Testimony details case against Army officer accused of aiding enemy

BAGHDAD — Witnesses testified Tuesday that a senior U.S. Army officer accused of aiding the enemy kept top-secret papers at his base residence, allowed child detainees to make unmonitored calls on his cellphone and provided former President Saddam Hussein with Cuban cigars and hair dye at taxpayer expense.

Though some witnesses defended his work, much of the testimony cast Lt. Col. William Steele as a commander who flouted a wide range of military laws and was careless with sensitive materials.

When Steele left his job at western Baghdad's Camp Cropper detention center for another position in Iraq, he took 18,000 electronic and printed classified documents, witnesses testified. Investigators who searched his residence in February found some in a briefcase, said Special Agent Thomas Barnes, a military-fraud investigator.

"I've never seen that amount of classified material not properly stored and not properly labeled and not properly protected," Barnes said. "I believe that if those documents were compromised, it could have been devastating."

Steele, 51, of Virginia, who oversaw a compound holding important detainees — including Saddam — also told interrogators he considered himself a "humanitarian and he felt compelled to make [detainees'] lives better," Special Agent John Nocella testified.

Like the Abu Ghraib scandal, the allegations against Steele raised questions about the behavior of military jailers in Iraq. But one of the key questions about Steele seemed to be whether he was treating detainees far too well, in violation of military law.

He has been charged with nine violations, including fraternizing with the daughter of a detainee, mishandling classified information and government funds, having an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter and possessing pornography.

The hearing, which ended Tuesday, amounted to a formal investigation. The presiding officer will issue a recommendation as to whether Steele should face court-martial. While aiding the enemy can be a capital offense, a military-court liaison said Steele would be unlikely to be executed if convicted.

His unit ended its mission at Camp Cropper in October, when he asked to stay in Iraq and was transferred to another Baghdad base.

Among the most discussed and disputed pieces of evidence Tuesday were the Cuban cigars. Prosecutors produced witnesses who said Steele approved buying Cuban cigars for Saddam, along with hair dye and new clothes.

However, Army Brig. Gen. Kevin McBride of the 43rd Military Police Brigade of Rhode Island, who oversaw Iraq's detention facilities while Steele was running Camp Cropper, said purchases of cigars for Saddam had been approved before either he or Steele assumed their commands.

Maj. Gen. John Gardner, deputy commander of detainee operations in Iraq, testified that while high-value detainees might get special privileges, cigars were unlikely to be one.

Material from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.