Karpinski's delusions

By Douglas Hanson

The vultures continue to circle now that SecDef Rumsfeld will soon turn over the reins of DoD to the presumptive nominee, Robert Gates. The latest departing shot comes from former Brigadier General Janis Karpinski courtesy of Reuters. Karpinski was the 800^th Military Police (MP) Brigade Commander who had direct leadership responsibilities over the units running Abu Ghraib prison in 2003-2004, in addition to all the MP units in charge of internee and POW facilities throughout the entire Iraq Theater.

Karpinski now says that she saw a document apparently signed by the SecDef that authorized the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib. She told,

"...Spain's El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter apparently signed by Rumsfeld which allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation.

Karpinski, [...] said she saw a memorandum signed by Rumsfeld detailing the use of harsh interrogation methods.

"The handwritten signature was above his printed name and in the same handwriting in the margin was written: "Make sure this is accomplished"," she told Saturday's El Pais.

Reuters never pursues the obvious discrepancy in Karpinski's story, that is, was it apparently Rumsfeld's signature, or could it have been someone else's? And, are there copies of the memo in the 800^th MP Brigade's files or operations logs? Conveniently, the memo was sent to contractors, so it obviates any responsibility on her part for the implementation of the "harsh interrogation methods."

These accusations are merely the delusions of an incompetent leader who miraculously was promoted to flag rank, and when ordered to the field, had no desire or ability to exercise proper command authority. But let's not make this judgment based on rumor and innuendo. The official inquiry known as the Taguba Report not only chronicles Karpinski's numerous command failures in detail, but also reveals there were previous incidents of detainee abuse about which she took no corrective action. Some examples:

The 320th MP Battalion and the 372nd MP Company [units under Karpinski's command] had received no training in detention/internee operations.

Despite documented abuse [at Camp Bucca detainee facility], there is no evidence that BG Karpinski ever attempted to remind 800^th MP Soldiers of the requirements of the Geneva Conventions regarding detainee treatment or took any steps to ensure that such abuse was not repeated.

There is a general lack of knowledge, implementation, and emphasis of basic legal, regulatory, doctrinal, and command requirements within the 800th MP Brigade and its subordinate units

Following several detainee escapes, there were no Article 15-6 investigations; these escapes were simply forgotten or ignored by the Brigade Commander with no dissemination [of lessons learned] to other facilities.

[The] investigation indicates that BG Karpinski and her staff did a poor job allocating resources throughout the Iraq JOA.

What I found particularly disturbing in her [BG Karpinski] testimony was her complete unwillingness to either understand or accept that many of the problems inherent in the 800th MP Brigade were caused or exacerbated by poor leadership and the refusal of her command to both establish and enforce basic standards and principles among its soldiers.

Presumably, Reuters and Karpinski think the official audit trail on her leadership inabilities has gone down the memory hole, or that a substantial portion of the American people will buy off on this garbage, or both. They should know that these phony assaults on the outgoing SecDef will not go unchallenged.

Hat tip: Dennis Sevakis