Abu Ghraib general describes her Iraq tour

[norml]

Friday, August 26, 2005 · Last updated 11:19 p.m. PT

Abu Ghraib general describes her Iraq tour

By CHARLES J. HANLEY
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Iraqi prisoners could lift their cell doors right off their hinges. One senior sergeant whiled away his evenings blasting grazing sheep with a guard-tower machine gun. U.S. commanders didn't bother telling their troops they'd be stuck in Iraq for months more than advertised.

The only woman commanding general in the war zone, Abu Ghraib prison chief Janis Karpinski, has written a memoir of her fateful year there, a candid portrait of an often dysfunctional U.S. Army - of "Sergeant Bilko meets Catch 22," as she puts it.

The book, "One Woman's Army," published by Hyperion, sheds little new light on the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, in which Karpinski, an Army Reserve brigadier general, was the highest-ranking officer punished, being relieved of her command, reprimanded and demoted to colonel.

Karpinski maintains she didn't know about the detainee torture and humiliation, that higher-ups encouraged the cruel treatment, and that male Army "Regulars" made her a scapegoat as a woman and a reservist.


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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/artandlife/apother_story.asp?category=1404&slug=Iraq%20Prison%20General

[Iowa]

1. "One senior sergeant whiled away his evenings...

blasting grazing sheep with a guard-tower machine gun". WTF? So they just let this twisted, sadistic, psycho do that night after night?

[rodeodance]

2. it is more a story of Reserve life in Iraq--rather than to shed new light

on the prison scandle.

....The most dispiriting "Catch 22," Karpinski says, involved the prickly Reserve-Regular relationship, and her dealings with "CJTF7," the Baghdad command.

"Because we were Reserves, we had to go through CJTF7 to order spare parts, and CJTF7 would not supply us because we were Reserves." It got to the point where most of her unit's vehicles on the road should not have been, she says.

When insurgent mortars knocked out water-pump power at Abu Ghraib, CJTF7 commanders told her to get her own new generator in Kuwait. But she didn't have supply trucks. "Figure it out, Janis," she says she was told. The dismal prison went without running water for two months.

[MADem]

5. Holy shit, when will that nonsense end???????

Under Clinton, there was a real effort to do the TOTAL FORCE deal, across all branches. It seems like the post-Clinton Pentagon has gone back to the old way, which was loaded with resentment on both sides.

Having a reserve force that is trained and ready is a good thing. They are supposed to AUGMENT the active forces, not take the lion's share of the work.

When will we ever learn????

On a side note, if I were her, and told to "Figure it out, Janis" I would have sent a crew to steal a truck and go get the goddamn generator!!

[saigon68]

3. A fine example to his subordinates

But then again maybe he had a humanitarian motive.

To prevent those subordinates from going on "dates" with the woolly creatures.

I'm sure the Iraqi owner of the sheep was really glad that "FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH"

[Barrett808]

4. See this Truthout interview

Abu Ghraib General Lambastes Bush Administration (Karpinski interview)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1724018