NATION IN BRIEF

Discussion Policy

Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Sergeant Is Sentenced To 5 Months in Prison

FORT BLISS, Tex. -- An Army interrogator was sentenced to five months in prison Wednesday for assaulting a detainee in Afghanistan who later died.

Army Sgt. Joshua R. Claus was the sixth soldier to be convicted of or plead guilty to abusing detainees after the deaths of two prisoners at the Bagram airfield detention center. In all, 14 were charged.

Claus pleaded guilty to charges of maltreatment and assault involving a detainee known as Dilawar, and to forcing another inmate to kiss his and another soldier's boots. His sentence included a bad-conduct discharge from the military.

Dilawar died at the detention center in 2002. No one has been charged in his death.

* * *

· NEW YORK -- Gov. George E. Pataki (R) removed a proposed freedom museum from the space reserved for it at Ground Zero, saying the project had aroused "too much opposition, too much controversy" because Sept. 11 families thought it would take space from a separate memorial to those who died in the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

· NEW YORK -- After six years behind bars, John A. "Junior" Gotti, the son of the late mob boss John Gotti, left prison and went to his Long Island mansion, where he will be under house arrest pending a retrial in a racketeering case.

-- From News Services