As I said in my post yesterday, former General-now-Colonel Karpinski pole-vaulted the shark. BTW - today *this* post will be the top post all day. H&I Fires will be underneath, and any new stuff will come in under that one.
In case you're new to this - read Greyhawk.
Co-blogger Bill added this in the comment to the previous post:
Some more Karpinski history from Eric Rasmusen:"Near the town of Mahawil in southern Iraq, U.S. Marines uncovered a mass grave site holding the remains of some 15,000 Iraqis. They were slaughtered for taking part in the Shia uprising against Saddam 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, Anayfas was captured by US forces and turned over to the Military Police Brigade under Karpinski’s command. The Brigade Headquarters managed to lose his paperwork -- so instead of contacting her superiors, Karpinski ordered Anayfas set free [emphasis mine].
"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 Anayfas’ release. Visibly upset, Wolfowitz vowed Anayfas would be recaptured and tried as a war criminal. Anayfas is still at large and Karpinski received no reprimand.
"When confronted by the Iraqi public outcry -- for Anayfas was only one of several war criminals whose paperwork was lost and she released-- Karpinski proceeded to evade responsibility..." [again, emphasis mine].
And this from CBS News, of all places:
"The Army's inspector general investigated four allegations against Karpinski: dereliction of duty, making a 'material misrepresentation' to investigators, failure to obey a lawful order and shoplifting. Only the shoplifting and dereliction of duty allegations were substantiated.
"A government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Karpinski was accused of shoplifting a cosmetic item [note: Air Force accounts say that it was a $22 bottle of perfume]from a shop [note: the BX] at a domestic Air Force base [note: MacDill AFB] while she held the rank of colonel. Karpinski didn't report her arrest for this misdemeanor on a later background check, the official said."
And she was promoted to Brigadier General shortly thereafter.
Somebody at the Pentagon is in serious need of a a$$kicking. A long, continuous, size-thirteen a$$kicking. And knowing how John feels about Dysfunction in High Places, he's welcome to relieve me when my leg gets tired...
Karpinski's reduction to Colonel, sadly, stems not from her role in Abu Ghraib (which was one of dereliction, along with a lot of minions in the chain), but was administrative. Because of the arrest and failure to report it, her promotion to Brigadier was legally null and void, as it was obtained under false pretenses*.
Unfortunately, I suspect both because of evidentiary issues as well as the publicity, a decision was made to *not* prosecute Colonel Karpinski for dereliction. Based on what she has presented thus far for a defense, absent any more info, *I* would vote for conviction. But then I'm something of a witch-hunter on this matter and don't think enough senior heads have rolled publicly, though I am aware of a few private career executions, albeit only by hearsay - which is why you don't see any names in this space.
But with her latest actions, she's taken on the role of a military Mother Sheehan.
I wondered why. Oh, I know why, she's in huge denial and trying to salvage her tattered reputation, so now she hangs out in her own little bubble of moonbats who feed her the line of soothing bullshite she so desperately needs.
Just like someone else we know. Chronicled by Jay Dyson over at Sacred Cow Burgers.
Just to show that Karpinski *still* can't get it right - she was overheard shouting exultantly at the sky... "Cindy, You Magnificent Poltroon, I read your book!"**
Update: Fuzzybear Lioness provides this link to a nicely done look at how not only did Karpinski fail, but it would appear the senior leadership facilitated it by their own bad judgement.
*Those who follow the adultery convictions of General Officers will have noted the peculiar thing of one Major General getting a substantial fine and retired, and another Brigadier General getting a substantial fine *and* busted back to Colonel. This disparity (and, admittedly, some injustice) stems from the fact that in the first case, the prosecuted behavior occurred while the officer was a Major General. In the second case, it occurred while the officer was still a Colonel, and his promotion was therefore administratively set aside. Make no bones about it - the second guy, with the hit to his retirement pay, took a much bigger penalty for the same offense. But Sergeants go to jail for it, so... We let Generals off too easy, I think - because the senior leadership mistakenly believes that it looks bad to send Generals to jail. I disagree. A lot.
**Insider geeky movie reference.
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