Friday, April 30, 2004
A Failure of Command
That's the only way I can describe what was clearly going on at Abu Gharaib prison under the command of Brigadier General Janice Karpinski all year long.
Between May and September 2003, my company was responsible for a 24-48 hour EPW holding area (a jail), which sometimes held up to 35 detainees at a time. Over the summer, I personally transported hundreds of them, along with their personal effects, to a larger EPW holding area and intelligence screening facility run by the 3rd ACR at Al Asad Air Base.
I can say that on these dozens of times I visited the facility there, I witnessed no instances of abuse comparable to what was described by 60 Minutes II and the BBC. I know the Chief Warrant Officer and lieutenant in charge of the EPW holding facility were well respected by their troops, and would not have tolerated such abuses. And the sergeant I worked most closely with in signing over the detainees personal effects was extremely vigilant in ensuring that everything was properly transferred.
Even so, I did witness a few problems. One detainee was transferred to me with a blunt trauma head injury I could not account for in the paperwork done when he was first arrested. It apparently happened after he was arrested, under coalition care.
When a combat soldier is assigned to guard an EPW, he is usually angry at seeing his buddies get shot up, and has unbridled power over the detainee. If he's immature or has a cruel or sadistic streak in him, you have the makings of abuse.
What I observed, though, was that when soldiers interact with EPWs, the person they are most concerned with communicating with is often not the detainee, but his or her peers. The danger is that they will try to outdo each other with displays of braggadocio, machismo, callousness, and inappropriate humor. And Abu Gharaib is a good example of what happens when that tendency among immature soldiers is not monitored and corrected by their noncommissioned officers and company grade officers.
And that requires constant effort, and constant vigilance on the part of all leaders in the unit.
All officers are trained in the basics of the Geneva and Hague conventions as part of their precommissioning programs in ROTC, the acadamies, or at OCS. And they're briefed again while they're in their basic courses, before they join their units.
According to both the BBC and 60 Minutes II, the Army investigation reports that this unit of military police had not conducted training on the proper care and handling of EPWs in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and US policy.
If true, this represents a breathtaking dereliction of duty on the part of the chain of command.
But that only goes so far.
It should not take a formal class for soldiers to know that the deliberate humiliation of detainees is unprofessional and wrong.
And SGT Chip Frederick's lame excuse that he and his men 'had no training whatsoever' holds no water. SGT Frederick is an NCO and a full time corrections officer in his civilian job. If his men were not trained in the law of war, it was his job to train them. In the absence of specific guidelines from his chain of command on the Geneva convention, as a professional corrections officer, he had the skills to train them.
So while BG Karpinski bears overall command responsibility, she was also apparently let down by the SGT Fredericks of the unit, along with whoever Frederick's lieutenant, captain, and company commander.
The whole thing stinks to high heaven, and is a stain upon the Army's honor.
It cannot be tolerated.
Splash, out
Jason
Between May and September 2003, my company was responsible for a 24-48 hour EPW holding area (a jail), which sometimes held up to 35 detainees at a time. Over the summer, I personally transported hundreds of them, along with their personal effects, to a larger EPW holding area and intelligence screening facility run by the 3rd ACR at Al Asad Air Base.
I can say that on these dozens of times I visited the facility there, I witnessed no instances of abuse comparable to what was described by 60 Minutes II and the BBC. I know the Chief Warrant Officer and lieutenant in charge of the EPW holding facility were well respected by their troops, and would not have tolerated such abuses. And the sergeant I worked most closely with in signing over the detainees personal effects was extremely vigilant in ensuring that everything was properly transferred.
Even so, I did witness a few problems. One detainee was transferred to me with a blunt trauma head injury I could not account for in the paperwork done when he was first arrested. It apparently happened after he was arrested, under coalition care.
When a combat soldier is assigned to guard an EPW, he is usually angry at seeing his buddies get shot up, and has unbridled power over the detainee. If he's immature or has a cruel or sadistic streak in him, you have the makings of abuse.
What I observed, though, was that when soldiers interact with EPWs, the person they are most concerned with communicating with is often not the detainee, but his or her peers. The danger is that they will try to outdo each other with displays of braggadocio, machismo, callousness, and inappropriate humor. And Abu Gharaib is a good example of what happens when that tendency among immature soldiers is not monitored and corrected by their noncommissioned officers and company grade officers.
And that requires constant effort, and constant vigilance on the part of all leaders in the unit.
All officers are trained in the basics of the Geneva and Hague conventions as part of their precommissioning programs in ROTC, the acadamies, or at OCS. And they're briefed again while they're in their basic courses, before they join their units.
According to both the BBC and 60 Minutes II, the Army investigation reports that this unit of military police had not conducted training on the proper care and handling of EPWs in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and US policy.
If true, this represents a breathtaking dereliction of duty on the part of the chain of command.
But that only goes so far.
It should not take a formal class for soldiers to know that the deliberate humiliation of detainees is unprofessional and wrong.
And SGT Chip Frederick's lame excuse that he and his men 'had no training whatsoever' holds no water. SGT Frederick is an NCO and a full time corrections officer in his civilian job. If his men were not trained in the law of war, it was his job to train them. In the absence of specific guidelines from his chain of command on the Geneva convention, as a professional corrections officer, he had the skills to train them.
So while BG Karpinski bears overall command responsibility, she was also apparently let down by the SGT Fredericks of the unit, along with whoever Frederick's lieutenant, captain, and company commander.
The whole thing stinks to high heaven, and is a stain upon the Army's honor.
It cannot be tolerated.
Splash, out
Jason
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