IRAQ U.S. soldier sheds tears recalling prisoner abuse

Large explosions rocked the heart of Baghdad.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A U.S. soldier broke down in tears Saturday as he admitted abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison, receiving a lighter sentence in return for his testimony against others charged in the scandal.
Spc. Armin Cruz, 24, was the first Military Intelligence soldier convicted in the scandal, and his trial came as the investigation into the abuses appeared to move beyond the Military Police who so far have been at the case's center.
His lawyer said Cruz, a Reservist whose father was a Cuban immigrant and a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, was suffering from stress after having been wounded in a mortar attack that killed his sergeant a month before the abuse occurred.
"There is no way to justify it," Cruz, from Plano, Texas, said after pleading guilty to conspiracy to mistreat subordinates and mistreatment of prisoners at the grim, walled prison in western Baghdad in October. "I accept full and complete responsibility."
His sentence
Cruz, assigned to the 325th Military Intelligence Battalion, was sentenced to eight months' confinement, reduction in rank to private and a bad-conduct discharge.
The judge, Col. James Pohl, adjourned the session briefly to allow Cruz to regain his composure after he broke down during questioning by the judge.
An investigation into abuses at Abu Ghraib erupted into scandal in April when CBS' "60 Minutes II" first transmitted pictures of naked, terrified Iraqi prisoners being abused and humiliated by grinning American guards.
The others charged so far have all been low-ranking enlisted soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company, a Reserve unit from Maryland.
In May, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits became the first soldier convicted in the case, admitting four charges of abuse and receiving a year in prison, reduction in rank and a bad-conduct discharge. He is expected to testify against others.
Defense's contention
However, lawyers for the accused MPs have long contended that their clients were acting under instructions of intelligence agents and civilian contractors, who pushed them to "soften up" prisoners suspected of having information about attacks against Americans.
In recent weeks, the investigation appears to be moving beyond the MP unit, casting doubt on the Pentagon's initial finding that the mistreatment was limited to a handful of misfits in a poorly led unit.
Large explosions
Meanwhile, large explosions shook the center of Iraq's capital late Saturday, only hours after a bomb detonated near a U.S. consular office in southern Iraq, killing one person and wounding another.
The Baghdad blasts occurred about 10:10 p.m. and were the latest in a series of detonations rattling the heart of the city throughout the day.
In the late-night barrage, three or four projectiles -- believed to be either mortar shells or rockets -- slammed into a group of apartment buildings across the street from the Palestine and Sheraton hotels, where many international journalists are based.
In Basra, Iraq's major southern city, a bomb exploded outside a Saddam Hussein palace that now houses a U.S. consular office. One person was killed and two were wounded, police said. The victims were believed to be Iraqis.
Airstrike launched
In Baghdad, a U.S. warplane launched an airstrike on militants loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr during a battle in the sprawling Sadr City slum.
The plane fired on a team of militiamen manning a machine gun, said U.S. Capt. Brian O'Malley of the 1st Brigade Combat Team. Residents reported that gunfire rocked the city before the attack; there was no word on civilian casualties.
"They spotted the team from the air ... and they engaged and destroyed the team," O'Malley said.
Elsewhere, insurgents kidnapped the family of an Iraqi national guard officer and burned his home northeast of the capital, Iraqi authorities said Saturday.
Kidnappers seized the wife and three children of Col. Khalis Ali Hussein on Wednesday, said Maj. Gen. Walid Khalid, the head of the Diyala provincial police force.