Now retired Colonel Janis Karpinski, former Brigadier General and leader of Abu Ghraib prison during the infamous "torture photo" period gave an interview posted at the link below.
*Disclaimer: She was demoted for her "role" in the prison scandal, so this "might" be sour grapes, but really take a look at this. I doubt it's just sour grapes.
Kudos to Daily Dissent (http://dissent.blogspot.com/#112333529106746268)
for this info it links us all to. Full article posted at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082405Z.shtml
In the full article and interview, she describes the cover-up and Bush administration's full endorsement of the policies of torture. In addition, she goes on to speak about the Halliburton/contractor pillaging of U.S. money there.
She also has a Reservist's point of view, which is refreshing. I get so tired of hearing how all the soldier s love to be there doing their duty, but they shine over the reservists who have now become defacto full-timers for Bush's War.
What I read made me madder than I've ever been before.
It's not so much what she's describing, it's the fact someone formerly in the Iraq scandal is speaking out... well, read it to see what I mean.
Some quotes from the interview worth passing along to everyone you know---
- Regarding Rumsfeld's (and the Bush Admin's) callousness recommendation of prisoner torture:
"It was a memorandum signed by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, authorizing a short list, maybe 6 or 8 techniques: use of dogs; stress positions; loud music; deprivation of food; keeping the lights on, those kinds of things," Karpinski said. "And then a handwritten message over to the side that appeared to be the same handwriting as the signature, and that signature was Secretary Rumsfeld's. And it said, 'Make sure this happens' with two exclamation points. And that was the only thing they had. Everything else had been confiscated."
Second quote:
"MC: You wrote in an e-mail: "The techniques are a clear departure from what soldiers are taught and understand, the techniques that were directed by the highest level of this Administration." By that, you mean all the way up to the Oval Office?
JK: I mean all the way up to Cheney. I don't know the workings of how it gets up there. But I would think that, very similar to any other big corporation or the military, that if you have a deputy - or a Vice President, in this case - and he is making decisions or approvals, then maybe by default you will say, "If I didn't know, I should have known," or "I did know." Because he's your Vice President. Or he is the Vice President. Or he is the Secretary of Defense. I don't know what they are telling the President. And I don't care. He's the President, and he's supposed to know what's going on in this Administration, and honestly, sometimes it doesn't seem like he does."
- Regarding the Hierarchy of the Iraq War Leadership (chilling):
"Rumsfeld wanted to downsize the military, and the component chiefs were opposed to it. He sent them all back to their offices, and said, "Find a way to do this." The only component that came up with a solution was the Marine Corps. Then he sent the Air Force, the Navy and the Army back to the drawing board, and then 9/11 happened. So they got a reprieve. And it was up to them to prove how important it was that they still needed big divisions and lots of equipment and all that other stuff.
Here's Shinseki briefing Rumsfeld that he can't win this war, if they insist on invading Iraq, he can't win this war with less than 300,000 soldiers. I wasn't there to hear it, but allegedly Rumsfeld said to Shinseki: go back and find a way to do this with 125,000 to 150,000. Well, Shinseki came back again and said: Mr. Secretary we can't do it with that number. You need 300,000.
What did Rumsfeld do? If you can't agree with me, I'm going to find somebody who can. He made Shinseki a lame duck, for all practical purposes, and brought in Schoomaker. And Schoomaker got it. He said, "Oh yes sir, we can do this with 125,000."
- Regarding Civilian Contractors raking in huge cash (yes, cash) on-demand and its effects:
"Well, that may have been true in some back room plan, that people had an idea that was going to be in place. But there was no plan. Because normally, prison operations and jail operations come with the restoration of peace and security. And that comes with a sustainment operation that follows combat operations. So on a backward timeline, when the war was declared over on the aircraft carrier, then sustainment operations - engineers, civilian contractors, military police, military police organizations - all those organizations kind of kick into high gear to get things moving down the same road. Well there was no sustainment plan. And I can tell you, Marjorie, my opinion is that there was no sustainment plan because, by that time, there were a lot of contractors - US contractors exclusively - who realized they could make a lot of money in Iraq."
Second quote:
"MC: How did the enlisted soldiers feel about the contractors getting these fat paychecks?
JK: My soldiers were saying, I heard this often: "Ma'am, I want to get out of the Army and come back over here. I could be making five times the money that I'm making as a soldier. And these guys never go out and do anything. We're doing all the work, and they're drawing all the pay!" I heard it a dozen times a week from every level of soldier, every rank, in every one of my units. They could see it. They knew what was going on. Here's these three contractors who are supposed to restore the prison system with the help of the military, and they never - I don't want to say never - they hardly leave the confines of the Coalition Provisional Authority."
Third Quote:
"At the Coalition Provisional Authority, Karpinski "saw corruption like I've never seen before - millions of dollars just being pocketed by contractors. Everything was on a cash basis at that time," she said. "You take a request down - literally, you take a request to the Finance Office. If the Pay Officer recognized your face and you were asking for $450,000 to pay a contractor for work, they would pay you in cash: $450,000. Out of control."
- Lastly, this statement from her makes me applaud her:
"I had been hesitant to speak out before because this Administration is so vindictive. But now I will. "
Sorry if someone's already diaried this, but I didn't see one yet.
Please, spread this article around, let's get more attention to it. Americans are slowly getting sicker of the war, and the Bush Admin's greedy politics.