US: Dog handler jailed for Iraq abuse

US army dog handler Sgt Michael Smith has been jailed for six months for abusing detainees in an Iraqi prison from 2003 to 2004.

Smith, 24, was convicted of using his black Belgian shepherd to menace prisoners for his own amusement.

He expressed no remorse for his actions at the court martial, saying soldiers were not meant to be “soft and cuddly”.

Prosecutors said he had competed with another handler to see who could make a detainee soil himself out of fear.

One of the photographs to emerge from the prison shows Smith holding his dog centimeters from the face of a detainee who appears to be in terror.

Source: BBC News