|
|
|
« Milbloggies Open | Main | Troop Availability » February 15, 2007A Stain on the ArmyI see that Colonel Janis Karpinski, formerly Brigadier General Karpinski, is continuing her attempts to escape any blame for Abu Ghraib. The woman is, quite frankly, shameless and it's a disgusting comment on my Army that she earned a star only mitigated slightly by the wisdom shown in taking it back. Karpinski was in command of the prison at Abu Ghraib when the torture and mistreatment of detainees was routine. Karpinski is upset with Senator Lindsey Graham because he commented that he's sorry he didn't get the chance to court-martial her, prompting Karpinski to brand Graham a coward. I can't speak to the Senator's physical courage, but I certainly applaud his sentiment, noting only that it would have been even nicer had he pushed a lot harder for the Army to go after people further up the chain at Abu Ghraib. And that chain, at a minimum, should include the woman who was running the show at the time. There are two possibilities about Karpinski's involvement at Abu Ghraib. Either she knew what was going on and failed to stop it, or she didn't know it was happening. The latter is no excuse. The woman was a general officer charged with running the prison. The buck may stop in the Oval Office, but a commander is responsible for everything her unit does or fails to do, and that makes Karpinski guilty as sin. She worked in that prison every day. The soldiers there were under her command. It was her duty and her responsibility to know what they were doing and to set the standards for her subordinates. Given what happened, it seems pretty clear what her standards are. It's too late to try Karpinski for her failings. But it doesn't seem too much to ask for the woman to try and remember that she was an officer and to take responsibility for her failures. Posted at February 15, 2007 11:41 AM
Comment policyI apologize for only allowing authenticated commenters, but comment spam overwhelms the site if I don't use those measures to prevent it. I reserve the right to delete any comment, although generally comments will only be deleted due to use of profanity or personal attacks on people. I have no objection to vigorous argument, but when name-calling begins, I'm putting a stop to it. In the immortal words of Eugene Levy, "People, people, let's stop this before somebody says something untrue!" If you want to call people names, I recommend you get your own blog. Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsKarpinski was scapegoated, but she also wrongly uses that to try to absolve her own failings. She clearly dodges accountability as documented in the Taguba report. She demonstrates that she has no honor, which is about a low a thing as you can say about an officer. But it appears that she is correct in indicating the primary probems at Abu Gharib stemmed from turning over control to military intelligence, which was not under her control (control in the prison was split during a crucial period of time), and adopting Gitmo tactics imported by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller. She is a poor advocate to be making these points, but it makes sense to keep her role in the wrongdoing in perspective. While her demotion seems more than appropriate, it is pathetic that Miller and others have appparently received no reprimand at all (as you note). I agree with this comment -- But it doesn't seem too much to ask for the woman to try and remember that she was an officer and to take responsibility for her failures -- it applies more forcifully with regard to the overall failure of the Army to account for Abu Gharib. It remains a huge unremedied stain on the Army. Posted by: dmbeaster I don't dispute your last sentence. However, whatever the primary cause of Abu Ghraib was, the woman was a general officer. That is a huge deal in the Army; the step from Colonel to Brigadier is the biggest step you take in the Army. She continues to try and slough off her own failure on others, and as long as she does so, I'm going to call her on it. Posted by: Andrew And keep on pointing it out, because you are right about her. What is unfortunate is that the inquiry seems to have ended with her, and the implication (not yours -- the overall situation) is that her failings were the primary cause. I suspect that had she remained in complete control of Abu Ghraib and that there had been no intervention in its operations by military intelligence, that there would not have been near the problems that actually arose. Her incompetence allowed the problems to bloom right under her nose, but did not cause it in the first instance. Posted by: dmbeaster Post a commentThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out) (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |
![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://andrewolmsted.com/nav-commenters.gif)