Posted on 05/23/2004 2:38:47 PM PDT by txradioguy
We know conclusively that the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal is as phony as a Bill Clinton sex denial because there are no calls for the resignation or indictment of the one individual most responsible for the abuses. That would be the officer in charge of Abu Ghraib and all U.S. military prisons in Iraq, the commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski. And why have there been no calls for her resignation? Let’s be honest. It is because she is a woman.
Thus the frightening lesson of the abuse scandal: Political correctness trumps national security even in wartime.
Yes, Democrat Demagogues are willing to sacrifice America’s national security, to trash the morale and honor of American soldiers risking their lives in Iraq, and lose the War on Terrorism in order to defeat George Bush in November – so they use the abuse scandal as an excuse to go after Donald Rumsfeld. But be assured that if Karpinski was a man, demands for his accountability would be loud and clear.
It would be expected that if Karpinski were a man, he would have taken those demands like a man. But Karpinski is not and so has not. She has taken them like a woman – whining, making excuses, and complaining that it’s not her fault, that she’s being “scapegoated.”
I am waiting for feminists, or any woman who is simply proud of being female, to denounce Janis Karpinski as reinforcing the negative stereotype of women unable to accept responsibility, and humiliating her gender worse than were the Abu Ghraib prisoners under her jurisdiction.
In fact, we owe the entire Abu Ghraib scandal to the leadership failure and gross incompetence of Janis Karpinski – and to the fear of her superiors to do anything about her ineptitude because she was a woman. She should have been relieved of her command last summer but was not.
Near the town of Mahawil in southern Iraq, U.S. Marines uncovered a mass grave site holding the remains of some 15,000 Iraqis. They were slaughtered for taking part in the Shia uprising against Saddam in the early 1990s. Saddam’s agent responsible for conducting the mass killings was Mohammed Jawad Anayfas; the grave site is on land owned by him.
In July 2003, Anayfas was captured by US forces and turned over to the Military Police Brigade under Karpinski’s command. The Brigade Headquarters managed to lose his paperwork – so instead of contacting her superiors, Karpinski ordered Anayfas set free.
Soon thereafter, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz came to Iraq and visited the Mahawil gravesite, where he was informed by Marine Lt. Gen. James Conway how outraged the local Iraqis were over Anayfas’ release. Visibly upset, Wolfowitz vowed Anayfas would be recaptured and tried as a war criminal. Anayfas is still at large and Karpinski received no reprimand.
When confronted by the Iraqi public outcry – for Anayfas was only one of several war criminals whose paperwork was lost and she released – Karpinski proceeded to evade responsibility and fabricated an entire string of deceptive excuses. Just like she is doing now.
Wolfowitz knew of Karpinski’s incompetence and evasion of responsibility last summer – and did nothing. Even he lacks the courage to question the political correctness of feminizing the American military.
Such feminization is epitomized by Lynndie “They told me to hold the leash” England, the Army Private happily smiling in the infamous photos and pointing to a prisoner’s exposed genitals. She too has hired lawyers who loudly declare she’s just an innocent “farm girl” and nothing but a “scapegoat.” No more than Gen. Karpinski is she willing to accept the responsibility of her actions.
In his investigation of the abuses, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba recommended that Karpinski be relieved of her command. Even though she received a letter of admonishment from Joint Task Force-7 Commander Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, she has only been suspended from her command, not relieved.
The true scandal of Abu Ghraib is the unwillingness of the female military personnel involved to do a mea culpa. If there is any vast conspiracy on the part of their superior officers, it is not to “scapegoat” them, but to refuse to treat them as men, as accountable and responsible as men.
Donald Rumsfeld stood straight up to the world and accepted responsibility for Abu Ghraib. He took it like a man. War is not woman’s work. It is man’s work – not because men are more brutal or stronger, but because they can endure the stresses of combat and be accountable for the failures those stresses inevitably create. They don’t whine, deviously evade, blame others, make up excuses, and whimper “It’s not my fault!” If they do, they are despised and looked upon with contempt by their male comrades.
Janis Karpinksi deserves America’s contempt. She deserves to be court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. If she wishes to regain some small measure of respect from her fellow citizens – and of her own self-respect – she needs to stand up, accept her responsibility, and take it like a man.
She's either paving the road there or to a certain demotion.
PC will be the death of "US" if we are not careful.
"I don't know, I know of a LOT of libs who do all of those things... it sounds like a spot-on description of clinton or kerry... I think it is wrong to say that women can't handle stress like men, based upon one terrible officer."
I think the author was pointing out that every woman there copped out, saying, "It wasn't my fault." I believe he was pointing out that the women weren't personally taking responsibility for their actions.
Now, there are always exceptions to the rule and I did state that. But in this case, the author is right on.
Of course, I'm a sexist male pig married for the last eight and half years, serving with many female soldiers, including Desert Storm. But I'm probably just mouthing off.
Sorry if I offended you.
I strongly suspect that Janis Karpinski not only can take it like a man, but give it like a man as well...if you know what I mean, and I think you do.
No offense taken, and i surely do understand your point.
Since you two know me, maybe you can exhonerate me or put the final nail in my sexist, women discriminating coffin. :)
Everyone who was hired or promoted - or in the case of the military, retained when others were released - during the clinton administration is suspect. Everyone. Including most especially, of course, the junior Senator from NY.The clinton white house committed thousands of crimes - Filegate alone was 2000 counts of a felony - and no one in the white house is exempt from suspicion that they hired Craig Livingstone. Consider the implications in, Heaven forfend, Senate hearings into nominations to staff a Kerry Administration.
But even in the "I'm a uniter, not a divider" Administration we see only the minimum housecleaning. We see Gorelick's Wall retained until the Patriot Act, we see a Democrat Secretary of Transportation - and we see someone who was promoted to her level of incompetence retained in charge of the prison system in Iraq.
...When confronted by the Iraqi public outcry – for Anayfas was only one of several war criminals whose paperwork was lost and she released – Karpinski proceeded to evade responsibility and fabricated an entire string of deceptive excuses. Just like she is doing now.
Very, very suspicious to me. Has anyone investigated her finances? I'm a natural cynic, so thoughts of bribery immediately came to mind.
I apologize if I'm off base on this, but the article suggests that she's either incompetent or downright corrupt. If these allegations are true, she should be relieved of command immediately.
Yeah, she was willing to make $100,000 a year as a general, but now she's a poor victimized female who was never in charge of anything.
Her turn is coming. They're just working their way up the chain of command. Karpinski has already been relieved of her command, and is one of seven officers who have received career-ending reprimands. I have no doubt that some of these people also have courts-martials in their futures.
Jack Wheeler hit the BULLSEYE on this one!
The trouble is that PC has the same effect on women in the military as it has on blacks in college - it assures that they will be rapidly promoted to their level of incompetence. Affirmative action assures that blacks can get into the most selective colleges at the same rate as whites, even though blacks do not hit the books in the same proportion that whites do.Likewise not everyone can be a general, and it would be no disgrace to this woman personally if she had not been promoted to that grade - but some woman was bound to be promoted to that grade whether there happened to be a qualified woman available or not. THAT is the problem.
"I think it is wrong to say that women can't handle stress like men, based upon one terrible officer."
That may be true. But the problem is...IMHO...by her acting like this...BG Karpinski is giving the impression...justified or not...that women officers can't hack it in the man's world. I've known and worked with male officers who act just as bad or worse.
Someone needs to call her in...lock her heels and tell her to close her mouth before she further tarnishes the officer corps...the general officer corps...and women officers in general with her weasl like tactics.
I don't know of she was taking anything under the table. It sounds like a simple...yet snoballing case of CYA on her part.
Worried more about her next OER she chose to obfusciate and allow incompetence and mismanagement by people below her to spread into the crap we see on TV about Abu Ghraib every minute.
Soldiers, while for the most part disciplined in their actions are human. If the bad apples that caused Abu Ghraib...saw that the brass were looking the other way...that was interpreted as a green light to continue their treatment of the prisoners.
The one area of institutional incompetency is the state department. That department is as decayed as the public school system.
There are far too many left over socialists in the system which are more in line with french diplomacy based on constraints of "treaty law" rather than the interests of the USA.
Such are the wages of symbolism over substance rather than merit.
"Someone needs to call her in...lock her heels and tell her to close her mouth before she further tarnishes the officer corps..."
Here's the problem with that. We're dealing with the Clintonization of the military. The main reason I exited stage left. Now, you've got superiors that are unwilling to do it because of her gender. It's the stigma placed on the disciplinarian that causes this.
All it takes is for her to say, "I was told to shutup by a bunch of men." And the press will eat it up like bowl of candy on Halloween. They'll parade her as a women's rights activist hero, all the while scolding the "evil man" for disciplining her when she needed it.
Let's take a look at Susan Smith. I believe one of the things that came out was that the husband was at fault. When the whole time, he was working to put food on the table. Not to say that he wasn't somewhat negligent, but he couldn't afford to babysit her when they had to eat, pay bills, etc...
This is the same kind of thing as to why no one has told her to shutup.
excellent commentary
The press beats on serious soldiers, such as Sanchez, and gives a pass to Karpinski. I do not think that the Eastern press has any idea about what the UCMJ is all about.
Right on!!!!!!!!
I know it is an old cliche expression - but that was my first reaction.
Yep you're a male sexist pig - and this woman salutes you.
The feminazis INSIST women be equal in the military but absolutely refuse to support the idea of 18 year old women registering with Selective Service.
As a woman I'm all for being paid the same amount as a man who has the same education and experience as I do - in a job I am capable of doing. There are jobs I don't think (most) women should be doing.
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