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.
It may be "wrong to say that women can't handle stress like men" but it is true.
"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."
It's easy to see that your man has kept his thumb on you, sister. I'm going to have to give him a thumbs up. :) HA!
ROFL!!!!!!!!!!
My man has absolutely nothing to do with my opinion.
I remember the night I went f***ing nuclear when it was announced that 18 year old men were going to have to register with Selective Service. My first question was why weren't 18 year old women required to do the same. Boy did I get chewed a new one from the other 20 year old women in that frat house.
My attitude then and my attitude now has not changed - equality is equality. I always have and always will expect the same pay for the same job.
I just have this thing about some jobs not being right for women.
Call me a sexist woman - I don't care - it's how I feel and what I believe.
"Call me a sexist woman - I don't care - it's how I feel and what I believe."
That's right. YOU'RE the kind of woman that has help keep women from getting what they deserve. Less work and more pay. I hope you're happy. You're the reason women have had to resort to feminism because of YOUR barbaric beliefs. You must live in a cave while your man drags you around by your hair in one hand and his club in the other. :) HA!
Yeah right......my man drags me around by my hair - what a laugh.
I'll have you know that when my neanderthal brings home what ever it was he killed he's the one that cooks it.
Stick that in your MCP pipe and smoke it!!!!!
(LOL)
And Monica thought she was Bill's only cigar humidor. TSK! TSK!
She is a freeping Brigadier General. She is the top level of her command. My gosh, if a General Officer needs a babysitter then what in the heck does that tell you?
"I'll have you know that when my neanderthal brings home what ever it was he killed he's the one that cooks it.
Stick that in your MCP pipe and smoke it!!!!!"
Oh, my God. It's worse than I thought. I need to talk to your husband now. He is in dire need of male, shovenist pig intervention. ASAP!!!!!
HA!
"My man has absolutely nothing to do with my opinion."
By the time I'm through with him, his opinion will matter more than anything else in the world. Your role will be to take care of your man and satisfy his every need. And that means cooking his dinner, raising his child, and making sure he's 100% happy.
Your whole existence will be to make sure his every comfort is met on a daily basis. With a little disciplining, you could be a good wife. :) HA!
Hubby, calling you dear......... where are you, coolbreeze??????
Oh that's right, he's out of town this week and probably will be checking in more frequently.........
It's how he keeps track of me when he's out of town!!!! (ROFL!!!)
You're just too, too funney.........
I'm going to bed - I will deal with you later!!!!!!!!!!
"It's how he keeps track of me when he's out of town!!!!"
Well. It's good to see he's keeping accountability on you. I like to see that in a man. Well, a real man. :)HA!
Have a good night.
Wow a whole 3 years. Sometimes it takes a real war to separate the men from the boys, so to speak. As soon as it was shown that she was completely incompetent in a combat zone she was removed. That was the ONLY responsibility her "boss" had to take. He didn't place her on the General officer roster.
If you think the prospect of reinstating the peacetime draft raised hackles; I can only imagine how much heat the idea of conscripting young women into the Armed Forces would generate among the public.
Short of the United States actually being faced with a full-scale land invasion from abroad, this idea will never come to fruition.
It's counterintuitive, repellent to our nation's sense of chivalry, and numerous groups-not the least of whom would be the women being asked to enlist-find it to be objectionable on an ethical and practical level.
In other words, it's DOA.
I don't disagree with you.
Don't take that one to the bank just yet. IMHO these court-martials of underlings are laying groundwork for some whackings of overlings. Everybody I know (and my daily encounters run from E-4, corporal, to O-6, colonel) is disgusted by the collapse of leadership and discipline in that unit.
The commander of the MI Company involved is also female, and she's also lawyering up (as well she should; I see an Article 32 investigation in her immediate future). But all the skunks aren't women by any means. One of the MP company commanders is male and is a bigger jerk that Karpinski -- he is certainly facing prison time (among his other, uniquely military violations, the sleazeball took pictures of his female subordinates -- while they were showering. Scaly, scaly, scaly geek....) I don't have the Taguba Report in front of me here, but I believe this jerk's name is Leo Merck. Watch the news.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Criminal Number 18F wrote:
AND the Occifer machine has kicked in to defend her
Don't take that one to the bank just yet. IMHO these court-martials of underlings are laying groundwork for some whackings of overlings. Everybody I know (and my daily encounters run from E-4, corporal, to O-6, colonel) is disgusted by the collapse of leadership and discipline in that unit.
datum.
From one who I have known for 20 years, and who is in a position to know, I have had hints to the effect that this unit and its commander were known to be slovenly excuses for soldiers prior to deployment, with a low mission-readiness rating, poor training, and crap morale and discipline.
Aftershocks of the Clinton Disaster.
I don't know how it will pan out when the unit's pre-deployment reviews hit the press/congress/court.
I suspect that the tagline will somehow be "It was Bush's/Rummy's decision to field these deckapes - it is ALL BUSH'S FAULT!" irrespective of how utterly unrealistic that pov is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.