Ex-wife recalls her life with Abu Ghraib abuser
By Adam Tanner
Thu May 5, 1:22 PM ET
FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - One night, Staci Morris awoke to find then husband Charles Graner holding a large knife to her throat and openly pondering whether to kill her. In subsequent days, he pretended nothing had happened.
"He's like my Hannibal Lecter, he really is. He's the monster in my life," said Morris, who has two teenage children from her 10-year marriage with Graner, the central figure in the Abu Ghraib abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
Graner's unpredictability helped undo a plea bargain deal this week for Lynndie England, a fellow reservist and ex-lover with whom he has an infant son.
Subpoenaed but not called to testify, Morris described England's reaction and her own sometimes bizarre life with Graner in an interview after the case collapsed on Wednesday.
"He screws up everything, doesn't he?" a disappointed England told Morris about Graner after the judge ruled that trial would have to start from scratch in the future.
Pictured in infamous photos holding a leash to a naked prisoner's neck attached by Graner, England had pleaded guilty, only to see the judge declare a mistrial after Graner's testimony contradicted her plea.
Morris, 34, a nurse who has remarried and lives outside Pittsburgh, said the former U.S. prison guard now serving a 10-year sentence would proudly e-mail his children photos showing tough treatment of Iraqi prisoners.
He would send photos of "these beat up prisoners and blood and talk about how cool it was - look what daddy gets to do," she said, adding that she did not show them the correspondence.
Graner transmitted pictures of the mentally ill prisoner who was the man at the end of England's leash. In one photo the man was covered in his feces.
"The whup ass (beatings) ran like a river," Morris quoted Graner as saying about the frequent beatings of prisoners. "He had complete contempt for prisoners; as far as he was concerned they had no rights," she added in summing up his attitude as a U.S. corrections officer in Pennsylvania.
Some of the e-mails Graner sent to family and friends were cited in his January court-martial.
SEXUAL DEVIANT
Many of the abuse photos which badly damaged America's image abroad showed Iraqi men being sexually humiliated, such as being forced to masturbate and simulate fellatio. Asked how Graner might have thought to stack seven naked Iraqi prisoners into a human pyramid, Morris said: "He's obsessed with this kind of stuff."
"He is a sexual deviant," she said. "He was very sexually strange, into very strange things."
As their relationship was faltering, Graner twice set up covert video surveillance of Morris's bedroom - and then told her about it. On other occasions Graner recounted to guests invented tales about their sexual exploits, Morris said.
Yet the same man could be unusually charismatic and engaging, prompting a military superior at Abu Ghraib to describe Graner as a chameleon.
Just weeks ago while in prison, Graner married another woman implicated in the scandal, Megan Ambuhl. She was also his lover in Iraq' and pleaded guilty to abuse charges, but was not sentenced to prison.
"He is very charming guy," said Morris, who met him while both worked at a Mexican restaurant in 1989.
Later in their relationship, Morris obtained three court protective orders to prevent abuses such as when he threatened a knife on his sleeping wife.
Military officials denied requests to talk with Graner during England's trial, during which she said he had pressured her into appearing in photos. Graner's lawyer declined to comment on his prison conditions and a letter sent to Graner at Fort Leavenworth prison has not received a response.
"He said 'I'm just trying to decide. You're not really happy with me. Maybe I should end it for you," she recalled.
When the news of American abuse of Iraqi prisoners spread last year, Morris said she knew Graner was involved because of his e-mails, and she struggled to tell their children.
"How do you explain something like that? My daughter, all she wanted to know was why," she said. "I had them in counseling again."
After a military court sentenced their father to 10 out of a maximum 15-year sentence, the children remained bitter. "They thought he didn't get enough time," Morris said.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050505/us_nm/iraq_abuse_wife_dc
By Adam Tanner
Thu May 5, 1:22 PM ET
FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - One night, Staci Morris awoke to find then husband Charles Graner holding a large knife to her throat and openly pondering whether to kill her. In subsequent days, he pretended nothing had happened.
"He's like my Hannibal Lecter, he really is. He's the monster in my life," said Morris, who has two teenage children from her 10-year marriage with Graner, the central figure in the Abu Ghraib abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
Graner's unpredictability helped undo a plea bargain deal this week for Lynndie England, a fellow reservist and ex-lover with whom he has an infant son.
Subpoenaed but not called to testify, Morris described England's reaction and her own sometimes bizarre life with Graner in an interview after the case collapsed on Wednesday.
"He screws up everything, doesn't he?" a disappointed England told Morris about Graner after the judge ruled that trial would have to start from scratch in the future.
Pictured in infamous photos holding a leash to a naked prisoner's neck attached by Graner, England had pleaded guilty, only to see the judge declare a mistrial after Graner's testimony contradicted her plea.
Morris, 34, a nurse who has remarried and lives outside Pittsburgh, said the former U.S. prison guard now serving a 10-year sentence would proudly e-mail his children photos showing tough treatment of Iraqi prisoners.
He would send photos of "these beat up prisoners and blood and talk about how cool it was - look what daddy gets to do," she said, adding that she did not show them the correspondence.
Graner transmitted pictures of the mentally ill prisoner who was the man at the end of England's leash. In one photo the man was covered in his feces.
"The whup ass (beatings) ran like a river," Morris quoted Graner as saying about the frequent beatings of prisoners. "He had complete contempt for prisoners; as far as he was concerned they had no rights," she added in summing up his attitude as a U.S. corrections officer in Pennsylvania.
Some of the e-mails Graner sent to family and friends were cited in his January court-martial.
SEXUAL DEVIANT
Many of the abuse photos which badly damaged America's image abroad showed Iraqi men being sexually humiliated, such as being forced to masturbate and simulate fellatio. Asked how Graner might have thought to stack seven naked Iraqi prisoners into a human pyramid, Morris said: "He's obsessed with this kind of stuff."
"He is a sexual deviant," she said. "He was very sexually strange, into very strange things."
As their relationship was faltering, Graner twice set up covert video surveillance of Morris's bedroom - and then told her about it. On other occasions Graner recounted to guests invented tales about their sexual exploits, Morris said.
Yet the same man could be unusually charismatic and engaging, prompting a military superior at Abu Ghraib to describe Graner as a chameleon.
Just weeks ago while in prison, Graner married another woman implicated in the scandal, Megan Ambuhl. She was also his lover in Iraq' and pleaded guilty to abuse charges, but was not sentenced to prison.
"He is very charming guy," said Morris, who met him while both worked at a Mexican restaurant in 1989.
Later in their relationship, Morris obtained three court protective orders to prevent abuses such as when he threatened a knife on his sleeping wife.
Military officials denied requests to talk with Graner during England's trial, during which she said he had pressured her into appearing in photos. Graner's lawyer declined to comment on his prison conditions and a letter sent to Graner at Fort Leavenworth prison has not received a response.
"He said 'I'm just trying to decide. You're not really happy with me. Maybe I should end it for you," she recalled.
When the news of American abuse of Iraqi prisoners spread last year, Morris said she knew Graner was involved because of his e-mails, and she struggled to tell their children.
"How do you explain something like that? My daughter, all she wanted to know was why," she said. "I had them in counseling again."
After a military court sentenced their father to 10 out of a maximum 15-year sentence, the children remained bitter. "They thought he didn't get enough time," Morris said.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050505/us_nm/iraq_abuse_wife_dc
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 11:33 PM
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