US soldier pleads guilty to prisoner abuse

Responding to charges ranging from conspiracy to abuse of prisoners, dereliction of duty, assault and indecency, Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick, however, admitted guilt to only elements of some of the charges.

On the first of a two-day hearing on a military base at Baghdad's international airport, Frederick, 38, offered a rare insight into what took place behind the bars of the notorious detention centre.

Pictures of grinning US soldiers posing by a heap of naked Iraqi men revealed earlier in the year sparked worldwide outrage that has continued to dog the US administration.

Referring to a photograph of a pyramid of seven prisoners taken at Abu Ghraib -- one of the most notorious images from the prison outrage -- the sergeant said they were criminal suspects who had been hooded with their hands tied.