Posted on 09/26/2005 12:42:56 PM PDT by Glenn
of six counts in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse case, The Associated Press reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Army Demotes General in Abu Ghraib Scandal
By ROBERT BURNS
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army has offered its last word on holding its generals accountable in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, but Congress is going to have the final say.
The Army announced that it demoted Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, whose Army Reserve unit was in charge of the prison compound during the period of abuse. Dropping her in rank to colonel required approval from President Bush, and officials said that he granted it on Thursday.
The Army also said it cleared three other, more senior generals of wrongdoing in the prisoner abuse cases, actions that had been previously reported but not publicly confirmed by the Army.
That means Karpinski is the only general to be disciplined thus far. The demotion means her career in the military, where officers must rise in rank or leave, is effectively over.
Full Story: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news...20050408NYET260
Sorry ... here's a link that actually still works to the same story.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-prisoner-abuse-army,1,6302243.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
If the soldiers and non-coms get prison, and those at the top of the direct chain of command just walk, I'll be pissed.
General Janice Kiprinski was demoted to Colonel. She will probably be allowed to retire with full benifits.
"Do you believe that you know as much regarding the facts and circumstances of this case as the five military officers who sat in judgment in this case? Or are we restricted to knowing only what the notoriously unreliable media has told us about it?"
I see your point but I think we all know enough to render an opinion on this one. The pictures are in the public domain and all of these cases have been extensively covered for over a year in the media. The Government has been quite clear about what she allegedly did. I can't imagine that the media has held anything back that was worse than what we have heard because they hate the military and will report anything to embarass it. It seems to me like the Army is being tougher on her than on cases that have not popped up on the media radar. But, you are right that, in the end, her sentence will be decided by the court-martial panel and I hope that they are immune from the influences that prompted her Commanders to elevate this to a Court-Martial.
Burf,
The info from this case is extremely piece meal and the senior NCO's were disciplined last year. I agree it is their fault that this F-troop/Caligula situation was allowed.
Somewhere there is mess a Major is involved that was running the prison.
What ever happened to the gal who married dear old dad?
"Good. She was a disgrace to the service."
Right. She didn't scare them enough. I'm ashamed of our wimpy image. Ever since they found out what nannies we are, they've been blowing more people up than ever.
We need to compensate for this embarassment. We need to spread horrific rumors about real torture and mistreatment. This is embarassing. We're supposed to strike fear in the hearts of our enemies.
I've lost fourteen personal friends in Baghdad so far. I have many, many, more friends still in theater. To call them "nannies" is an absolute insult to them and to the memory of my dead comrades.
Just because you don't hear it on the news doesn't mean it isn't happening. Trust me, we're kicking the shit out of the bad guys on a daily basis. We don't need perverted POS's like Lynndie Englund "helping" us.
Yanno, I've wondered the same thing. Her boyfriend was an E6, but I don't think he was the platoon sergeant. I'm real curious about the platoon sergeant and the company 1SG. I'm also curious about the LT in charge of the platoon and what he/she knew.
"We need to compensate for this embarassment. We need to spread horrific rumors about real torture and mistreatment. This is embarassing. We're supposed to strike fear in the hearts of our enemies."
Fear in the hearts of our enemies but not the undecided civillian population. We went to Iraq to introduce democracy and the rule of law. Showing that our own who sink below that threshold of expected behaviour are not above that law is a good example. Those soldiers disgraced the flag they serve and the cause they're supposed to exemplify.
You seem to be arguing that we copy the Russian tactics in Chechnya. It didn't help them....
"To call them "nannies" is an absolute insult to them and to the memory of my dead comrades."
Cheap shot. I'm talking about the ninnies who whine about panties-on-the-head, the ones who make the regs, the ones who demand even more candy-axxed regs, etc.
I'm sorry about the loss of your friends, but your effort to villify me doesn't make me feel as sympathetic as I'd otherwise be. If you want clarification, ask for it next time.
"We went to Iraq to introduce democracy and the rule of law."
Yeah, like our baby-killing law that killed 40 million unborn is such a great moral example. I hate our rule-of-butchery law. It's killed more innocents than the Nazi concentration camps. And it's the same bunch of baby-brain-sucking creeps who whine about panties-on-the-head and make us look like complete idiots in the eyes of our enemies AND allies.
At Gitmo, prisoners throw human waste at our soldiers. I want our soldiers to put them in the hosptital every time they do that. If the prisoner isn't hospitalized, THAT is a reason for court martial. Soiling our uniforms like that should not be taken lightly. Too many men died to give that uniform stature. We have it all completely backwards, because of the very loonies who got this young vet in so much trouble-- people who aren't worthy of wiping her boots.
You've my apologies for that statement. It was not an attempt to villify you, but borne of genuine anger at the many posters on this board who think we should lower ourselves to the standards of the POS's we fight. I get defensive about that. To mangle and misdirect a quote from DeToqueville, the US military is great because it is good. If it ever ceases to be good, it will cease to be great.
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