Download PDF One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story
When a new decision comes to be a new maker of better living, why should be sorry for of it? Something old have to be altered and restored with something brand-new, if the new point is better. As the extra activity that we will certainly recommend, if you have no concept to enjoy your spare time, reading could assist you to pass the time wisely. Yeah, wasting time completely can be done by everybody. However, be intelligently in spending the time is very rare. So, do you wish to be just one of the sensible people?
One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story
Download PDF One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story
Precious visitors, when you are hunting the new book collection to read this day, One Woman's Army: The Commanding General Of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story can be your referred publication. Yeah, also many publications are supplied, this book could steal the viewers heart so much. The web content and style of this publication actually will touch your heart. You can locate an increasing number of experience and expertise exactly how the life is gone through.
But right here, we will not let you to lack the book. Every book is conceived in soft data design. With very same problems, individuals that go out guides in the store will certainly like to this site and obtain the soft file of the book. For instance is this One Woman's Army: The Commanding General Of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story As a brand-new coming book that has great name in this globe, you might feel hard to obtain it as yours. Hence, we also provide its soft data here.
Also this publication is made in soft data forms; you could enjoy reading by getting the file in your laptop computer, computer gadget, and device. Nowadays, reading doesn't come to be a traditional activity to do by certain individuals. Many people from many locations are always starting to review in the early morning as well as every extra time. It confirms that people now have large inquisitiveness as well as have huge spirit to review. Furthermore, when One Woman's Army: The Commanding General Of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story is published, it becomes a most desired publication to buy.
Many people might have different need to check out some publications. For this book is likewise being that so. You may discover that your factors are various with others. Some might read this book for their deadline tasks. Some will read it to improve the understanding. So, what sort of factor of you to read this impressive One Woman's Army: The Commanding General Of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story It will depend on exactly how you gaze as well as consider it. Simply get this book now as well as be just one of the fantastic viewers of this publication.
From Booklist
The charge to find intelligence for use against terrorists with no clear rules as to how to do it led inevitably to abuses at Abu Ghraib, asserts Karpinski, the commanding general in charge of military police at the prison made infamous by Saddam Hussein and even more so by American troops. In a bid not to be defined by Abu Ghraib, Karpinski tells the story of her life in the military leading to her command of the Iraqi prison, including her stint with the reserves and her deployment to the first Gulf War, where she earned a Bronze Star. When she was assigned to oversee MPs at Abu Ghraib, Karpinski found herself doubly resented, as a reservist and as a woman. She details the conflicts with military culture and an old-boy network, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. She describes little support from the regular army and no clear chain of command as military intelligence stepped up harsh treatment of prisoners in search of "actionable intelligence." Karpinski accepts her own shortcomings but maintains that she was made a scapegoat in the shameful events for which, other than herself, only lower-level servicemen have been punished. This is a completely fascinating look at a troubling event from the perspective of a woman who has been on the frontline. REVWRCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Read more
About the Author
General Janis Karpinski served in the military for over 25 years. She was an Intelligence Commander in Iraq and the only female commander to serve there in the Army Reserves. She attended West Point and the US Army War College, and served in the first Gulf War where she received a Bronze Star. She grew up in New Jersey, and has been married for 30 years to a Lieutenant-Colonel in the army. This is her first book.Co-writer Steven Strasser is an author and a foreign correspondent for Newsweek. He currently teaches journalism at Rutgers University and lives in Manhattan.
Read more
Product details
Hardcover: 265 pages
Publisher: Miramax; First Edition edition (October 12, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1401352472
ISBN-13: 978-1401352479
Product Dimensions:
6.1 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
Average Customer Review:
3.8 out of 5 stars
31 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,365,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
This book was recommended to me by an Army Reservist with the 800th Military Police Brigade who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.In February 2003, Janis Karpinski thought the army was "paying her back with the greatest assignment of her career". She was promoted to Brigadier General and would command the 800th Military Police Brigade...First, the facts:FACT: In 1977, a US Army Recruiter "sold" George and Janis Karpinski on a "joint military career". He told them "the Army had a policy of keeping married officers together. They could travel and see the world arm-in-arm." They should have known it was too good to be true. This would not be the last time that the US Army blatantly lied to Janis Karpinski...FACT: General Karpinski won a Silver Star for her service in Operation Desert Shield.FACT: As Major Karpinski, she worked directly with the UAE's President's wife, Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak — who was head of the UAE's Women's Federation — to establish a women's military training program in the United Arab Emirates. Only women can train women in Arab countries. Major Karpinski's team included one Major and nine non-commissioned officers (NCOs). These women were recommended by their Commanding Officers (COs) and the NCOs had all been Drill Sergeants. Major Karpinski would spend four years immersed in this program.FACT: After landing in Tampa from a business trip in October 2002, Karpinski noticed her day planner and her wallet were stolen when she stopped at a grocery store. She reported her loss to the police and American Express. She went to the Post Exchange to cash a check, but had no ID. The only option she had was to buy a few items and write a check for $50.00 over the cost. While picking up a few items, her cell phone rang and she dug into her purse to answer it, a guard saw her remove her bottle of lotion, then put it back in her purse. She paid for her purchases and received her $50.00. Upon leaving, the guard detained her and asked her to go to his office. She thought it was because she had no ID card. He said he saw her putting something from the shelf into her bag and singled out her moisturizer — which was only half full (she explained that she used it on flights and pointed out that it obviously was only half full). Nonetheless, he filled out a report and kept the moisturizer. In a couple of weeks, she received a call from McDill's Legal Office. The woman apologised "profusely, saying she examined the bottle and recognized that it could not have been stolen from the exchange." She thought the matter was dropped. Years later, the unsubstantiated allegation of "shoplifting" became one of the Army's charges against her.FACT: "When things went wrong at Abu Ghraib prison, nobody stood out as a more convenient target than the female General who looked out of place from the perspective of all those male warriors."FACT: GITMO (Guantanamo Bay) had eight hundred Military Policemen (MPs) to guard six hundred eighty prisoners. In comparison, In Iraq, there were fewer than three hundred MPs to guard seven thousand prisoners at Abu Ghraib alone (there were seventeen prisons in Iraq).FACT: Major Janis Karpinski always gives credit to her soldiers: "My Reserve soldiers marched into that mess, made a decent place out of it against all odds, completed their mission, and left with honor; mourning their fallen comrades. Most of us survived ... The 800th MP Brigade plunged in to fight it with whatever people and resources they had. We made do, we focused on the essentials. If we could bring the situation under control, our successors would have an easier time with it ... When the 800th reached Iraq, only one in seventeen prisons under our authority was functional (when Saddam knew war was coming, he emptied all of the prisons into the streets — except for political prisoners — those he just shot). When General Karpinski and the 800th left, "thanks to the determination of my 3,400 soldiers and the hard work of prisons chief, Bill Irvine, all seventeen were functional." At the same time, she is very hard on herself, wondering how these abuses happened, if she should have seen the atrocities coming, why she had no idea what was going on, what was the full and real story of what happened at Abu Ghraib et cetera...FACT: "An overwhelming majority of the 800th Military Police Brigade maintained their military discipline." I believe that General Karpinski more than maintained her military discipline and did an amazing job with her 3,400 soldiers.FACT: The Pentagon relieved General Karpinski of duty, but no-one bothered to tell her. Instead, they held a press briefing to make that announcement. The first she knew about it was when a reporter from NBC called her after the Pentagon briefing and asked for her reaction to having been relieved of her command, all she could say was that it was a surprise to her. In spite of having General Karpinski's cell phone number, her home telephone number, her brother's telephone number and her email address, the Pentagon insisted that they could not contact her. Apparently, they could not pick up a telephone and dial her number like the reporter had done. When she asked how they attempted to contact her — which number(s) had they called or did they email her — she was stonewalled. It was obvious they had never attempted to contact her and in my opinion, they held the press conference only to humiliate and embarrass her further.FACT: All of the final charges against General Karpinski had one common denominator: not one of them had anything to do with the treatment of Iraqi detainees in cell block 1A of Abu Ghraib prison. She was formally relieved of duty, as she had expected. General Janis Karpinski was turned into a scapegoat. She had made the mistake of being a female General in a "man's Army". Those higher up in her chain of command were not sanctioned at all — their careers stayed on track, they faced no charges for their appalling behaviour. Why? Simply because they were men who always referred to the Army as "my Army." It was just as much General Karpinski's Army! She had more than proven herself worthy.FACT: "President Bush delivered a blow I had not expected — vacating my promotion to General and demoting me back to a Colonial." In this reader's opinion, Bush should be ashamed of himself. The Army had already investigated charges against her and taken steps to discipline her, this was an unnecessary slap in the face after being a career soldier with an exemplary record!I know Bush was the "Commander in Chief" and needed to flex his muscles as such. I guess he felt like he had to be seen as doing something about that "awful situation that took place over there", but he should have chosen those higher up the chain of command to punish — like any of the MEN of higher rank that she would approach for assistance, only to be told "make it work, Janis!" (they were not even professional enough to address General Karpinski by her rank).FACT: General Janis Karpinski and Colonial George Karpinski served a combined total of fifty-five years in the US Army.General Karpinski writes "It is immensely difficult to accept these verdicts of my government and, yes, my Army when I know in my heart I did not deserve them." This reader could not agree more!This book and others like it (I could give you a few titles) should be read by the same public that condemned General Janis Karpinski and the soldiers in her command. We were so ready to believe the media sh*tstorm and their attempts to condemn everyone in the military that served at all the prisons. That will never happen because those few "bad apples" overshadowed all of the hard work of the majority of all soldiers — active duty to reserves. The treatment of this honorable officer was uncalled for — her higher ups (like Generals Sanchez and Miller — and even Donald Rumsfeld) should have been disciplined, but those men never faced charges (ONLY because they were men).
Page 221: “ … Abu Ghraib, playground of American abusers. No caricature could be more unjust to the thousands of American soldiers who served honorably at Abu Ghraib …â€Page 67: “I wanted to serve with professional soldiers, thanking God that the Vietnam era of dope-smoking draftees was over.â€General Karpinski can dish it out but can’t take it. In one short, sweeping sentence, she dismissed an entire generation of hundreds of thousands of Vietnam era veterans without any further elaboration. Coming from a flag officer, it carries a significant sting of insult. Putting it in print etches it in stone. It was challenging for some of us to read past page 67.One can legitimately question her tendency to jump to conclusions and over-simplify a situation.Nevertheless, she provides great insight into what it takes for a female to break into a man’s Army and advance through the ranks.Her work in the United Arab Emirates was most praiseworthy.Her experiences as a “regular†vis-à -vis a “reservist†were enlightening.The dilemma for any member of the military in dealing with directives from above (orders) is finely illustrated in her experiences at Abu Ghraib. She was a scapegoat caught in a political quagmire (ironically similar in many ways to Vietnam). She was trapped in a dysfunctional chain of command that was severely broken. Army Intelligence was inserted within her area of command but without command. Her command was a corps of Army Reserve Military Police throughout Iraq that included all of its prisons. She fell victim to General Miller’s advisement to higher authorities to carry out illegal torture as his command was doing in Guantanamo. In Abu Ghraib, the difficulties were compounded because there were many more prisoners (including civilian for civil, not war crimes) and far less staff. Interrogators inserted to torture could be government civilians (CIA) or even private contractors. Military Police under Karpinski’s command were, unbeknownst to her, advised to soften the prisoners up for interrogation. Add to this she was placed in charge of prisons in Iraq where Abu Ghraib, the worst of them, was frequently under hostile (mostly mortar) fire, overcrowded with decrepit conditions, and receiving little or no logistical or defensive support such as “regular†units would receive. Her assignment was impossible without taking her legitimate concerns above General Sanchez, a matter easier said than done, especially since the war crimes the U.S. was committing had the blessings all the way to the top.Her story was riveting and tragic, similar to Vietnam. The debate over an all volunteer army vis-à -vis a draft is for another story. She was a patriotic and courageous officer deserving of her achievements and undeserving of her ultimate fate of being a scapegoat to a dysfunctional conflict in which she clearly became ensnared in a catch-22.
This book gives General Karpinski's side of the story. It's excellent, and I think it's honest. She says three times at least that she takes responsibility for what she did wrong, and on two occasions lists mistakes she made. Everyone agrees that she did not condone or generate the torture that occurred at Abu Ghraib (otherwise her punishment would have been much more severe than mere demotion) but instead was entirely blindsided by it, in part because of a mixed up chain of command. That is not in dispute; her book merely gives the details, from her point of view. It's one of the best ghost-written biographies I've ever read, about an important current issue and, given that it is a piece of advocacy, frank and complete. Reviewers who say she does not accept her share of the blame have not read the book.For some reason I can't give the book the four stars I meant to. I just tried to edit my review to change the star rating, and failed. I rate it four stars.
This book is a delight to read because even though I don't have a full understanding of how the army works Mrs. Karpinski does a great job of laying it out for me. It's great to read this strong woman's honest, first-hand account of her position in the army. She has an interesting story to tell that if it isn't read, it wouldn't be heard. I think that the scandal that occured at Abu Ghraib is misunderstood because of the select amount of information that has surfaced through media coverage. There is alot more to the story and when searched for, anyone would be shocked about what happened before the incident was leaked to the media and how it was handled afterwards. This book is a really easy read, and an eye opener.
One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story PDF
One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story EPub
One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story Doc
One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story iBooks
One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story rtf
One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story Mobipocket
One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story Kindle
