Karpinski, You Magnificent Bastard, I Read Your Transcript

The Washington Post had a live chat with Brig. Gen. Janis L. Karpinski, commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade and the person in charge of running prisons in Iraq.

Among the tidbits: Karpinski believes "the soldiers were given specific instructions and they had believed that the pictures were going to be used for another purpose in interrogation" and that the Nick Berg execution "was timed and staged before any of this came up and they (Zarqawi) just seized the opportunity."

Whole thing here.

Update: The plot at Abu Ghraib thickens. Elsewhere in today's Post, Secretary of State Colin Powell says there is no evidence (so far) of higher-ups giving orders while Sen. John McCain says there must have been.

Comments

[Pavel]

Somebody get me a bowl of Stummies.

[Pete Guither]

Ah, perhaps Colin Powell has now learned to wait for evidence before stating something as fact? Gee, I wonder where he got that lesson?

Also, of course, the Pentagon is still calling it outrageous (true), but not quite actually denying anything.

[Ken Shultz]

"Update: The plot at Abu Ghraib thickens. Elsewhere in today's Post, Secretary of State Colin Powell says there is no evidence (so far) of higher-ups giving orders while Sen. John McCain says there must have been."

This principle hasn't yet coalesced into one of Shultz's Laws of Social Dynamics, but I have observed that when people in government are moved to act in a way that is not specifically proscribed by the policy manual, they almost invariably write a memo to cover their ass.

I suspect McCain is counting on this principle.

[Maradona]

berg was killed by the americans /cia/mossad ..go to conspiracyplanet .com and u can see the proof there...and its clearly plain to see the 5 fat white americans who were shown on video,arabs in general are extremely athletic not fat,plus its well known that zarqawi died months ago as reported by cnn

[Warren]

I can't see how anyone who has served in the military could entertain the notion that all this wasn't at the direction of the commanding officer. No way E3s and below pull this kind of shit while on duty without adult supervision. The brass are often fucking clueless over what the grunts are doing day in, day out. However, enlisted peons are NEVER EVER left to carry out responsibilities unsupervised. The military requires paperwork and inspections for every little thing. It is inconceivable that this could go on day after day undiscovered by even the lamest officers.

Colin Powell is the biggest disappointment. I wonder what lever they used to turn him in to such a chickenshit bastard, like the rest of the administration.

[Walter Wallis]

I can imagine the order - "Private, get nekid and have sex in front of the prisoners." "Yes Sir!"

[Mo]

Anyone see the Kids in the Hall movie, Braincandy? Walter's comment reminded me of one of the funnier scenes in the film.

[joe]

"That's because I was afraid he was going to fall down. I mean, the man's pants were around his ankles, for God's sake!"

[Mo]

I was thinking the second Army scene, involving the showers. joe, you've just earned bonus cool points in my book.

"Biiiig muscles, haaaard muscles."

[Don]

"Colin Powell is the biggest disappointment. I wonder what lever they used to turn him in to such a chickenshit bastard, like the rest of the administration."

Powell was a chickenshit bastard back during Gulf War 1 when he turned off the war too soon, then let Saddam fly helecopter gunships in Southern Iraq to put down the uprising.

[joe]

I like the part where Stephen follows up an argument holding the administration and Pentagon blameless for "disorder in the ranks" with an admonition on behalf of taking responsibility.

Because, you know, the civilians who give the military its orders aren't reponsible for what their subordinates do.

[Stephen Fetchet]

Geez Warren, what ever happened to the backbone of the Army, the noncommissioned officers? I would have thought that they might have had something to do with what went on; nevermind the senior NCOs, like the company first sergeant, who was supposed to be in charge of training...

Naaah, it's easier to chalk up the Abu Ghraib abuses to a vast theocon conspiracy directed by Shrub than it is to accept that maybe the primary cause was dereliction of duty by individuals. After all, that Taguba guy was probably just bucking for a third star, when he concluded that the abuse wasn't the result of policy but was the result of a loss of military order & discipline in the ranks of that MP unit. And it's really necessary for us to blame Bushwa for this - we wouldn't want the stupid notion that individuals are responsible for their own actions to take hold around here. That would be contrary to the values we preach on this board.

Libertinarianism - just as tasty as libertarianism, with less than 10% of the responsibility.

[Will]

If we ask really really nicely, do you think we could convince the North Vietnamese to take John McCain back?