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| ’Take it like a man’ |
| 2004-05-22 |
| We know conclusively that the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal is as phony as a Bill Clinton sex denial because there are no calls for the resignation of the one individual most responsible for the abuses. That would be the officer in charge of Abu Ghraib and all U.S. military prisons in Iraq, the commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, Army Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski. And why have there been no calls for her resignation? Let’s be honest. It is because she is a woman. Thus the frightening lesson of the abuse scandal: Political correctness trumps national security, even in wartime. Yes, Democratic demagogues are willing to sacrifice America’s national security, to trash the morale and honor of American soldiers risking their lives in Iraq and lose the war on terrorism in order to defeat President Bush in November, so they use the abuse scandal as an excuse to go after Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. But be assured that if Gen. Karpinski was a man, demands for his accountability would be loud and clear. It would be expected that if Gen. Karpinski were a man, he would have taken those demands like a man. But Gen. Karpinski is not and so has not. She has taken them like a woman — whining, making excuses and complaining that it’s not her fault, that she’s being "scapegoated." I am waiting for feminists, or any woman who is simply proud of being female, to denounce Janis Karpinski as reinforcing the negative stereotype of women unable to accept responsibility and humiliating her gender worse than were the Abu Ghraib prisoners under her jurisdiction. In fact, we owe the entire Abu Ghraib scandal to the leadership failure and gross incompetence of Janis Karpinski and to her superiors’ fear of doing anything about her ineptitude because she is a woman. She should have been relieved of her command last summer but was not. Near the town of Mahawil in southern Iraq, U.S. Marines uncovered a mass gravesite holding the remains of some 15,000 Iraqis. They were slaughtered for taking part in the Shia uprising against Saddam Hussein in the early 1990s. Saddam’s agent responsible for conducting the mass killings was Mohammed Jawad Anayfas; the grave site is on land owned by him. In July 2003, Mr. Anayfas was captured by U.S. forces and turned over to the Military Police Brigade under Gen. Karpinski’s command. The Brigade Headquarters managed to lose his paperwork. So instead of contacting her superiors, Gen. Karpinski ordered Mr. Anayfas set free. Soon thereafter, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz came to Iraq and visited the Mahawil gravesite, where he was informed by Marine Lt. Gen. James Conway how outraged the local Iraqis were over Mr. Anayfas’ release. Visibly upset, Mr. Wolfowitz vowed Mr. Anayfas would be recaptured and tried as a war criminal. Mr. Anayfas is still at large, and Gen. Karpinski received no reprimand. When confronted by the Iraqi public outcry for Mr. Anayfas — only one of several war criminals whose paperwork was lost that she released — Gen. Karpinski proceeded to evade responsibility and fabricated an entire string of deceptive excuses — just like she is doing now. Mr. Wolfowitz knew of Gen. Karpinski’s incompetence and evasion of responsibility last summer — and did nothing. Even he lacks the courage to question the political correctness of feminizing the American military. Such feminization is epitomized by Lynndie "they told me to hold the leash" England, the Army private happily smiling in the infamous photos and pointing to a prisoner’s exposed genitals. She, too, has hired lawyers who loudly declare she’s just an innocent "farm girl" and nothing but a "scapegoat." No more than Gen. Karpinski is she willing to accept responsibility for her actions. In his investigation of the abuses, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba recommended that Gen. Karpinski be relieved of her command. Even though she received a letter of admonishment from Joint Task Force-7 Commander Ricardo Sanchez, she has only been suspended from her command, not relieved. The true scandal of Abu Ghraib is the unwillingness of the female military personnel involved to do a mea culpa. If there is any vast conspiracy on the part of their superior officers, it is not to "scapegoat" them, but to refuse to treat them as men, as accountable and responsible as men. Mr. Rumsfeld stood straight up to the world and accepted responsibility for Abu Ghraib. He took it like a man. War is not woman’s work. It is man’s work — not because men are more brutal or stronger, but because they can endure the stresses of combat and be accountable for the failures those stresses inevitably create. They don’t whine, deviously evade, blame others, make up excuses and whimper, "It’s not my fault!" If they do, they are despised and looked upon with contempt by their male comrades. Gen. Janis Karpinksi deserves America’s contempt. She deserves to be court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. If she wishes to regain some small measure of respect from her fellow citizens — and her own self-respect — she needs to stand up, accept her responsibility and take it like a man. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #11 CS: Career ending in the RA is not the same thing as career ending in the reserves or National Guard. The officers might get passed over for promotion (unless they can get some GO to pull their letters of reprimand from their fiche), but my guess is that the NCOs could transfer to other units and get their 20. I would like to see Karpinski in front of a court martial. Without proving general or specific intent, she won't end up there. My question about her would be "is she still drilling?" She needs to be off the govt. payroll. She's a disgrace to the officer corps, active and reserve. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-05-22 2:04:16 PM |
| #10 LR, I did hear that the SNCOs and Officers got LORs and Article 15s. Not jail time but definitely career ending for most. I think this included Karpinski and you know that she is out for sure. I don't think that anything would have been served by dragging their names out and vilifying them. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-05-22 10:40:29 AM |
| #9 Reading this and the comments, I have become more and more convinced that we had a rogue situation encouraged by peer pressure and the idiot Graner trying to impress the G2's and their ilk. I can see that sadistic little butthole now - all of you guys can. We have all had a nutcase like him in our units and we would just roll eyes or have him wedged up in the latrine. This is a phony two-bit episode being milked to death (probably our country's) by the spongemouth press. God help us all from the Graner's of the world -FUBAR! |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2004-05-22 10:27:21 AM |
| #8 The greater offense, as had been noted, is that her unit was "out of control." Her subordinate officers were disobeying her commands--it MUST be determined whether in acts of 'commission', 'omission', or both--and were doing so with the excuse that she was a woman. She should be relieved for not cutting their heads off at the first inkling of this, and they should be relieved for what amounts to "mutiny" at worst, or "dereliction" at best. In other words, she suffered from the same problem as Captain Bligh. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-05-22 9:29:54 AM |
| #7 She was removed from her post, wasn't she? Hard for her to resign from a position she doesn't hold. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-22 8:57:03 AM |
| #6 I guess I must differ in opinion on what to do with Karpinski. Karpinski's crime was one of incompetence. She allowed a military unit to get out of control. That is a bad deal in a war zone regardless of whether you are commanding a combat unit or not. Allegations of abuse notwithstanding, losing control of your unit is the most serious element of this entire story. Karpinski's commanders removed her from her command, as they should have, and unless it can be shown she knew about the abuses and did nothing, that should be the end of the matter for her and for the USA. The prisoners? It sucks to be them. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-05-22 8:30:38 AM |
| #5 Lone Ranger, let me give you an Amen! And from there to the company commanders, and on up--from all reports the entire BN was hosed up. Karpinski was incompetent on an entirely different level, probably had clue until the CID showed up at her door, and that is unforgiveable in a facility commander. |
| Posted by: longtime lurker 2004-05-22 8:21:58 AM |
| #4 This article is stupid from these sentences forward: We know conclusively that the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal is as phony as a Bill Clinton sex denial because there are no calls for the resignation of the one individual most responsible for the abuses. That would be the officer in charge of Abu Ghraib and all U.S. military prisons in Iraq, the commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, Army Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski. |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-05-22 8:18:12 AM |
| #3 I am a former Infantry Company Comander in the US Army. I agree that some "green tab" officer heads should roll. But - in everything I have read and seen about this mess, I have yet to EVER hear a call for holding accountable the two people that I would expect to see raked over the coals - the Company First Sergeant, and the Battalion CSM. These individuals were either lazy beyond belief -"retired on active duty", or totally gutless NCO's who should have been summarily busted. Commanders are responsible for everything -including mission accomplishement and discipline. The senior NCO's are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to maintaining discipline - and for ensuring that troops down to the snuffy level are trained. I am continually flabbergasted that the low end - up to maybe Staff Sergeant - and the high end -all the way up to General Officers and the Secretary of Defense - are being hounded ruthlessly, and NO ONE is mentioning the responsibilities that were digracefully abrogated by the 1SG and CSM in this scenario. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2004-05-22 7:49:17 AM |
| #2 I'll second that. |
| Posted by: Evert V. in NL 2004-05-22 3:56:03 AM |
| #1 Amen.. |
| Posted by: Halfass Pete 2004-05-22 3:04:48 AM |