Posted on 11/11/2006 4:46:06 AM PST by mcg2000
(CBS) An American general caught up in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is now at the center of a new controversy involving allegations about her past, but she's calling it a smear campaign.
Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who claims she has been made a scapegoat for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, is the subject of an investigation by the Army Inspector General involving an alleged shoplifting incident in October of 2002, one year before the abuses began, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.
According to military sources, Karpinski was caught shoplifting a $22 bottle of perfume from a military department store or PX at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.
When CBS News asked her about it, she said it never happened.
When CBS' Martin asked if Karpinski denied she was ever arrested or picked up in the MacDill Air Force Base store for shoplifting, she responded, "That's correct."
Sources say an Air Force report details the shoplifting incident, but Pentagon officials refuse all comment, saying that would violate Karpinski's rights under the Privacy Act.
Karpinski says if such a document exists, it's a forgery designed to discredit her for speaking out.
Karpinski was a colonel at the time of the alleged shoplifting, but when she showed Defense Secretary Rumsfeld around Abu Ghraib, she was wearing the one star of a brigadier general.
The Army is investigating how despite the shoplifting report she was promoted and placed in command of all the prisons in Iraq.
Sources say Karpinski was able to go into counseling and do community service because she was a first-time offender and the dollar amount was so small. That apparently kept the incident out of court records and her service file.
But Army officers say it still should have surfaced in the course of background checks that normally include questionnaires asking if you've been arrested in the past seven years. Whether that lapse was the Army's fault or Karpinski's is now under investigation. Her attorney promises she will cooperate fully in any investigation.
©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
What, you think smears don't happen in the military? I'm pretty sure she'd never have made O-7 with that on her record.
And you don't think the military pushes to reach quotas?
that's why the term "FLASHBACK" is used.
Now there's the voice of
Credibility
phhhhhhfft
They've had female generals for thirty-five or forty years now. I doubt they're so desperate for distaff BG nominees that they'd overlook a crime.
Freepers & Libs on this Post - 3
Rummy - 0
I expected more commentary on your part from an older article such as this.
Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, should say former or retired or helper of the Nazi Germans to destroy our country. If I could I would bring charges of treason against this person, but I have been told that even though we are informed that we are still under the UCMJ, when retired, that it is not so.
Karpinski should have known what her guards were doing, and is directly responsible for them. Don Rumsfeld wasn't running Abu Ghraib.
Local radio just said rumors are that a witness who worked at the Base Exchange has surfaced. Hmmmm...
LLS
Does anyone know if she's still on active duty or if she's retired?
Affirmative action repurcussions.
The General is Anita Hill in a uniform
Karpinski is the one I read about yesterday on a thread that said she is helping Germany bring about charges against Rumsfeld......that Karpinski.
If they don't give her a pass, she might stomp out of the office and run for U.S. Senate. I can think of at least 20 states who would be dumb enough to elect her, just as long as she had a "D" after her name.
I keep expecting Karpinski to show up as the spokesperson for Dykes on Bykes.
I knew this traitorous hussie probably had some smut in her past. Probably just the beginning considering she is connected to the Clintons.
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.