WASHINGTON — Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, the former commander at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who also helped set up the interrogation operation at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, is declining to testify further about harsh interrogation practices and will retire from the service, Army officials said Thursday.
Miller, 56, decided this week to invoke his right not to give testimony that might incriminate him and will not answer questions in court-martial proceedings against two soldiers who are accused of using dogs to terrify detainees at Abu Ghraib, Maj. Michelle Crawford, a military lawyer representing the general, said Thursday via e-mail.
The general's plans to retire after 34 years of service have not been announced, Army officials said, and it was unclear how the plans related to his decision to invoke his rights under military Article 31, the rough equivalent of invoking the Fifth Amendment in a civilian court. Invoking that right does not constitute an admission of guilt or wrongdoing.
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Asked at a Pentagon news conference about Miller's decision not to testify, which was first reported Thursday by The Washington Post, Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended Miller's decision to invoke his right against self-incrimination. "I will simply tell you that we expect our leaders to lead by example, but we do not expect them to give up their individual rights as people," Pace said.
Eugene Fidell, a Washington specialist in military law, said it was highly unusual for Miller to take such an action.
