Karpinkski on Nightline

The BBQ Pit
1

Ex-General, now Col. Karpinski (or ex-Col, whatever) is on Nightline just minutes ago. Had that channel on, left it, listened with about half an ear. She screaming bloody murder, she’s naming names, dates, places, about how the whole plan came out of Gitmo, time to “get tough”, you’ve heard it, so did I.

But my outrage vectors are fried, I need to recalibrate, can’t really respond.

Until the very end. And she says that 80% of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib were nothing more than the victims of circumstances, wrong place, wrong time. And that the authorities making decisions knew that, and held on to them anyway.

Now that rips it. I don’t know whether to shit or go bowling. There is a pulsing red in my peripheral vision, timed to my heart beat, my blood pressure is 200 over 250, I’m playing chicken with an anuerism…

Somebody gotta fry. Either she is lying through her nasty teeth, slandering a whole bunch of service personnel and she needs to have her tit put through a wringer or…she’s telling the truth.

And if she’s telling the truth, I mean…

Didja ever see that John Belushi bit where he gets madder and madder and finally flings himself bodily to the floor…

If she’s telling the truth, our incompetence has transcended neutron density, we are a black hole of shit witted, intelligence cannot escape, massive galactic waves of sheer stupid gravitate across the Universe and every living being loses 5 IQ points per day… Who’s fucking Army is that? Where did they steal all those US uniforms?

And I got the creepy feeling that this will slide under the radar like that memo did last week or so. Now, if she’s lying, that swell, that’s the first good news I’ve had since…a very long time. She’s lying, I want her sorry hide nailed to the barn, but good.

And if she’s not, then I want to see a butt-kicking hurricane bearing down on the Pentagon. If I don’t see a bump in the demographics of Fort Levenworth KS then I at least want to see a whole bunch of freshly minted civilians. Its not bad enough we already have enemies, but these shit-wits have to manufacture new enemies out of local indigenous personnel, Jesus fuck a shit souffle…

OK, now there’s the snapper. She says she was told…get this…that the reason those innocent Iraqi’s couldn’t be released is because they were a threat! They weren’t threats when they were picked up, we made them into threats and therefore we can’t fucking let them go!

AAAAAARRRRGH! AAIEEEEE!

I swear some days: sane and sober. Take yer pick.

2

Get a grip Luci. Karpinski is a convicted SHOPLIFTER. You’ve got to take the words of such hardened criminals with a grain of salt.

3

gibber, gibber… Greep? Kitang!Kitang!Kitang!

…Oooooh, I’ve got a luverly bunch of protocols……
Get a grip? I had a grip, it ain’t worth it, all that happens is that they pry your fingers off one at a time.

4

Unfortunately, you’re probably right. :frowning:

If you can’t get Americans to give a peep about concrete evidence that the President mangled intelligence data and flat-out lied like a cheap rug to start a war, then you can’t expect to see much reaction out of this.

I weep for the nation.

5

Until you figure it out, stay away from the bowling alley.

6

And the outhouses might not be safe, either.

7

Man, I’d hate to be the wringer.

8

Why it’s the Commander-in-Chief’s army, silly.

9

Get used to it, you guys. The majority of the people in this country are just hunkey-dorey with what’s going on. The US is kickin’ ass and naming names, and we all got a nice check or two back from the IRS. It’s bread and circuses all over again.

Me? I’m hunkered down and hoping the worst of it can be reversed when the pendulum swings back again.

10

I was going to post something to the effect of “Sobriety – it’s what’s for breakfast.” But good on elucidator. More people need to be that angry. We manufactured evidence to invade a sovereign nation. We tortured innocent civilians. My girlfriend met a soldier who had standing orders to kill any Iraqis he saw. Not insurgents. Not adult males. Not soldiers. Any Iraqi. No questions asked. And some people have the sack to call that a humanitarian effort. I understand that it is illegal for the media to show coffins of American soldiers. Imagine that! It’s now illegal to give the illegal invasion a bad name. And if anyone complains about it, they can be arrested without charge and held without trial. Indefinitely. And what do we do about it? Go to the mall and eat French fries. Oops, sorry – Freedom fries.

If this were a TV show I would refuse to watch it due to an extremely absurd and unlikely plot. If any other nation acted as we have we’d be telling our military to nuke the fuckers. And yet we can barely be bothered to do anything.

Where is the anger? Where is the outrage? Remember Viet Nam? We should be out in the streets, throwing bricks and molotov cocktails*, shouting for our “leaders’” heads. But we’re not. Because we might miss the next installment of American Idol.

*Not an actual suggestion.

11

Sounds like tough-guy talk from someone who never got out of Kuwait–if he even went overseas. There are a lot of bitter guys coming back and I have not heard this from any of them before this.

Cite?
Look. I think that Bush was criminal in his actions and I am appalled by the lack of attention that the U.S. citizenry is paying to much of what has happened and continues to happen. However, tossing these sorts of claims just feeds into the hands of the people who will dismiss everyone who opposes the war as loonies.

12

I have no way to verify if this is true, but he seemed sincere when he talked to my girlfriend about it, and she has no reason to lie. And his wife confirms that he was in Baghdad. And it wasn’t tough-guy talk – he was extremely emotionally disturbed. It’s entirely possible that he’s lying, but I’m not willing to dismiss him out of hand.

I don’t have one. But when was the last time you saw an American coffin on TV?

13

Actually, I do:

ABC News

14

If I remember correctly this claim was previously made in a thread here with the additonal proviso that it was a specific patrolled street - shoot any Iraqi you see on this street, where patrols had been attacked previously.

15

As an Addendum and i’ve posted this before. I watched a documentary where an embedded film team followed US troops on a night-time search and snatch - breaking into people’s houses at night and the officer in command clearly ordered - and I quote verbatim. “Shoot anyone you want.” No before or after qualifiers.

Newsnight BBC or a Channel 4 doc, can’t remember which.

That was a big WTF moment.

16

I think the order to hide the coffins (and Bush’s refusal to meet them or acknowledge that there are any) is extremely shameful–typical, but shameful. However, the claim to which I sought a citation was explicitly that it was illegal to “give the illegal war a bad name.” There is no law preventing the news from showing or reporting on coffins; the adminitration simply “receives” them in a restricted area where it would be illegal to trespass. Nevertheless, photos have been shown on the news and I have heard of no law that prohibits condemnation of the war. It was not clear that you were simply expanding on the “don’t show the coffins” statement.

17

Yeah, so I used a bit of hyperbole. What do you expect? I’m outraged!

18

Exactly.

So. Two higher ups got demoted. One was also fined. That is all. However, the peons, the specialists and privates, can look forward to anywhere from 5-15 years in prison, then dishonorable discharge after. While we know that this went all the way to the Pentagon, to Donny himself.

Does Georgie even give a fuck about how bad this looks? Does he even care about how it makes Americans look in the world? We live in a world community, asshole. We cannot afford this.

I’m furious. But we’ll do nothing else, nothing to show the world that this type of action won’t be tolerated. Because of George fucking Bush.

Gah! The next three years’ll be hell.

19

Is this a trick question?

20

Nah, too busy trying to save credit card companies from people with no money. Too busy trying to convince people that social security is about a week away from collapse. Too busy promoting the “culture of life” …