Free Republic

Nashville talk radio host, Steve Gill just completed an interview with Lt. Col. Glen Stringham(sp?) (ret.) who was Karpinski's supervsor while she was a captain at Ft. McPherson near Atlanta, GA. During the interview, Lt. Col. Stringham indicated that part of his job was to observe and evaluate Karpinski directly during her service at Ft. McPherson. His personal observations of her were less than glowing as he told of a scandal involving Karpinski where 1000 rounds of ammunition under her direct control went missing and was never found and that some sort of discipline was given to Karpinski for the...

A soldier "Jeff, from Morehead OK" calling in to Rush Limbaugh explained that in Iraq wedding parties and funerals are full of people with guns who often fire on American troops that happen by. The self-identified soldier who spent 356 days in Iraq reported in response to a question from Rush that when he first went to Iraq the troops "took care of business" when fired upon. But by the time he left Iraq, soldiers literally had to take incoming mortar rounds without responding or actually have someone shot before returning fire. He said that every Iraqi is permitted to...

May 19, 2004 9/11 Set Army Contractor on Path to Abu GhraibBy JOEL BRINKLEY ASHINGTON, May 18 — Thirty-three-year-old Steven Stefanowicz, fresh out of the Navy, arrived at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq as a contract interrogator last October, just as the prisoner abuses were getting under way.He had no military experience in interrogation. As a junior Navy intelligence specialist, a petty officer third class, he did all of his work in an office, reading and analyzing intelligence reports, the Navy said. But just three months later, Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba began his investigation of prisoner abuses and...

'Just look at the way US army reservist Lynndie England holds the leash of the naked, bearded Iraqi," writes Robert Fisk, famed Middle East correspondent of the London Independent. "Take a close look at the leather strap, the pain on the prisoner's face. No sadistic movie could outdo the damage of this image. In September 2001, the planes smashed into the buildings; today, Lynndie smashes to pieces our entire morality with just one tug on the leash." Hmm. Sounds like Fiskie's the one straining at the leash here. You can practically hear him panting. Down, boy. For a week now,...

Quite possibly, George W. Bush has awakened to the most important danger arising from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, its use by his Beltway enemies to destroy his administration. The current target of opportunity is Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, but the strategic goal is to topple the president himself. The baying of the hounds reached its peak over the weekend when even Britain's Economist magazine bannered "Resign, Rumsfeld" on its cover. Its usually sensible editors, who have supported the war on terror, clearly had come under the influence of the hysteria whipped up over the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners....

May 5, 2004: Pictures of American soldiers humiliating and intimidating Iraqi prisoners have become a major news item. What is generally left unsaid is what influence this will have on intelligence work in Iraq, and elsewhere, in pursuit of terrorists. The Iraq incidents apparently involved civilian contractor interrogators and a number of reservist MPs. The reservists were men and women who had recently been converted from other military jobs to Military Police (MPs). The Iraq operations required a lot of MPs, and one of the traditional MP jobs is guarding prisoners. It was always feared that the newly trained MPs,...

Insurgents attack Baghdad prison with mortars, killing 22 By Louis Meixler ASSOCIATED PRESS 9:18 a.m. April 20, 2004 BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents fired 12 mortars into Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison Tuesday, killing 22 detainees and injuring 92, U.S. military officials said. To the west in Fallujah, meanwhile, Iraqi security forces and civilians who fled days of street fighting with Marines began to return Tuesday in a critical test of an agreement between U. S. officials and local leaders to fend off an all-out assault by American forces. All of those killed or injured in the mortar attack on the U.S.-run...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 12/24/02 - Predator downAbu-Graib, Biladi, Nahrwan, El-Basil, Kuwait, USS Constellation, Caliskan, Chamchamal, Cizre, Gorumlu BREAKING: Abu-Graib, Biladi milk factory BREAKING: Nahrwan - El-Basil military research center BREAKING: Kuwait desert BREAKING: USS Constellation - Drew Carey BREAKING: Predator down Caliskan, Chamchamal, Cizre, Gorumlu ========= North Kuwait desert ========= In the north Kuwait desert, live-fire exercise. ========= Persian Gulf ========= Somewhere in the Persian Gulf, on the aircraft carrier USS Constellation, Drew Carey entertains more heroes. ========= Iraq, Up with the Predator aircraft ========= With the Predator aircraft [file photo], something of value was...