Aiding the enemy

I don’t get this prosecution of a Virginia reserve Army lieutenant colonel, Saddam’s old jailer, who faces life in prison at Leavenworth for aiding the enemy: i.e. buying the dictator (Ted Koppel’s onetime interlocutor) some cigars to smoke, and some hair dye for his vanity, before his neck was stretched by his betters. The colonel is also alleged to have been indiscrete with a female Iraqi interpreter and to have let "top detainees" use a cell phone, etc. Puny stuff for such a grandiose charge and maximum sentence. It seems the Army can still be as petty as it was in the 1960s. But it’s probable there’s something unspoken going on here, which we just may be lucky enough to find out about before it’s over.

UPDATE: Well, it looks like even the defendant thought he did wrong, though he was acquitted of aid-to-the-enemy. He was convicted of unauthorized possession of classified documents, conduct unbecoming and failure to obey an order. Sentenced to two years, and dismissed from the service after 28 years. But, hopefully, an early parole. A strange case I’d still like to see explained.