U.S. Army clears generals in prison case

WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) -- The Pentagon has decided not to charge four of the top five commanders of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison during an abuse scandal there.

The Army's inspector general has cleared the commander in charge of all U.S. Army operations in Iraq from June 2003 to July 2004, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, plus three other high-level officers, the New York Times reported Saturday.

Only Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, an Army Reserve officer in charge of the military police unit at Abu Ghraib, was relieved of her command and given a written reprimand.

To date, a small number of enlisted soldiers have faced courts-martial for abusing prisoners.

But last August an independent panel led by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger concluded Sanchez failed to make sure his staff was dealing with Abu Ghraib's problems. And a separate Army investigation also found Sanchez approved the use of severe interrogation practices that led indirectly to some of the abuses.