Lynndie England Gives Birth

Lynndie England Is a New Mother (AP)

Lynndie England, the soldier seen in some of the most notorious photos with naked Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, is a new mother. The 21-year-old reservist had the baby on Sunday at the post hospital at Fort Bragg, Col. Billy Buckner, public affairs officer for the 18th Airborne Corps, said Wednesday. Post officials said they do not know whether the baby was a boy or a girl, but the Baltimore Sun said it was a boy, citing an unnamed military source. England’s father, Kenneth England of Fort Ashby, W.Va., said the family would not release information about the birth.

England became a focal point of the scandal after the release of photos of her smiling and posing with nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid, pointing and flashing a thumb’s up, and holding a detainee on a dog leash. Attorneys say the child’s father is Spc. Charles Graner Jr., England’s ex-boyfriend, who is also shown in the prison photographs, including one with a dead body packed in ice in a body bag.

England and Graner are among of seven members of the 372nd Military Police Company of Cresaptown, Md., charged in connection with abuse that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison late last year. England faces court-martial in January on charges of abusing detainees and committing indecent acts. She faces a prison sentence of up to 38 years, a dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances if convicted.

With a lineage like that, I cringe for this kid’s future.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.