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20/20
Air Date: Friday, January 21, 2005
Time Slot: 10:00 PM-11:00 PM EST on ABC
Episode Title: "N/A"
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]

U.S. SOLDIER FACING COURT MARTIAL IN ABU GHRAIB PRISON ABUSE SCANDAL SPEAKS EXCLUSIVELY TO ELIZABETH VARGAS, ON "20/20," JANUARY 21 ON ABC

LaToya Jackson Speaks Candidly About Brother Michael Jackson and About the Alleged Abuse by Her Ex-Husband

For the first time, one of the seven U.S. military police guards charged in the cruel maltreatment of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad tells her story of the scandal that brought cries of outrage from around the world. Sabrina Harman speaks exclusively to Elizabeth Vargas about going from being an assistant manager at a pizza shop in Virginia to a young Army reservist who says she never participated in the abuse herself. In the exclusive interview, she tells Vargas that she was deeply disturbed by what she witnessed. But why did she not report it to her superiors? The report airs on "20/20," FRIDAY, JANUARY 21 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Also: Michael Jackson's sister, LaToya Jackson, speaks candidly about her brother's upcoming trial as well as her own personal terror and the release of her upcoming album, "Starting Over," in an exclusive broadcast interview with ABC News Correspondent Don Dahler. "I love my brother... Michael is one of the sweetest persons on this earth. You have no idea. He is so misunderstood." In an attempt to shed light on her most famous sibling, LaToya explains that the same sheltered upbringing that led to her troubles has also contributed to her brother's. "He's been so sheltered from the world that it's to extremes... He is so, I believe, well, I know, disconnected with the outside world, that he doesn't understand how they view him, and it's really sad."

"I don't think that he will stop seeing children because... when you don't see anything wrong that you're doing, it's like, but I'm doing nothing wrong... he loves children. We all love children... it's been quite difficult, having this great love for children, because people take it the wrong way, and the results are upon us today, as we can see."

LaToya takes viewers behind closed doors with an explicit account of the man she alleges physically and emotionally abused her for 10 years. "He grabbed me and said, 'I own you,'" she says about her ex-husband Jack Gordon who, she says, turned her publicly against her brother, Michael, and the Jackson family. She also tells Dahler that once "he took my head and he started banging it on the corner of the table in the room and just banging it and banging it." The report also features an interview with Jackson mother Katherine. Jack Gordon has denied LaToya's allegations that he beat her.

"20/20" is anchored by Elizabeth Vargas and John Stossel. David Sloan is the executive producer.

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