WP: General Overseeing Prison Says She Was Overruled

[kskiska]

The U.S. general who was in charge of running prisons in Iraq told Army investigators earlier this year that she had resisted decisions by superior officers to hand over control of the prisons to military intelligence officials and to authorize the use of lethal force as a first step in keeping order -- command decisions that have come in for heavy criticism in the Iraq prison abuse scandal.

Brig. Gen. Janis L. Karpinski, head of the 800th Military Police Brigade, spoke of her resistance to the decisions in a detailed account of her tenure furnished to Army investigators. It places two of the highest-ranking Army officers now in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, at the heart of decision-making on both matters.

Karpinski has been formally admonished by the Army for her actions in Iraq. She said both men overruled her concerns about the military intelligence takeover and the use of deadly force.

Each man contests portions of her account, which appears in the classified annex to the Army's internal probe into the abuse and torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. Her account was described by a U.S. government official to The Washington Post and confirmed by her attorney.

Karpinski's account surfaced on the same day another officer accused by the Army of wrongdoing in the scandal, Lt. Col. Jerry L. Phillabaum, released an official rebuttal stating that Abu Ghraib perpetually lacked key resources and personnel, and that the leadership above him was almost entirely unresponsive to his requests for help.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19081-2004May11.html

[jdj]

1. Good. There's disagreement here, so maybe between

all the conflicting stories we can piece together the truth. I hope everyone they try to finger for this has a different version, that way maybe the whole adminstration will go down with this ship,

[ender]

2. er... excuse me?

>to hand over control of the prisons to military intelligence officials
>and to authorize the use of lethal force as a first step in keeping
>order

lethal force as a *first* step?

yeh - shoot a couple if anyone acts up.

[hedda_foil]

3. Janis nails Miller square between the eyes.

According to Karpinski's account, it was Sanchez who decided in November 2003 to loosen the military's rules of engagement so that the guards would be freer to use lethal force at the outset of any disturbance. His decision came in a meeting with Karpinski that both officers recall, but Sanchez -- who was asked to comment by The Post -- yesterday gave a different account.

The backdrop for their discussion was a riot at Abu Ghraib on the afternoon of Nov. 24, organized by prisoners distressed at the lack of proper food and clothing, their isolation from any family contact and their indeterminate detentions. In the melee, nine U.S. soldiers were injured, three detainees were killed by military police and nine other detainees were wounded.


<snip>

Karpinski told Taguba that Sanchez expressed disappointment to her that the guard force had not used lethal firepower from the outset to put down the riot. She said yesterday through her lawyer that Sanchez said, "I'm tired of this MP mentality; I want them to shoot first and use nonlethal force later."

[CWebster]

12. Sounds like they were being abused before the abuse started

"..riot at Abu Ghraib on the afternoon of Nov. 24, organized by prisoners distressed at the lack of proper food and clothing, their isolation from any family contact and their indeterminate detentions."

[Tellurian]

14. Wow, The cross hairs seem to focus on Sanchez... Now why

would Sanchez think it's just alright to shoot these people down in cold blood? Sanchez was brainwashed by who?

[TacticalPeek]

4. It all still fits to me.

Like Senator Warner said today, everybody is 'ducking and bobbing'. She sounds like she may have a get-out-of-jail-free card to play.

[maddezmom]

10. Col Pappas is now under investigation

I believe he'll hold the key to her get out of jail free card....and the Miller/Boykin relationship will be exposed.

[sofa king]

5. Can we draw any conclusions yet?

One thing I think I'm seeing is overt military resistance to the party line. This general already has an attorney, and is naming names? Whatever happened to "take one for the team"?

I believe DoD regulations prevent soldiers from speaking contemptuously of civilian leadership. So what's going to happen if the dominos fall straight through the Pentagon and tap the glass entrance to Donald Rumsfeld's suite?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Pass the popcorn will ya

and you are right, this is going to lead directly to Rummy's office

Oh boy,

Hold the butter

[Shadder]

11. Goes higher than that

There is a coverup taking place right now that is designed to make it appear that Bush knew about this much latter than he really did and not as much as he really knew.

[maddezmom]

15. at least some dem sens agree: Senators suspect higher-ups directed abuses

~snip~
Specifically, Democratic senators pointed to the Pentagon decision to send Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller to Iraq in August from his post as commander of the U.S. prison in Guantanamo, Cuba, where several hundred detainees linked to al Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban are being held and interrogated. His mission was to figure out how to improve intelligence collected through interrogations of Iraqi detainees.

Miller recommended establishing a joint interrogation center at Abu Ghraib, and Taguba testified that tactical control of the Abu Ghraib facility was taken from Karpinski and turned over to Col. Thomas Pappas, a military intelligence colonel. The abuse documented in photographs that have caused an international furor started in October, not long after Miller's recommended changes took place.

Taguba's report said this structure "set the conditions" for the guards to help the interrogators -- possibly leading to the abuses -- by preparing the prisoners for questioning.

Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, defended the arrangement at Abu Ghraib that divided authority between Pappas and Karpinski. He maintained that Pappas, the military intelligence chief, did not control the military police guarding the prisoners.

But Taguba disagreed, saying it was his understanding that Pappas had authority over the MPs.

~snip~

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/12/MNGMO6K22P1.DTL

[NashVegas]

16. "Take one for the team"

That's a game women weren't taught to play, I suspect.

[Synergy]

7. If this was how CENTCOM generals made their decisions

no wonder the US is losing the war in Iraq. I have no doubt that Brig. Gen. Karpinski was played by both Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, but Karpinski has to be such an incompetent fool in order to claim her innocence. I find it puzzling that so far no one seems to know to whom did Col. Thomas Pappas, Commander of 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, report? If anyone knows, please let me know.

The only good thing coming out of this whole mess is that the longer it drags on, the more likely to bring down the higher-ups. But Janis, next time please try to use maybe tape recorders, digital cameras, or a paper trail to CYA.

[0007]

9. Yes, Karpinski wasn't too smart in the way she didn't document anything

to cover her existing story. I'm surprised at how little anyone knows. For instance Lt. General Alexander did not know about the Red Cross Report until last week.

Major General Burgess said the story about softening up the prisoners was not true.

Major General Romig wasn't much better at answering direct questioning.

I wish someone would put up a chain of command, I have no idea who was responsible for who.

[TacticalPeek]

17. I am virtually certain there is a paper trail. This is the Army, ok?

The specified limits of Taguba's investigation stopped quite abruptly at the brigade HQ and included only "MP's" v. MI. Anyone tailoring their 'recollection' of 'conversations' to Taguba's report should be advised that it is only part of the record.

[CWebster]

8. This is continually overlooked

and all the Generals testifying before the Senate obfuscated or denied specifics revealed in the investigation, claiming there were 5 or 6 investigations underway.

How can they claim ignorance with that many investigations underway?

It seems they order investigations as the solutions, but never address the issues the investigations are concerned with.

They just carry on.

[kentuck]

13. What time is it? It's CYA time !

Notice that all these general officers are starting to cover their own butts?

[TrogL]

18. The fingerpointing has started

The armed forces has an official name for the fix they've gotten themselves into.

It's called a "clusterfuck". (sorry mods)

[barbaraann]

19. This is the part that really gets to me:

"Karpinski recalled that Miller told her he wanted to "Gitmo-ize" the prison"

Actually, every time I hear someone say "Gitmo" I cringe. It's like the Bush administration has institutionalized illegal and indefinite detention/torture and now it's just a casual, routine thing to talk about it.

[silverpatronus]

20. this is going all the way to the top!

every military person involved in this is pointing the finger upward. the buck isn't stopping until it gets to the oval office!