Abu Ghraib lawyers want Cheney on stand
Hearing for England adjourns indefinitely
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 An investigator says England described her part in the prison abuses. CNN's Susan Candiotti reports.
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FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (CNN) -- The fifth day of military hearings for Pfc. Lynndie England on charges connected to the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad included a defense request for Vice President Dick Cheney to appear as a witness.
Cheney was among a long wish-list of potential witnesses, which included many of the generals involved with the prison. Defense lawyers did not explain in open court Saturday why they want Cheney's testimony.
The hearing officer, Col. Denise Arn, said she will study the request but gave no indication when or how she might rule.
The hearing was adjourned, and Arn set no date for when it might resume. England's lawyers speculated that the hearing might reconvene in a month.
The defense is known to be seeking to compel testimony by a former Army reservist who has told investigators and reporters that military intelligence agents helped instigate the abuses.
Sgt. Kenneth Davis of Hagerstown, Maryland, told The Associated Press on Friday that he reported the intelligence agents to his own platoon leader. According to the AP, Davis said 1st Lt. Lewis Raeder replied, "They are [military intelligence] and they are in charge. Let them do their job."
Defense lawyers have contended that England and the other guards facing charges were following orders from military intelligence.
In all, seven soldiers have been charged in connection with abuses at Abu Ghraib. The seven are from the 372nd Military Police Company, a unit of reservists based near Cumberland, Maryland.
Spc. Israel Rivera, an intelligence analyst, testified in the England hearing Thursday that two of his colleagues took part in the abuse the night three detainees suspected of rape were stripped naked and twisted into a tangle of limbs and torsos on the cellblock floor.
By the AP's account, Davis saw what happened that night and said the other two intelligence agents went well beyond what Rivera told the court. Davis said the men, Spc. Armin Cruz and Spc. Roman Krol, had forced the suspects to crawl naked across the floor. Rivera had testified the prison guards did that.
No military intelligence personnel have been charged in connection with the abuses at Abu Ghraib. But Cruz and Rivera have been named publicly as people under investigation.
The incident in which the intelligence agents are alleged to have been involved happened either October 24 or 25 -- the earliest documented date of the abuses that took place at Abu Ghraib last fall.
Arn has not said whether Davis will be required to testify.
Proceedings for England, charged with 19 counts in connection with the abuses, had been scheduled to conclude Friday but were delayed because a key witness was temporarily unavailable.
Prosecutors wanted to call Pvt. Jeremy Sivits, the only one of the seven guards charged to plead guilty. Sivits is serving a one-year sentence in military prison and is being moved from Germany to a lockup at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, not far from Fort Bragg. He had not yet arrived when the court called for his testimony Friday.
England's attorneys have asked Arn for permission to call a number of high-ranking officers who have had some role in oversight or investigation of Abu Ghraib.
The requested witnesses by the defense include:
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. troops during the Iraq warMaj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, overseer of all prisons in Iraq and former commander at the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, CubaMaj. Gen. George Fay, in charge of a Pentagon investigation of Abu GhraibBrig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who commanded the Military Police brigade running Abu Ghraib at the time of the incidents. She removed from that duty after being reprimanded.None of the ranking generals has been required to testify in any of the other prison abuse cases. Most observers think it unlikely they will be ordered to appear in this one.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
