Posted on 02/08/2006 5:25:57 PM PST by No Truce With Kings
The latest Iraq war urban legend:
Several female service members have died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day due to fear of being raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark.
This is absurd for countless reasons - the most obvious being that death by dehydration takes a little longer than a couple hours without fluids, even in the hottest conditions.
But this fabrication has an interesting source: Col. Janis Karpinski, former commander of the unit responsible for torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. And she's found a sympathetic forum in which to tell the story: The "Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration" - a mock trial sponsored by "Not in Our Name", a group originally founded by members of the Revolutionary Communist Party to protest the US-led war in Afghanistan.
Last week, Col. Janis Karpinski told a panel of judges at the Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration in New York that several women had died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day. They were afraid of being assaulted or even raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark.If you're still reading, that's good - you didn't smash your computer screen in anger. Now let's take this apart.
<...>
It was there that male soldiers assaulted and raped women soldiers. So the women took matters into their own hands. They didn't drink in the late afternoon so they wouldn't have to urinate at night. They didn't get raped. But some died of dehydration in the desert heat, Karpinski said.
Karpinski testified that a surgeon for the coalition's joint task force said in a briefing that "women in fear of getting up in the hours of darkness to go out to the port-a-lets or the latrines were not drinking liquids after 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and in 120 degree heat or warmer, because there was no air-conditioning at most of the facilities, they were dying from dehydration in their sleep."
Like any other urban legend, this one has it's basis in truth.
Dark? Few lights? - True. Light tends to help terrorists aim mortars.
Latrines are located away from sleeping quarters - also true. In 120 degree heat you don't want to sleep next to the latrine. And there are health concerns beyond the unpleasant (to all but the flies) smell. But this means that when nature calls, you must walk. And if nature calls in the middle of the night, you get out of your bunk, don all your gear (including Kevlar and armor, depending on the threat level) and take a moonlight stroll.
There are a couple ways to avoid this. One is the (forbidden) empty widemouth Gatorade bottle by the bed (hopefully capped and disposed of daily. This solution doesn't work as well for females. The other is one I used myself - stop drinking after a certain hour, depending on sleep cycle and workload. Having used this method myself I can testify that I never once died of dehydration in my sleep while I was in Iraq.
But Colonel Karpinski testifies that not only did this happen, but that it was covered up by the Army:
For example, Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, Sanchez's top deputy in Iraq, saw "dehydration" listed as the cause of death on the death certificate of a female master sergeant in September 2003. Under orders from Sanchez, he directed that the cause of death no longer be listed, Karpinski stated. The official explanation for this was to protect the women's privacy rights.Note that a plausible cause of death - heat stroke - is not cited here. The very specific "dehydration" is. According to this rather grim article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, it takes "several days to a few weeks for death to occur by this means" - if no liquid is ingested at all. At some point prior to that time, someone would have noticed the individual's deteriorating condition and complete inability to function.
Note also the victim described above. A Master Sergeant is an E8 - one rank short of the highest possible rank an enlisted member can achieve. To reach that requires skill, intelligence, desire, ability, and knowledge of "the system" - plus significant time in service. Further, those grades are limited by law to just 3% of the entire enlisted force - the "top 3 percent". To believe Karpinski's account you must accept that a mature individual who had achieved a place of great significance and responsibility in the US military had foregone all fluids for several days without anyone noticing her failing health before her death - because she was afraid of being raped on her way to the latrine at night.
And oh by the way, she also had either an M16 or a 9mm at her disposal.
Which brings us to allegations of rape. Let's establish this point right now: rape is serious business. But Karpinski's account diminishes this to absurdity and robs legitimate victims of credibility. Fortunately, the Department of Defense has a very determined and aggressive policy against sexual assault, and a zero tolerance policy for predators. No military unit could maintain cohesion and be able to function with a "see no evil" approach to such crime within the ranks. We are talking about people who often must depend on one another completely in order to have any chance to survive. While individual predators can indeed exist within this society - as they can in any - for obvious reasons those discovered are dealt with quickly and severely within the confines of the law.
But therein lies yet another element of truth in this myth. There has been at least one unit where discipline had broken down to the point where stories of such behavior become plausible - and that unit was commanded by then-General Janis Karpinski, the highest ranking individual to be punished for the crimes at Abu Ghraib. Relieved of command and reduced in rank, her own defense in the subsequent months has been that while everyone above her in rank knew what everyone below her in rank was doing, she had been kept in the dark.
She launched her strongest assaults on those above her - and this case is no different:
Sanchez's attitude was: "The women asked to be here, so now let them take what comes with the territory," Karpinski quoted him as saying. Karpinski told me that Sanchez, who was her boss, was very sensitive to the political ramifications of everything he did. She thinks it likely that when the information about the cause of these women's deaths was passed to the Pentagon, Donald Rumsfeld ordered that the details not be released. "That's how Rumsfeld works," she said.One could almost feel pity for someone who has fallen this low. But her accusations have now sunk to a level of absurdity that bring additional discredit to any previous actions, statements, or accusations she's ever made - not to mention a tremendous discredit to the United States military. And while no one capable of a few minutes of coherent thought could possibly consider such fables as truth, we live in a world where cartoons spark riots and a hit film describes how US soldiers bring prisoners to a Jewish doctor to harvest their organs at Abu Ghraib.
And even in the US considerable numbers of people desperately want to "believe".
Update Tony B notes another small problem with Karpinski's story: No female master sergeants have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
My recommendation? Comtact your congresscritter and ask why she is not being brought up on charges of conduct unbecoming.
Janis Karpinski was promoted according to PC and continues to be protected by PC. Congress won't do anything more to her.
No doubt General Karpinski used this technique and suffered substantial "brain death".
Mixing warriors and women will always lead to problems.
Objection, hearsay.
For example, Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, Sanchez's top deputy in Iraq, saw "dehydration" listed as the cause of death on the death certificate of a female master sergeant in September 2003.
Objection, hearsay.
Sanchez's attitude was: "The women asked to be here, so now let them take what comes with the territory," Karpinski quoted him as saying. Karpinski told me that Sanchez, who was her boss, was very sensitive to the political ramifications of everything he did. She thinks it likely that when the information about the cause of these women's deaths was passed to the Pentagon, Donald Rumsfeld ordered that the details not be released. "That's how Rumsfeld works," she said.
Objection, double hearsay and speculation.
Mock trial, indeed.
She is the one who let the shennanigans that gave the army such a black eye go on.
If I'm not mistaken, she was the general that didn't make regular, or impromptu rounds to check on things at the prison, thus the abuse. Maybe she was afraid of getting assaulted going to take a whiz. Or maybe lugging around her fat a** wore her out. In any event, this slug feces needs to bow out of history and drink her failure away.
Waste of time, there is no way to refute a lie with logic if it is believed by the ignorant lacking logic.
Janass Karpet-Muncher is a disgrace to the military uniform of The United States Of America.There's no way in hell that an incompetent idiot like this should have been promoted past latrine detail.This is an example where affirmative action helped to promote a worthless sack of spit who embarrassed herself and her country.
And by her promotion insulted all decent, hard working and courageous female military-- including female officers who worked hard to get to a postion of rank and to get the respect of male and female military.
She is not only a self-centered ,disgusting and dishonest
person but also incredibly ugly...inside and out!
anyone have any idea, for what Col. Janis Karpinski was awarded the Bronze Star in Gulf War 1 ?
"If I'm not mistaken, she was the general that didn't make regular, or impromptu rounds to check on things at the prison, thus the abuse. Maybe she was afraid of getting assaulted going to take a whiz. Or maybe lugging around her fat a** wore her out. In any event, this slug feces needs to bow out of history and drink her failure away."
Funny about that. According to one commenter on Mudville Gazette, SGT Ted (whose blog is at http://www.sgtted.blogspot.com/ )
"I was there in a line unit under command of the 800th MP BDE when she became the CO. She had a sizeable rear det in Kuwait and was there alot. She was in the dark because she made no effort to know what was going on in her command. I saw her 3 times in 12 months while there. Once in Karbala and twice at Abu Ghuraib. THe 16th out of Bragg took over from the 800th in January and we saw that CO at least once a week."
I saw her 3 times in 12 months while there.
Yeah, the first time was when she assumed command.
The second time, is when she forgot her cover while touring when she assumed command.
The third time was when she was investigated and was relieved of command.
If and I stress "If" she's correct, why hasn't she named names of victims and witnesses? Also, where are the families of these women who supposedly died? This woman is pathetic.
"If and I stress "If" she's correct, why hasn't she named names of victims and witnesses?"
Because its a lie.
"Also, where are the families of these women who supposedly died?"
They do not exist.
"This woman is pathetic."
Yup, but what is more pathetic is that her lies are getting traction in the left. Scare America apparently ran a piece on it. (Of course, that's a good way to keep a secret quiet -- broadcast it on Scare America.)
Well said!
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