You’re talking about Gen. Karpinsky, the commander of Abu Ghraib, who was quite properly relieved of her command. But there were never any allegations that she ordered or condoned the abuse of prisoners. If Karpinsky had done any of that, SHE should have been sent to jail, too. The officers who ordered or condoned prisoner abuse are the officers who need to be put before a military tribunal and sent to prison. And logic says they are out there, somewhere, sitting smug and pretty. I have NO idea why you think it’s all right that they should.
This Yahoo news article (no registration) gives a thumbnail story of Captain Ian Fishback, who tried for over a year to get a straight answer from his command about the treatment of prisoners. Anyone who says that every soldier knew how he was supposed to treat prisoners is wrong. Not only did they not know, but they’re chain of command was purposely not telling them!
By Dave Moniz, USA TODAY
Wed Sep 28, 7:12 AM ET
<snip> Army Capt. Ian Fishback said he tried for more than a year to get his commanding officers to pay attention to reports of widespread abuses of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops
But it was only after Fishback, 26, a West Point graduate, spoke to Human Rights Watch and several members of Congress that military investigators began to listen, he said Tuesday during a telephone interview from Fort Bragg in North Carolina.<snip>
<snip> He said the abuses committed by Army enlisted soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, which sparked an international furor, “were not isolated.” He also said he wonders “how many other people have tried and been unable to bring things to light, given how hard it has been for me.”<snip>
I went through basic training in '94, and they do teach about the Geneva Convention and the treatment of prisoners. And then they never teach it again.
As for “implied orders,” I was in the Army for six years and I knew that if my commander said, “the grass is getting kind of long,” that meant soldiers had better mow the lawn, and fast.
That leaves a twenty-year-old soldier to figure out in his own mind what “make sure these prisoners have a rough night, because they’re getting interrogated tomorrow,” means.
In leadership school they teach you not to put your soldiers in an ethical dilemma. This whole situation is caused by a culture of doing just that. The “wink wink nudge nudge” school of getting dirty work done and reserving yourself some plausible deniability.
It’s repellent. I hope Congress brings down the whole house of cards.
Right off the bat, you can try being honest in your comments about what I did and did not say. Where exactly did I say that anyone who actually issued such an unlawful order should be sitting smug and pretty. If you think I said that, then you certainly are no acquaintence of logic.
Hey, now! My father had ‘goofy dress uniforms’ with a pair of stipes on the sleeves! :mad:
This CPT Fishback sounds like a good man, the sort of officer we want. Unfortunately, I think his career is finished.