The Beast of Abu Ghraib

Colonel Janis Karpinski blogs at the Huffington Post.

She seems to be writing as if the event described is well known, a failure perhaps shared by many with an over-developed ego. Or maybe the details she excludes are just, well, not supportive of her point.

Anyhow, here she is - endorsing an upcoming film:

When Ghosts of Abu Ghraib is broadcast across the country next week, I hope Americans are so annoyed and angry from watching the movie, it stimulates a renewal of demands for the truth and an independent commission to review the facts and render truthful conclusions.

But on the chance that I could save time and taxpayer dollars otherwise thrown at an "independent commission", here's what's probably the best start you can get (warning! - these are fact-based, not opinion pieces):

A combination of blurring and smearing

Porn Squad Commandos

Time permitting, I'll provide another "chapter" in time for the movie premier.

And anyone who wants to cite Colonel Karpinski as authoritative on anything might want to read this, first: Death Before Dishonor.

Some day someone might want to do a case study of a failure of command for a Service Academy or military professional development course - the Karpinski case would be useful for this, and valuable to students at various levels.

But even casual observers can search for the term "Karpinski" throughout the Taguba report and discover a wealth of information about how not to do things.

Including this example:

(U) During the course of this investigation I conducted a lengthy interview with BG Karpinski that lasted over four hours, and is included verbatim in the investigation Annexes. BG Karpinski was extremely emotional during much of her testimony. What I found particularly disturbing in her testimony was her complete unwillingness to either understand or accept that many of the problems inherent in the 800th MP Brigade were caused or exacerbated by poor leadership and the refusal of her command to both establish and enforce basic standards and principles among its soldiers.