Accused general called scapegoat

The woman general who ran the Abu Ghraib prison in post-Saddam Iraq is being made a scapegoat in the Army’s investigation of abuse of Iraqi prisoners, a defense attorney charged yesterday.

Attorney Neal A. Puckett, who has been hired by the general’s family, said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top commander in Iraq, worded his order for an investigation last winter to ensure that Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski would take the fall.

“He knew when he heard about these things that this was going to be a big, big problem for the Army and what better way to solve a big problem for the Army than to hold senior leaders responsible, even if they weren’t,” Mr. Puckett said.

Mr. Puckett said the Baghdad command rebuffed Gen. Karpinski’s request for more troops. “Detention operations were close to untenable with overcrowding, little support and questionable facilities,” he said.

The lawyer said all interrogations were under the control of military intelligence, not Gen. Karpinski’s Military Police brigade.

“This was not an MP supervision problem,” he said. “This was a military intelligence interrogator supervision problem.”

Gen. Karpinski, who Mr. Puckett said had planned before the incident to retire, has declined to comment publicly. The general, who is a business consultant and lives in South Carolina, faces a possible reprimand.

Reached yesterday afternoon, when it was 11 p.m. Baghdad time, a military spokesman said Gen. Sanchez’s spokesman was not available.

According to portions of the Army’s investigative report obtained by The Washington Times from a source close to the probe, Gen. Sanchez “requested an investigation of detention and internment operations by the brigade from Nov. 1 2003 to present. Lt. Gen. Sanchez cited recent reports of detainee abuse, escapes from confinement facilities, and accountability lapses, which indicated systemic problems within the brigade and suggested a lack of clear standards, proficiency and leadership.”

Reading the language, Mr. Puckett said it was clear the investigative officer had no choice but to find fault with Gen. Karpinski.

Mr. Puckett is a former Marine Corps judge advocate who has spoken to Gen. Karpinski and was retained by her brother. Gen. Karpinski commanded the Army’s 800th Military Police Brigade, a New York-based Reserve unit that operated the prison near Baghdad.

The Army has charged six MPs from the 800th Brigade with criminal offenses in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners during interrogations by military intelligence officers.

Gen. Sanchez ordered the probe after a soldier obtained photos of the abuse and gave them to superiors.

Mr. Puckett said that Gen. Karpinski was told by a superior officer that she was cleared in the probe.

But when the report was completed in March, the investigative officer, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, recommended she be reprimanded and relieved of her command.

The report obtained by The Times lists 10 “findings” against her. They included “failing to ensure and enforce basic soldier standards throughout her command,” “failing to establish basic proficiency tasks for soldiers throughout the 800th MP Brigade,” and “failing to take appropriate action regarding the ineffectiveness of a subordinate commander.”