Donald J. Reese

Captain Donald J. Reese served as company commander of the 372nd Military Police Company, "a company of U.S. Army Reservists based in Cresaptown, Md." that had been sent to Iraq. 

Washington Post reporters Scott Higham, Joe Stephens and Josh White write on May 23, 2004, that, according to Captain Robert Shuck, lawyer for Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Frederick III, Reese "was prepared to testify in exchange for immunity" that Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez was present at Abu Ghraib "during some 'interrogations and/or allegations of the prisoner abuse'." 

"At the April hearing, Shuck also said Reese would testify that Capt. Carolyn A. Wood, who supervised the military intelligence operation at Abu Ghraib, was 'involved in intensive interrogations of detainees, condoned some of the activities and stressed that that was standard procedure.' The hearing was held at Camp Victory in Baghdad. The 'Post' obtained a copy of the audiotape this past week, and it was transcribed yesterday. ... In the transcript, Shuck said Reese was disturbed by the military intelligence techniques." 


 * Note: "The hearing at Camp Victory took place several weeks before the story broke into public view with the airing of abuse photographs on April 28 on CBS's '60 Minutes II'. Chain-of-command responsibility has now become a key unanswered question in the scandal."

"'He noted that there were some strange doings by the [military intelligence],' Shuck said. 'He said, 'What's all this nudity about, this posturing, positioning, withholding food and water? Where's the Geneva Conventions being followed.'"

Higham, Stephens and White write that "Reese, 39, a reservist from Pennsylvania who works as a window-blind salesman in civilian life, did not testify that day because he had invoked the military version of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. ... Reese, who did not respond to an e-mail sent to him in Iraq [May 22], has not been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony. He did provide a sworn statement to military investigators early in the case, but he did not say that Sanchez was aware of the abuses.

"Gary Myers, the civilian attorney for Frederick, said he is asking the military to add investigators to his legal team so he can track down Reese and other witnesses, several of whom have been reassigned to military posts throughout Iraq. Myers said he will also request that immunity be granted to a number of military personnel who he said have firsthand knowledge of what took place in Tier 1A," they write.

"'We intend to seek immunity for a myriad of officers who are unwilling to participate in the search for the truth without protecting themselves,' Myers said yesterday. 'We are definitely interested in talking to Captain Reese'," they write.