Karpinski Demoted

Well, I came back early.

I’ve seen plenty of complaints about the Abu Ghraib punishments regarding rank: that only the lower ranks were feeling the heat, like Abu Ghraib poster girl Lyndie England (whose guilty plea has been thrown out). Well, it seems that those complaints were premature.

WASHINGTON — The Army said Thursday that only one general will be disciplined for failed leadership in connection with the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and that more than a dozen lower-ranking officers have received a variety of punishments.

The Army said it demoted Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski [one star] whose Army Reserve unit was in charge of the prison compound when Iraqi detainees were physically abused and sexually humiliated by military police and intelligence soldiers in the fall of 2003.

It takes a presidential approval to demote a general. What this means, basically is that the now-colonel must retire in disgrace.

Additionally, other officers are being punished for incidents regarding prisoners, though the article doesn’t specify whether those incidents occurring in Iraq were at Abu Ghraib or not.

Without providing their names, the Army also said Thursday that one colonel and two lieutenant colonels linked to detainee abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan were given unspecified administrative punishment. Also, two other lieutenant colonels were given letters of reprimand.

More than a dozen other lower-ranking officers, whose names were not released, also received various punishments.

— Three majors were given letters of reprimand and one of the three also was given an unspecified administrative punishment.

— Three captains have been court-martialed, one captain was given an other-than-honorable discharge from the Army, five captains received letters of reprimand and one was given an unspecified administrative punishment.

— Two first lieutenants have been court-martialed, another got a letter of reprimand and one was given administrative punishment.

— One second lieutenant was given an other-than-honorable discharge and another was given a letter of reprimand.

— Two chief warrant officers have been court-martialed.

The Army said other cases involving officers linked to detainee abuse are still open, but it did not say how many. Among the open cases are those of Col. Thomas Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade at Abu Ghraib, and Lt. Col. Stephen Jordan, who directed the prison's interrogation center. Both face possible criminal charges, Army officials have said.

If I’m not mistaken, any of the above punishments basically ruins an officer’s career.

Also imbedded in the article was this curious item.

A U.S. government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Karpinski was accused of shoplifting a cosmetic item from a shop at a domestic Air Force base while she held the rank of colonel.

Saw then-General Karpinski on CSPAN a few weeks ago speaking before some left-wing organizational gathering. She disavowed all responsibility for Abu Ghraib, but her explanation sounded logical, though I can’t vouch for its plausibility (too far above my pay grade). Basically, she claims that the Army filled that command slot with a female Reserve general for PC purposes, but limited her mobility and authority in her command because she was a woman.

Did it happen that way? Maybe so, but the mere sight of a general passing the buck rather than taking responsibility for her men and women turned my stomach. Most people make fun of England, but to me that's like making fun of a juvenile delinquent (though England is an adult, of course). It's the newly-minted colonel who makes my blood boil.

Glad I don't have to salute her.

Comments

[Marc]

No salutes from this corner either.

Months ago when she, and her shyster, made the rounds of the European press using the "scapegoat card" told me all I needed to know.

I also noted the WaPo headline on their recounting of this story. “General Demoted, But Cleared in Abuse Probe.”

My question is, how are you "cleared" when you have been accused and convicted of "leadership lapses and for failing to properly train and prepare her brigade in Iraq.”

She got a lot less than she deserved for my money.

[Dave Schuler]

Don't forget the financial hit that these demotions reflect. IIRC colonels retire on quite a bit less jack than generals.

[Sapper Mike]

IMO, she got off entirely too lightly. Reading BG Taguba's report, and seeing the failures endemic in her Brigade, she should be a sizzling grease spot on the road to Leavenworth. Whoever wrote the charges and specifications did so in such a way that this is the most they could prove.

This POS should be alongside Grainer for the whole 10 year term.

THE COMMANDER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING HE UNIT DOES OR FAILS TO DO!!!!!!

[Greyhawk]

Colonel Karpinsky made the rounds of the foreign and domestic media back when she was a General insisting that blame for Abu Ghraib was on the soldiers below her who did it and those above her who wouldn't let her do anything about it. Like Sgt Shultz from Hogan's Heroes, she knew nothink!

Expect lots more of that to come, with each story pointing out the absolutely unimportant fact - to anyone but her husband - that she's a female. (Even if they have a picture of her in the story.)

[jeff]

She's saying it's not her fault because she was an affirmative action sop?? Novel defense there. Either way, it's hard to respect her

Nice new pic, btw

[www.deadissue.com]

She was grossly incompetent. Months before the pictures surfaced, I saw her on 60 Minutes. She was being interviewed about a specific detainee whose family was outside the gate everyday hoping to find out what had happened to their family member. The man hadn't done anything, but hadn't been provided a lawyer, charge or any contact with his family for months. He asked her if this was possible, and she insisted that it couldn't happen. I think it was Mike Wallace, and he asked her to check on this specific man's status and came back with an answer that the allegation was correct and she military intelligence wanted the man held.

It wasn't so much that she didn't realize that she was telling a lie initially when the situation was initially described to her, but how...er, unsoldierly she appeared. If any high level officer shouldn't have been in front of a tv camera answering questions, it was Karpinski.

The culpability at the pentagon hasn't been addressed as of yet. The warplan had a National Guard unit in charge of the entire corrections program in Iraq. That's what led to this. The unit was undisciplined, undertrained and lacked equipment. The amount of detainees who never belonged there in the first place also complicated matters.

The suits screwed this one up and the soldiers are the only ones being held accountable. I'm still waiting for one of the suits to get something other than a promotion out of the horrible 'contingency-less' warplan. Not only do they not have to go over and fight...they have no consequences for failing in their job.

Also - doesn't anyone find it odd that the two most visible 'bad seeds' are women? I say they were set up to fail. Wrong peole for a job that nobody wanted.

[baldilocks]

As I understand it, England was an admin type, not a guard. She had been ordered to stay out of there, so I don't see how she was set up.

[www.deadissue.com]

England was a private in a unit with zero professionalism or discipline from what I've seen and read about it. Her culpability in terms of the pictures is on her, but why was a National Guard unit put in charge of the prisons in the first place? And why was a soldier like General Karpinski allowed to run Abu Gharib?

See, I'm not looking at it like whoever got caught shouldn't be punished, but at a high level I'm looking at the situation and wondering...who the hell do we have working in the Pentagon who thought it was a good idea to plan it this way? Take a unit of part-time soldiers who have been that way for years and tell them to run an overcrowded prison - partially full of innocent men - in a foreign land during a war.

The planners didn't know what they were doing. Yet our next war could end up being planned by the same suits that planned Iraq, because accountability for the mistakes that were made only happened on the soldier-level. We'd sign up, put our lives on the line and when something breaks that the pentagon set up - only we are punnished in any way.

Rumsfeld still can't get the Humvees armored...and it's been how long? Someone not wearing a uniform should be forced to do their job at some point in this war. The politicians can't spare pork for the veterans:

http://deadissue.com/archives/2005/04/18/no-catch-entitlements-for-veterans/