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KARPINSKI WAS A “SHOPLIFTER”
GENERAL BUSTED TO COLONEL
BY BUSH IN WAKE OF ABU GHRAIB
SCANDAL REVEALED TO HAVE BEEN
HIDING PAST ARREST – WE REPORTED
BRASS HAT’S ALLEGED PRESENCE
DURING TORTURE SESSIONS AT IRAQI
PRISON MONTHS AGO – REVELATIONS
MAY HAVE LED TO RANK REDUCTION
MILITARYCORRUPTION.COM IS READ
AND MONITORED BY PENTAGON
ON A DAILY BASIS

We are not taking credit for ex-Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski’s well-deserved reduction in rank to colonel by President George Bush. But our revelations months ago on this web site, that the former military police commander is alleged to have been present during torture sessions at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison – casting doubt on the veracity of her many television appearances purporting ignorance of what had gone on there – seems to have been enough to force “the powers that be” at the Pentagon and the President himself to take such drastic action.

The public humiliation of Karpinski is all the more striking because it reveals she was promoted to flag rank without a proper investigation of her background. A case of “political correctness?” Perhaps. Not reporting an arrest for allegedly shoplifting a small item at the base exchange at a Florida air force installation is enough grounds for her security clearance to be pulled. Thus, she never would have reached flag rank in the first place. Consequently, Karpinski wouldn’t have been in a position to be “in charge” of the Iraqi prison system at the time of the Abu Ghraib abuses.

MilitaryCorruption.com reported earlier this year that Irish human rights attorney Michael Hourigan is representing Saddam “Sam” Saleh Aboud, who claims the female general was present during one of his torture sessions.

A STORY YOU SAW HERE FIRST

In a devastating deposition, made on video and under oath, “Sam” said Karpinski was there during beatings he endured at the American-run lockup.

During one of the assaults, he said, his hood came off and he saw a female officer standing there.

The Iraqi, who was naked, said the woman was “watching and laughing” as he was being roughed up.

“He knew she was a supervisor because she had a star on her hat and she was in an American uniform,” Hourigan said. “Sam told me the other soldiers would defer to her.” The attorney said his client identified Karpinski after he was shown a picture of the general in an American news magazine.

“SHOPLIFTING” ARREST REVEALED

Probably the chastened former general will continue to protest she’s a “scapegoat” for others in the prison scandal. Now she acknowledges the “shoplifting” (Pentagon’s term for it) arrest, but says she wasn’t guilty of anything because it only “appeared” on a surveillance photo that she placed a BX item in her purse. Karpinski says she already owned the cosmetic in question.

Let’s say, for argument’s sake, she is right. Why then did she not report as serious a matter as an arrest for “shoplifting?” As a longtime military police officer she had to know the rules and regulations on that.

We can only conclude she realized that would finish off her chances to make general. Now the obvious question comes. If she reached flag rank by deception, should she give back the difference in pay from one-star general to bird colonel – the last rank she supposedly served in “satisfactorily?”

FIGHTING FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MILITARY

There is no question that women have been unfairly discriminated against in promotions and other opportunities in the armed forces over the years.

MilitaryCorruption.com is on record as supporting equal opportunity for the many fine female enlisted members and officers who serve our country around the world.

A large majority of them deserve our respect and support. That is why it is so troubling when something like the Karpinski case comes up.

Here, in our editorial opinion, is a case of a woman who was promoted based on gender and her own apparent failure to report an incident which would have most certainly impacted her ascension to the rank of general officer.

Those who still seek to hold women back and continue the “good old boy” system, will get comfort from the Karpinski fiasco.

It is other females in uniform that Karpinski has let down. It makes it all the harder for them to achieve the highest ranks in the military and break through the “glass ceiling” when critics can point to someone who clearly did not deserve to be a general, like the whining former MP boss.

There will probably always be a small segment of the population who will think Karpinski’s merely a “victim” here. But it is significant no groundswell of support for the challenged brass hat has formed, even among the most fierce feminists. They know already this case is a lost cause.