Leash abuse photo soldier faces court

A US soldier photographed holding a naked prisoner on a leash in an Iraqi jail begins her legal battle today to prove she was just following orders in a scandal that shook the Bush administration.

Pfc Lynndie England, who faces a military hearing to decide if she should stand trial, has said she was obeying superiors when she was photographed in gleeful poses with humiliated prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

In one of the pictures, taken in late 2003, she pointed at the genitals of a hooded, naked man, a cigarette dangling from her lips.

The photographs, which emerged in April, prompted worldwide protest against the US treatment of Iraqi prisoners and hurt US efforts to stabilise Iraq and "win the peace".

US President George W. Bush and other top US officials apologised for the behaviour but put the blame on a small group of soldiers. The alleged abuse took place as US forces pressed for information to halt a bloody Iraqi insurgency.

England, of Fort Ashby, West Virginia, is accused of conspiring to maltreat Iraqi prisoners, assaulting prisoners on at least three occasions, committing acts prejudicial to good order and committing an indecent act.

The legal proceeding opening today at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is known as an Article 32 investigation and will decide whether England should face trial.

Military officials liken it to a grand jury in US civilian courts, where a jury decides whether there is enough evidence to go to a full scale trial. In this case, a hearing officer will make the determination.