes 16 members of the 372nd, headquartered in Cresaptown, Md., many of whose names will be familiar to those who have followed the abuse scandal.

Among the group are Spc. Joseph M. Darby, the Somerset County native who turned in the others and is not facing charges, and Spc. Jeremy Sivits of Hyndman, Bedford County, who pleaded guilty May 19 at a special court-martial in a plea bargain with prosecutors in which he promised to testify against England and the six other MPs charged thus far.

The five other charged MPs -- Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick II, Sgt. Javal S. Davis, Spc. Charles Graner Jr., Spc. Sabrina Harman and Spc. Megan Ambuhl -- remain in Iraq where they are performing tasks other than jail guard duty. They are not expected to be ordered to testify because they almost certainly would invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if ordered to do so.

Frederick, Davis and Graner have already had their Article 32 hearings and have had charges referred to general court-martial. A military judge set June 21 for pre-trial hearings in their cases, where pleas and motions must be entered.

Ambuhl has had her Article 32 hearing, at which two of four charges lodged against her were dropped. A decision is expected by early summer on whether she should face a court-martial.

Harman's Article 32 hearing is scheduled for June 24. An Army spokesman in Iraq said the hearing is tentatively set to be held at the Victory Base Courthouse outside of Baghdad but it may be moved to the Green Zone, the heavily guarded area in central Baghdad, to provide for additional seating.

Unlike the other charged MPs, England was transferred to the United States because she is pregnant. She told investigators that Graner is the father.

At this stage, prosecutors are likely to draw much of their case against England from her own words, found in the signed, sworn statement she gave agents from the Army's Criminal Investigation Division at Fort Bragg on May 5. Her attorneys, who did not return calls last week, have in the past argued that England was pressured into giving that statement and they will try to have it suppressed.

In that statement, obtained by the Post-Gazette, England implicates herself and five other members of the 372nd in varying types of abuse at Abu Ghraib. She maintains they committed no crimes because they were following orders from superior officers and that what occurred there was widely known and, in some cases, "funny."

England acknowledged in her statement that the MPs were not given specific orders on how to "break'' detainees for interrogation by military intelligence officers or other government agents. But she said those officers praised the MPs and told them to "keep it up'' with their treatment of detainees.

England's witness list also includes White House counsel Gonzales and Justice Department officials who were involved in a controversial Bush administration decision two years ago to deny Geneva Conventions protections to captured Taliban and Al-Qaida combatants detained in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo, Cuba. That paved the way for U.S. agents to employ a new, more aggressive set of interrogation rules that included stress and duress while they attempted to extract information from detainees at Guantanamo and other sites.

Attorneys for England and other charged MPs, as well as administration critics, contend that policy was gradually expanded to also cover Iraqi detainees, creating conditions where military and civilian intelligence officers used MP guards at Abu Ghraib to intimidate detainees before interrogations.

Also on the witness list are 12 Abu Ghraib detainees, although what assistance they could provide in England's defense is unclear, other than if they would say she wasn't involved in any incidents involving them.

One of them, Abdou Hussain Saad Faleh, is identified in CID documents obtained by the Post-Gazette as the inmate in the iconic photo of the abuse scandal -- hooded, standing on a box and with wires attached to his fingers, toes and penis -- after MPs told him he would be electrocuted if he stepped off.

Another detainee on the witness list, Abd Alwhab Youss, told CID investigators that after he was mistakenly identified as the owner of a broken toothbrush that could be used as a weapon, he was stripped and six unnamed guards poured cold water on him and "forced me to put my head in someone's urine," beat him with a broom, stepped on his head, spit on him and yelled at him with a loudspeaker for three hours.

The witness list also includes:

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who supervised operations at the U.S. Detention Center in Guantanamo before he was sent to Iraq to improve intelligence gathering in summer 2003. In November, Sanchez transferred control of Abu Ghraib to military intelligence and other agencies.

Maj Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, who headed a military investigation that produced a report detailing abuses at Abu Ghraib. His report includes MPs' contentions that their controversial treatment of prisoners was directed by military intelligence and other government officials.

Maj. Gen. George Fay, the Army's deputy chief of staff for intelligence, who was appointed after Taguba's report to investigate the conduct of military intelligence officers at Abu Ghraib. Fay, however, may be replaced by a higher-ranking general because, as a two-star general, he lacks authority to question officers of greater rank.

Brig. Gen. Janis L. Karpinski, who as commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade oversaw military prisons in Iraq, and other Army officials who worked in the prison. Karpinski and other officers have been reprimanded.

Col. Thomas M. Pappas, who as commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade oversaw interrogations at Abu Ghraib.

Other soldiers who were witnesses to abuse, according to CID documents obtained by the Post-Gazette.