Although Pfc. Lynndie England pleaded guilty to mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, a military judge did not accept her plea.

Col. James Pohl threw out the plea, saying he was unconvinced that England knew her actions were wrong. Under military law, a guilty plea may only be accepted if the accused knew his or her actions were illegal.

England gained notoriety following last year’s Abu Ghraib scandal. In April 2004, several troubling pictures portraying torture of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison surfaced. These pictures included prisoners with what appear to be wires attached to their genitalia, US soldiers giving thumbs-up while standing over seemingly dead prisoners and unmuzzled dogs snarling at cowering, naked Iraqis.

Since then, several investigations, including 10 Pentagon studies and 20 Senate hearings, have been undertaken.

However, culpability has yet to be assigned. Four of the five senior officers questioned were found not guilty. Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was head of the police unit overseeing Abu Ghraib, was reprimanded, although she says that she was a scapegoat. Questions of England’s ability to distinguish right from wrong began following testimony from Thomas Denne, director of assessment of the Mineral County school system in West Virginia, where England attended school.

Denne testified that England was born a “blue baby” who had a misshapen tongue that rendered her “electably mute” – she could speak but chose not to. Denne also said that when she tested in second, fifth and eighth grade, England was incapable of “processing information.”

Because there was a discrepancy between England’s testimony, which stated that she posed for the pictures in response to peer pressure, and the testimony of Pvt. Charles Graner, who said that the pictures were meant as training aids, the judge threw out charges of conspiracy.

Graner is currently the only participant who is serving jail time. He was sentenced to 10 years.

The Abu Ghraib scandal caused a backlash in the Arab world. The pictures remain a stalwart of Al Jazeera editorials, and the famous man in the black hood picture is a common theme of anti-American murals in Iraq, Iran and Syria.

Meanwhile, America’s position on abuse and torture of prisoners remains murky. Stories of “extraordinary rendition,” cases where the American military release suspects to allies who use torture as a form of interrogation, remain common. The United States has also come under fire for treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, where several suspects have remained for years without legal representation.

While the acts undeniably happened, most have been cleared of guilt. Although a multitude of investigations occurred, accountability is still lacking. Perhaps that’s the next thing the military should shoot for.