Ghosts of Lindsey Graham - Graham loses 1 vote

[theaudacity]

...Kennedy complained that low-ranking soldiers took the fall for Abu Ghraib, while high-level officials got a pass. Graham wouldn’t go that far, but he did take credit for blocking Bush’s nomination of an architect of the prisoner policy, Pentagon General Counsel William J. Haynes II, to a federal appeals court. And he added that the military police commander in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, got off easy with a demotion to colonel. She should have faced a court-martial, he declared.

Apparently unbeknownst to Graham — he arrived a few minutes after formal introductions pointed her out — Karpinski, who is interviewed in the documentary, was a guest at the screening. And moderator Jeffrey Toobin, the New Yorker magazine’s legal correspondent, invited her to reply.

“Sen. Graham…I consider you as cowardly as Rumsfeld, as Sanchez, and Miller and all of them,” said Karpinski, who has long claimed to be a scapegoat for superiors including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez and Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller.

Graham replied that those higher-ups deserved a share of the blame, but “this was going on unchecked for weeks and months, and Rumsfeld was in Washington and you were on the ground, so I stand by my statement.” Noting that Karpinski happens to reside in South Carolina, he acknowledged, “I’ve probably lost your vote.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/02/12/ghosts-of-lindsey-graham/?mod=blogs

[Supersedeas]

1. all the diplomacy of a Repig

[goforit]

2. Hell, I think he's lost a plethora of votes.

[Sadie5]

3. Graham is one idiot

that I hope will be voted out in 08.

[Supersedeas]

5. We shall see

[MasonJar]

4. By his demeanor, Graham appears to perceive himself as God's

gift to mankind. He is a miserable prick as far as I can see. His obvious chicanery as a member of the gullible(dems that is) 14 is lesson number 1 for any who trust a Pug to keep his word or exhibit any form of honor.

[oasis]

15. I remember Graham's tearful plea to Bill Clinton before his vote for impeachment

as a member of the House Judiciary Committee."Please, Mr. President, come clean, fess up and I'll consider not voting for impeachment".Yeah right.:eyes: He held his vote back for a day hoping to trick BC into throwing himself upon the mercy of the judiciary committee.

Graham then volunteered with Sensenbrenner, Bob Barr and a host of other Rethug ultra-pricks to become a "house impeachment manager".

Graham's idol and mentor is John McCain.

[Hieronymus]

16. Thanks, for reminding me of that ...

I'll never get the picture out of my mind of Graham, as one of the impeachment managers, marching so piously into the hearing ...:dilemma:

[a kennedy]

18. Yeah, marching along with all the other fat, white duffs.

agh...... :puke:

[Jawja]

17. It's funny how Graham's

concern for the "rule of law" has vanished in the face of the war crimes and treason against the Constitution that the REPUBLICAN occupant of the White House has committed over and over again. :mad:

[lakercub]

6. This may get me flamed

but I sort of agree with him. She was the commander and should have stopped it. The bottom line is that even if orders came from above to handle Abu Ghraib the way it was handled that doesn't mean she isn't complicit. To quote Henry V "Every Subjects Duty is the Kings, but every Subiects Soul is his own" I know this is easy to say, but if a soldier is witnessing things they know are wrong, they need to stop it, orders be damned. If the orders are illegal, there is recourse if punishment comes down for not following them.

That is not to say others aren't guilty as hell. This all came from Rumsfeld, the Pentagon, and the generals higher up. All of them are guilty of war crimes. But in effect, everyone is guilty...from Rumsfeld down to Karpinski down to Lynndie Englund (sp?). They all were involved so they all share some blame. Rumsfeld deserves the most punishment however, as he most likely commanded this crap to happen.

[MGKrebs]

7. They took the interrogation wing out of her command.

It was being run by Intel.

[Big_Mike]

12. Sorry. I don't believe a word the woman says.

I have read everything I can find on this subject, to include her book. I suppose she prejudiced my mind as far as her book was concerned when I noted that the cover of her book states "One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story" by General Janis Karpinski, with her in DCU uniform showing the rank of Brigadier General. This book was printed and published 7 months after her demotion to Colonel, and quotes her rank as one 3 grades higher than any she ever wore, let alone earned. So, before I even open the first page, she has shown herself in the most flattering light possible, and not one in which she is entitled. Okay, for some people this is a minor thing. In academia, it would be akin to having a Masters degree, but claiming to be a Ph.D. In corporate America, it would be like being a Division President and claiming to be the CEO of the parent corporation. However, this is not a minor issue for anyone who ever wore the uniform beyond an inital term of service. I found her book to be a continuation of the whining and crying described in Major General Taguba's report. Frankly, it is my hope that the prosecution of those responsible is merely heading up the chain of command. The MI Commander at the prison, LTC Jordan, who was the grade of a Battalion Commander, is either still going through his court martial or it has just finished. Next is the Brigade level, and it was my great hope that she and the MI Brigade Commanders would both be tried. I hoped that both would then be convicted and serve time at Leavenworth with other disgraced former officers. Frankly, I have greater sympathy for the drug dealing officers incarcerated there then I ever will for these two self propelled excrement factories. Unfortunately, COL Pappas was punished administratively under Article 15, and will not be tried. COL Karpinski has retired and I doubt she will ever face justice. IMHO, this is the result of peacetime officer selections having to face the rigors of war. Neither of those two Brigade Commanders should have had any more responsibility than running some Laundry and Bath point out in the desert.

[tabasco]

14. She was derelict in her duties and I have little sympathy myself.

I think she has been somewhat scapegoated but that does not absolve her for her failure of leadership. I also agree that she should not be promoting herself as "General Karpinski." That's an outright lie. I don't give her much credibility either. She is portraying herself as a victim of this whole deal but she failed miserably at her assigned duties and was in as good a position as anybody to discover and correct Abu Ghraib before it became a national disgrace. She was a BG at the time and should have laughed if someone told her she could not go into certain parts of the prison, unless it was a 2-star or higher, and then get the order in writing..

[pokercat999]

9. If I remember correctly her claim was that she wasn't

even ALLOWED inside the prison she was "running".

[roody]

10. Buy her book and you can hear her side of things.

[David Zephyr]

8. Please, God! Let there be a video of this rebuke by Karpinski

of South Carolina's closeted cocksucker.

[yellowcanine]

11. Not to worry, Lindsey, I am sure you will have the schmuck vote, which is probably

quite large in Georgia.

[gratuitous]

13. Too bad he's a Senator for South Carolina

But Karpinski has a point: The only major brass who lost anything due to Abu Ghraib was the woman.

[KharmaTrain]

19. Graham Wants To Be St. McCain's VP

I've never liked or trusted this slimy weasel. He'll throw out a soundbite that sounds good or throw Democrats a bone, only to trap them in some semantic game. He's doing the same shit his idol, St. McCain, is doing...he'll bitch about Abu Grahb, but then vote to cut off an investigation...or he'll pretend to be bi-partisan on votes that mean nothing and then "come home" when the party leaders tell him so.

Karpinski is no martyr. She's truly a sad figure in the way she was scapegoated, but, as Graham says, she ws there and this went on for months. She didn't cry foul until her name came forward. Ya think if the photos hadn't gotten out, she would have come forward on her own? While she's not the only one who needs to be held accountable here, she was in a position to enable the torture.