- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The
former commander of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq blamed a ranking officer
for introducing the use of human pyramids and dog leashes in the abuse
of detainees and said in an interview on Thursday that abuse may be continuing
there.
-
- Col. Janis Karpinski, a former one-star Army Reserve
general who was punished in the scandal, said she had no idea what was
going on at the prison and blamed Gen. Geoffrey Miller for the methods
that were used to humiliate detainees.
-
- Miller headed the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay
in Cuba and was sent to Iraq to recommend improvements in intelligence
gathering and detention operations there.
-
- "I believe that Gen. Miller gave them the ideas,
gave them the instruction on what techniques to use," she said in
excerpts from an interview on the ABC News "Nightline" program.
-
- Asked if she was referring to the positioning of prisoners
in human pyramids and putting dog leashes on detainees, Karpinski said,
"I can tell you with certainty that the MPs (military police) certainly
did not design those techniques, they certainly did not come to Abu Ghraib
or to Iraq with dog collars and dog leashes."
-
- Karpinski, who has made similar allegations in the past,
was the first high-level military officer to be punished in the abuse scandal.
She was demoted from brigadier general to colonel on May 5. The demotion
was announced 13 days after Army officials disclosed that the Army had
exonerated Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq,
as well as three other senior officers.
-
- Army Col. Thomas Pappas, the former U.S. military intelligence
chief at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, was reprimanded and removed
from his command as part of a punishment over the physical abuse and sexual
humiliation of Iraqi prisoners, the Army said on Wednesday.
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- The publication a year ago of photographs depicting U.S.
forces abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib triggered international criticism
of the United States. Numerous additional cases of detainee abuse have
since surfaced.
-
- In the ABC interview, Karpinski suggested that abuse
might still be occurring at the prison. "For several months after
I first became aware of the pictures, I said, 'well at least the photographs
will stop this.' I'm not convinced," she said.
-
- Karpinski had commanded the 800th Military Police Brigade
at the heart of the Abu Ghraib abuse. Previous investigations found Karpinski
feuded with Pappas, contributing to an atmosphere of chaos.
-
- Karpinski told ABC she believes officials up the chain
of command knew or should have known what was going on at Abu Ghraib. Asked
if that included Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, she said; "Well
absolutely. And I would say that it is consistent with his direction for
the military."
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- Karpinski said her superiors bore responsibility but
reiterated her contention that it was "convenient" for the military
to blame her because of her status as a reservist.
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- "All the way up to the top of the Pentagon, they
have a long-standing mind-set about reservists and National Guard soldiers,"
she said. "And we are considered disposable."
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