Posted on 06/15/2004 7:03:00 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
LONDON (AP) -- The American general who was in charge of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison claimed she was being made a scapegoat for the abuse of detainees, and said her successor once told her that prisoners should be treated "like dogs." A spokesman for Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, accused of making the "like dogs" remark, categorically denied the charge.
In an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio broadcast Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski said Miller told her last autumn that prisoners "are like dogs, and if you allow them to believe at any point that they are more than a dog then you've lost control of them."
Miller was in charge of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and now oversees U.S. prisons in Iraq.
Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a spokesman for detention operations in Iraq, said Karpinski's allegations were "categorically false."
"Maj. Gen. Miller made no such comment to Brig. Gen. Karpinski or to anybody else," Johnson said. "This allegation flies in the face of the philosophy of humane treatment for all detainees, under all circumstances, that Maj. Gen. Miller adopted first at Guantanamo, and now at his position in Iraq. Brig. Gen. Karpinski's statement to the media is categorically false."
Karpinski was suspended last month from command of the 800th Military Police Brigade after she and other officers 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 for violating standard procedures.
Several soldiers are facing courts-martial over abuse allegations at the jail, which flared when pictures of troops abusing and humiliating naked Iraqi detainees were published in April.
In her defense, Karpinski has said that interrogations at the prison were not under her command but were run by a military intelligence unit that was "under increasing pressure to get more, as they call it, actionable intelligence."
Karpinski said that during a visit to Iraq in September, Miller - still the commander at the Guantanamo Bay prison - spoke of wanting to "Gitmoize" Abu Ghraib by applying the Cuban facility's regimented detention and interrogation techniques.
"He talked about Gitmoizing in terms of what the (military police) were going to do; he was going to select the MPs, they were going to receive special training," she said.
"That training was going to come from the military intelligence command," Karpinski added, noting that the troops under her command had no training in such interrogation techniques.
Karpinski said she was being made "a convenient scapegoat" in the abuse scandal.
"The interrogation operation was directed; it was under a separate command and there was no reason for me to go out to look at Abu Ghraib at cell block 1a or 1b or visit the interrogation facilities," she said.
Karpinski said was unaware until November that the International Committee of the Red Cross had visited the jail and expressed concerns about detainees' treatment to U.S. officials. She said she did not see the abuse photos - believed to have been taken late last year - until late January.
"I didn't know in September, I didn't know in October, I didn't know ever" about any abuse, she said.
"Those pictures which I saw on the 23rd of January were more shocking to me than probably the rest of the world ... I was absolutely sickened by those images and I couldn't even fathom a guess as to what happened to these people to make them go in such an opposite direction of how they were trained."
She is guilty of slander. How dare she says this in public about the current commander of Abu Grahib. If she has any complaints keep them in a court of law, dont make it a public spectacle that hurts our War.
You have command responsibility and you are responsible, you became an officer in the US Army and being in command you are responsible for what your troops do and what you control.
If you could control MI you should have gotten written verification.
Wonder how many troops you killed because of your inattention to detail.
A locked room a 9MM and a bullet, is your solution.
What part of "chain of command" does she not understand?
Well, seeing as she was only promoted for PC reasons, not because of any actual merit, I'd say she probably missed out on the lesson about how the commanding officer takes responsibility for the actions of the soldiers that she commands.
I bet Karpinski voted for Algore.
No Controlling Legal Authority, anyone?
She claims she didnt know, Doesnt she realise that the Captain of the ship is responsible for that ship? It was her job to find out.
She's an idiot. How the heck did she make general ?
Karpinski is a perfect example of an affirmative action promotion. A perfect example of the Peter Principle.
She was totally incompetent and never should have held the rank and responsiblity with which she was entrusted.
Despite all this, this individual knows the best defense is to go on the attack, which is what the "General" (HAH!) is doing here. Blame everyone else.
The goat part is right. In that she's ugly as a goat.
Commanding Officer of an Iraqi POW prison is one place a woman shouldn't be.
This 'general' has a history of accusations she's made. She is also the person responsible for the very poor conditions of discipline in her command! Sacpegoat? Hardly, she's just a goat and a poor commander to boot as proven by the sloppy poorly disciplined troops under her.
"Abu Ghraib General Says She's a Scapegoat Dumb@ss"
She's still proving her incompetence. Current high profile cases ( Kobe, Jackson, Stewart, etc. ) should tell her and the others something. The celebs are keeping their mouths shut on advice of their multi megabuck lawyers. What little they have already said is being used against them. If it's a good idea for the celebrities then why shouldn't the same apply to the military personnel facing trial?
She is guilty of slander. How dare she says this in public about the current commander of Abu Grahib.
"If she has any complaints keep them in a court of law, dont make it a public spectacle that hurts our War."
That is the point of all of Hillry's generals and fedayeen. "Freedom" is the enemy of these that lust for power and control in the "we are gods" religion they seek to establish in their global village.
She's not a Scape-Goat.. she's a Bull-Dyke.
Yep, that's a big problem.
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