Posted on 05/25/2004 10:18:35 AM PDT by chambley1
WASHINGTON - The Army general who was in charge of the U.S. prison guards accused of abusing Iraqis has been suspended from command of the 800th Military Police Brigade, officials said Monday.
Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski and other officers in her brigade were faulted by Army investigators for paying too little attention to the prison's day-to-day operations and not acting strongly enough to discipline soldiers under her command for violating standard procedures.
Karpinski's suspension, which has not been announced by the Army, was the latest in a series of actions against officers and enlisted soldiers implicated in the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
Last week, Spc. Jeremy Sivits received the maximum penalty of a year in prison and a bad-conduct discharge in the first court-martial stemming from the abuse of Iraqis at the prison. He was among seven members of the 372nd Military Police Company that have been charged.
Karpinski, who has returned to the United States, has not been charged with an offense. Being suspended from her command does not mean she has been relieved of command, so technically she could be reinstated, although the intensity of the international furor over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse makes that highly unlikely, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In an interview on MSNBC Monday night, Karpinski said she has been told of her suspension by "several sources, but I have nothing in writing." The paperwork will cite the reason for her suspension, she said.
Karpinski has said she was being treated unfairly for the acts of others over which she had no control. "And actions like this renew my thought process of being a scapegoat and using the 800th MP Brigade as the organization responsible for this," she said.
In his widely cited investigation report on the Abu Ghraib abuse allegations, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba found heavy fault with Karpinski's performance and recommended that she be relieved of command and given a formal reprimand. Instead she was given a less-severe "memorandum of admonishment" on Jan. 17 by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Taguba reported that despite the documented abuse of prisoners, he saw no evidence that Karpinski ever attempted to remind the military police in her command of the requirements of the Geneva Conventions, which protect prisoners of war and civilian detainees in times of armed conflict.
"What I found particularly disturbing in her testimony was her complete unwillingness to either understand or accept that many of the problems inherent in the 800th MP Brigade were caused or exacerbated by poor leadership and the refusal of her command to both establish and enforce standards and principles among its soldiers," Taguba wrote.
In her defense, Karpinski has said in numerous interviews with news organizations that her military superiors and civilian leaders ignored her requests for more troops to watch prisoners. She also has said that control of the prison was taken away from her in November 2003 when a military intelligence unit was put in charge.
Outstanding!
I read someplace that she speaks Arabic fluently. Is this the reason she was in charge? It obviously wasn't her managerial competence.
Now she can join the suspended female Chief of the U.S. Park Police in DC and play hop scotch topless in front of the White House wearing logging boots and camo boxers demanding their jobs back in the name of patching shattered glass ceilings.
Probably promoted by Clinton in one of his affirmative action binges.
The media have been trying to skirt this issue away from Karpinski to someone higher. It doesn't seem to be working. It looks like this might land in her lap after all.
Not good for the libs on several levels. Of course, that won't stop the libs from still stirring the stink to try to pin other higher-ups.
I believe she said the same a few weeks ago.
She screwed up. She should just accept it and shut up.
It's high time.
Can anyone tell me what in blazes else did she and they have to do all day??
Sensitivity and diversity training sessions? Ensuring the integrity of the Army's gender equality program? Holding kumbayesque leadership retreats? Not asking or telling?
Ya mean like Oregon's own: "Chief Moose", the anti-white guy in charge of the "white van, white man" sniper fiasco.
Is that a confession? If she had no control over HER OWN TROOPS she ought to be relieved that alone, even if their behavior was exemplary.
Another Dacowits 'Poster Child' fallen from grace...
The fruits of promoting people beyond their competence in the name of the femanazi marxist agenda (along with their cohorts)...
The real agenda is of course the femanization and degraded function of the US Armed Forces.
Affirmative Action...Gender Equality...Diversity.....and supression and illimination of the traditions that had served us well....in the past
Progress........
imo
Thought many of the digital pictures had a date stamp during October, not November?
A general officer who was unable to unleash the hounds of hell against any miscreants operating in her domain? Thank you, feminazis and other liberals.....
General Officers are recommended for promotion by a board of peers and superiors in the Pentagon. They are confirmed by the U.S. Senate. 3 years into the Bush administration, wearing her first star, I doubt that she was recommended by a Clinton-era board.
OTOH, I won't dispute that some female GOs are still being promoted who shouldn't be. BG Karpinski is just one shining example of that problem.
By comparison, had she been placed in command of an aircraft carrier, she couldn't have escaped responsibility of a collision by claiming she were asleep.
Sadly, these promotions are based more on the ability to menstruate than administrate.
I know this is closing the barn door once the horse is gone, but since I know we'll see more of Karpinski and the others, I feel I have to address this to all involved. Out of all of the high profile legal cases out there, do you see Kobe, Michael, Martha, Scott, ( or any other people with high dollar lawyers, except Robert Blake ) flapping their gums on every talk show they can get? Just what little they have said without lawyers can and is being held against them. If something does need to be said, only their lawyers do it on TV. Isn't there a lesson there?
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