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The Sun Friday, Jan. 14, 2005: Page 3a THE NATION Defense in court-martial rests with Graner silent Jury expected to begin deliberating today in case of abuse at Iraqi prison By Gail Gibson SUN NATIONAL STAFF JIM LEMON EL DORADO NEWS-TIMES Deadly storm strikes Arkansas Family members search for belongings amid the ruins of a house near El Dorado, Ark. At least two people were killed and 13 injured when a suspected tornado spawned by a powerful Midwest storm front swept across southern Arkansas early yesterday. Overhaul of FBI computers faulted condoned the kind of abuses that Graner is charged with piling naked prisoners into a pyramid, for instance, putting a leather leash around the neck of a detainee or punching a prisoner in the side of the head. Graner's lawyers could not call many of the senior military leaders they had hoped to present as witnesses.

Many potential witnesses refused to testify by invoking their right against self-incrimination and others, including top Pentagon officials, were deemed irrelevant by the presiding judge. The result was a trial that was focused mainly on the abusive acts of one night at the prison and yielded few new details about the scope of the abuses. In Washington yesterday, the head of the international group Human Rights Watch said the Bush administration should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate detainee abuses in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in an effort regain international credibility. "The U.S. government is less and less able to push for justice abroad because it's unwilling to see justice done at home," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

At Graner's trial, several of his fellow soldiers and three detainees offered a harsh view of life inside Abu Ghraib. Military police guards said intelligence soldiers would direct them to keep detainees naked in their cells, restrict their food, keep them awake and subject them to cold showers or strenuous physical exercises. One guard who worked closely with Graner on the night shift at the Iraqi prison testified that interrogators regularly told military police guards they needed to help "break" detainees to get intelligence that could protect American soldiers in Iraq. "We were helping to save the lives of soldiers who were outside the prison wires," said former Spc. Megan M.

Ambuhl, who served with Graner in the Western Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company and who was discharged from the military after pleading guilty in the Abu Ghraib scandal to a dereliction of duty charge. But Ambuhl, like virtually every other witness called by Graner's lawyers, proved almost as useful to the government as to Graner's defense. Sexual encounters Under questioning by a military prosecutor, Ambuhl said she had a brief sexual relationship with Graner while they were at Abu Ghraib. She also acknowledged sending Graner an e-mail last April that contained the header, "Study finds frequent sex raises cancer risk" and writing in the text of the message: "We could have died last night." "You don't want your friend to go to jail, do you?" the prosecutor, Maj. Michael Holley, asked Ambuhl at one point.

"No, sir," Ambuhl quietly replied. Graner, who faces 17 years behind bars if he is convicted on the charges of conspiracy, maltreatment, assault, indecent acts and dereliction of duty, also had a sexual relationship with another member of the 372nd, Pfc. Lynndie R. England, while the unit was stationed at Abu Ghraib. England gave birth last fall to a son that Graner is believed to have fathered.

She and two other soldiers from the 372nd, Sgt. Javal Davis and Spc. Sa-brina Harman, are expected to stand trial at Fort Hood this year. $170 million upgrade after 911 falls short; new system may be needed FORT HOOD, Texas Lawyers for Army Spc. Charles A.

Graner Jr. abruptly rested their case yesterday, without calling Graner or any senior officers to shed new light on the prison abuse scandal in which he was portrayed as the grinning, sadistic ringleader. A 10-man military jury is expected to begin deliberations today in Graner's case, the first contested court-martial in the scandal ignited last spring by photos showing naked and hooded Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison enduring humiliating abuses at the hands of U.S. soldiers. Graner, 36, a former civilian prison guard from Uniontown, had been expected to testify in his own defense.

But his lead attorney, Guy Womack, said they showed through other witnesses how intelligence operatives ran the prison and ordered Graner and other military police guards to "soften up" detainees for questioning. "I feel fantastic," Graner said, giving his mother a quick hug after the defense closed its case. "I'm still smiling." Acting under orders At the heart of Graner's defense is his claim that he believed he was acting under legal orders a legitimate defense in military court, even if the orders actually were unlawful. But in testimony this week, Graner's lawyers struggled to show that military or civilian interrogators at Abu Ghraib ever By Richard B. Schmitt and Charles Piller LOS ANGELES TIMES ting-edge technology." "Now we learn that the FBI began to explore new options last August, because it feared that VCF was going to fail," Leahy said, adding: "Bringing the FBI's information technology into the 21st century should not be rocket science." Congress will have to pour more money into the project to "get the job done," he said.

"I hope we haven't just been pouring money down a rat hole at taxpayers' expense," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican. Grassley said he has asked the Government Accountability Office "to look at how this happened." The computer overhaul was launched as the bureau was reeling from a series of high-profile security breaches. The FBI wanted the Virtual Case File software to be built from scratch to maximize the safety and security of information.

But the custom design proved expensive, and software companies have been able to develop comparable off-the-shelf systems for a fraction of the cost. The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Publishing agency's reorganization after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the project has been mired in cost overruns and delays, and the software, Virtual Case File, is now considered outdated and inadequate. "I am frustrated by the delays," Mueller said yesterday during a news conference in Birmingham, Ala.

"I am frustrated that we do not have on every agent's desk the capability of a modern case -management system." Mueller said the bureau hopes to salvage the software, but other officials, who requested anonymity, said it may have to be replaced. The FBI will need another four months to decide on a new strategy, the officials said, including a search for a new software partner to replace the original contractor, Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego. Sen. Patrick J.

Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who met with bureau officials yesterday, said he had been assured last May that the software would be ready by the end of 2004 a year behind schedule and that it would give the FBI "cut WASHINGTON Members of Congress reacted angrily yesterday to new disclosures of trouble with a major upgrade of the FBI computer system, accusing bureau officials of misleading them about the problems while acknowledging that they will need millions in additional funds to fix them. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, addressing the latest software problem for the first time, said he was "frustrated." Those comments came as the bureau began damage control after FBI officials concluded that they may have to scrap a $170 million computer program designed to help agents share information to ward off terrorist attacks. The software is part of a four-year, $581 million computer system overhaul that has been one of Mueller's priorities in the 7 (HOWARD at hj.im'.. riYui.B;i-: Yew Ozn Oof There from Wore.

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