European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 27, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pages stars and stripes Friday april 27 2007 senior officer accused of aiding the enemy by Joseph Giordono stars and stripes a senior officer at the us military Camp Cropper prison in Iraq has been arrested and charged with aiding the enemy fraternizing with the daughter of a Detainee and mishandling classified information among other violations military officials said thursday it col William h Steele was commander of the 451st military police detachment and is being held in Kuwait an army spokesman in Iraq said the charge of aiding the enemy involved providing an unmonitored cell phone to detainees at Camp Cropper a military prison in Baghdad where at times Saddam Hussein and other High value prisoners have been held the maximum penalty for aiding the enemy is the death sentence a second charge of conduct unbecoming an officer alleges that Steele did knowingly and wrongfully fraternize with the daughter of a Detainee according to a military news release detailing the charges additionally Steele did knowingly and wrongfully provide special privileges to and maintain an inappropriate relation ship with an interpreter the release read in All Steele faces nine counts of four Dif Ferent violations of the uniformed code of military Justice among the others unauthorized Possession of classified information storing classified information in his living space improperly marking Classi fied information failure to obey a lawful order from the 89th military police Bri Gade Deputy commander violating Gener Al order number 1 by possessing porno graphic videos and mishandling military funds the alleged offences took place Between october 2005 and february of this year according to the army charge Sheet against Steele the arrest was first reported Early thursday by Abc news and the military is sued its statement thursday afternoon Steele is presumed innocent unless and until he is proved guilty beyond a reason Able doubt of any alleged offence the a mys statement read he was arrested sometime last month and has been held in Kuwait since that time officials said an article 32 hearing the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation has not yet been held the hearing would determine what if any charges Steele would face at a potential court martial Camp Cropper holds some 3000 prison ers and is the second largest us military prison in Iraq with the closure and return of Abu Gharib to the iraqis last year Camp Bucca in Southern Iraq is the largest Pris on holding some 15000 prisoners according to a us military official sad dam was not under Steeles responsibility while the former dictator was being held at Camp Cropper in fact the military said for the first time thursday Saddam was Only at Cropper for medical treatments and in the Days before he was executed by the iraqis on dec 30 instead his full time residence was a separate still secret prison officials said the us military detention system in Iraq has come under repeated criticism both for the notorious Abu Gharib abuse scandal and the system of holding Many prisoners without charge for Long periods of time military officials have said they expect the numbers of prisoners to Spike during the ongoing Baghdad Security surge Gen David Petraeus the Overall us commander in Iraq declined to comment on the matter when speaking to reporters thursday As with any Case that is ongoing a senior commander cannot comment because of the concern Over command influence Petraeus said email Joseph Giordono at suicide bomber hits iraqi army checkpoint soldiers killed 15 others injured by Thomas Wagner the associated press Baghdad a suicide car bomb attack on an iraqi army checkpoint in Northern Iraq killed 10 soldiers thursday police said in other developments us ground and air forces killed four suspected insurgents in a Battle North of Baghdad and two iraqi women and two children apparently died in the crossfire thirteen civilians also were killed and 32 wounded in three other bomb attacks in Iraq police said the iraqi army checkpoint at tack which also wounded 10 iraqi soldiers and five civilians occurred about 9 am in Khalis 50 Miles North of Baghdad the City is in Dyala province which has seen some of the worst violence recently As mostly sunni militants Are believed to have fled to the area since us and iraqi troops launched a Security crack Down in Baghdad on feb 14 on wednesday four iraqi police officers were killed when a suicide bomber struck a police station in the Dyala City of Balad Ruz 45 Miles Northeast of Bagh Hadi a us Soldier secures the scene following a car bomb explosion in Baghdad on thursday a parked car bomb exploded in Jar Yah neighbourhood killing eight civilians and wounding 19 others including students from nearby Baghdad University dad two Days earlier a Dou ble suicide bombing struck a paratrooper outpost in the prov Ince killing nine us troops an Alsaid linked group claimed responsibility in other violence thursday four insurgents were killed As the us targeted suspected Al Aida in Iraq militants near Taji a us air base 12 Miles North of Bagh us deaths in Iraq As of wednesday at least 3334 members of the us Mili tary have died since the begin Ning of the Iraq War in March 2003 according to an associated press count the figure includes seven military civilians at least 2706 died As a result of hostile action according to the military the latest deaths reported by the military b a Soldier died tuesday in a noncombat related incident the latest identifications re ported by the military Marine Lance Cpl Dale g Peterson 20 Redmond Ore died monday during combat operations in Anbar province was assigned to the 2nd combat Engineer battalion 2nd Marine division n Marine expeditionary Force Camp Lejeune no from the associated press dad the us command said it said two women and two Chil Dren were believed to have been killed during the fighting unfortunately Al Aida in Iraq continues to use women and children in their illegal activities us military spokesman Christopher Garver said also thursday two suicide bombers attacked an office of the Kurdistan democratic party of Massoud Barzani Leader of the autonomous kurdish Region in Iraq killing three of its guards and wounding five police said the casualties could have been higher if guards had not opened fire on the two attackers forcing them to detonate their explosives at least 50 Yards from the office police said the attack occurred in Zumar a town 45 Miles West of Mosul the capital of Ninevah province it was the second Sui cide attack this week aimed at the Kip in that area