Craig McNeil

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Born in 1968 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bronze Star and Combat Action Badge recipient Major Craig A. McNeil served as the command judge advocate (base lawyer) at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2004. After learning of the prisoner abuses committed in late 2003, McNeil assisted the base commander in enforcing standards of compliance with the Geneva Conventions and assisted in the preparation of the criminal prosecution of military personnel involved in the scandal. McNeil served as a prosecutor during the trial of former Specialist Armin Cruz, the first Military Intelligence soldier convicted of prisoner abuse.

McNeil, a United States Army Reserve officer, has served as a Regular Army officer in the 1st Infantry Division in Bamberg, Germany and served as a Texas Army National Guard officer (a former commander of Troop A, 1-124th Cavalry Regiment). He is a veteran of the Iraqi war and the peace-keeping mission in Kosovo. Upon return from Iraq, McNeil returned home to Texas and served as a felony prosecutor. He has since been recalled to active Army duty to work on a temporary assignment as a special prosecutor.

A graduate of New Mexico Military Institute McNeil was sworn in as an Army second lieutenant by retired Air Force Reserve Major General and former Senator Barry Goldwater. He is also a graduate of Texas Christian University where he was a student of Former Speaker of the House Jim Wright, and Baylor Law School where he was a Leon Jaworski scholar. He is a former law partner of Mayor Ken Shetter of Burleson, Texas.

McNeil taught criminal justice while deployed to Kosovo for the University of Maryland University College and has been a contributor to the Village Voice [1] [2].