If you're looking for Rumsfeld to resign over the new Abu Ghraib report, it's unlikely. Someone has to take the fall, and conventional wisdom has it that it will be Brig. General Janis Karpinski.

The Schlesinger panel, which reviewed the Fay report and other related investigations, said disciplinary action "may be forthcoming" against Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who commanded the 800th Military Police Brigade at Abu Ghraib; and Col. Thomas M. Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, which was assigned to Abu Ghraib last year.

Karpinski says she's a victim of a conspiracy that existed to keep her from knowing about it--and a scapegoat. There's more than enough blame to go around, and Karpinski is not off the hook. Richard Sanchez, Barbara Fast and Tommy Pappas are other names that come to mind.

In follow-up to TalkLeft's post this morning on the new U.S. report showing abuse of Iraqi teenagers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, now there's this:

Abuses photographed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq represented "deviant behavior and a failure of military leadership and discipline" at the facility, but direct and indirect responsibility for those acts and others elsewhere went higher up the chain of command, an independent panel reported Tuesday. The prison's weaknesses were no secret and they should have been fixed, said James Schlesinger, chairman of the four-member advisory panel appointed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in early May to investigate abuse allegations.

"We believe that there is institutional and personal responsibility right up the chain of command as far as Washington is concerned," Schlesinger told a news conference to release the report.....There was sadism on the night shift at Abu Ghraib, sadism that was certainly not authorized,"Schlesinger said. "It was kind of 'Animal House' on the night shift.

Update: The text of the report is here. (pdf.)

Alternet today reports on the thousands of soldiers being forced into indefinite terms of servitude by military "stop loss" orders. These orders, critics say, are in essence a "back-door draft."

[Michael] Hoffman, like thousands of others who volunteered to serve their country, are being forced to stay long after they planned on leaving, because of the "stop loss" orders authorized by statute. The orders – which have been called "back-door drafts" – allow the military to suspend all laws and regulations and force all personnel to continue serving. The orders apply to those whose tours of duty expire and to those who are eligible for retirement. "I just thought you leave the military and you can get called back if they need you," says Hoffman. "With the 'stop loss' orders, you never leave. They extend your contract, which is something nobody really understands when they first sign-up."

One soldier, using the name "John Doe" to protect his identity, has sued to have his "stop loss" order overturned:

Where will it end? The Washington Post reports:

An Army investigation into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal has found that military police dogs were used to frighten detained Iraqi teenagers as part of a sadistic game, one of many details in the forthcoming report that were provoking expressions of concern and disgust among Army officers briefed on the findings.

Think Bush is ready to abandon the "few bad apples" theory yet? When will he admit that the whole system was rotten to the core?

Update: Here's more on the upcoming report.

So far, the seven soldiers charged in the Abu Ghraib Iraq prison abuse scandal have been military police. That's about to change as charges are ready to be filed against two military intelligence officers, Spc. Armin J. Cruz and Spc. Roman Krol.

[Former Sargeant] Kenneth A. Davis made the allegations in a May statement to U.S. Army investigators and in recent interviews with The Associated Press. He said Cruz and Krol forced prisoners to crawl across the prison floor while demanding that they confess to raping a boy in prison. Davis said Cruz and Krol also handcuffed the naked men together face-to-face, forcing them to embrace.

Specialist Charles Graner is fighting abuse charges in Iraq. He wants the trial moved out of Baghdad. Graner is the soldier charged not just with abuse, but with adultery. It's curious that the article, while mentioning that he is accused of accused of photographing the infamous picture of Private First Class Lynndie England dragging a detainee around on a leash and "posing for a picture by a pile of naked detainees," fails to mention that Graner's adultery count involves his relationship with England who reportedly is now pregnant with his child and awaiting trial herself in Fort Bragg.

Nor does the article mention that Graner, a death row prison guard in civilian life, has been accused of abuse before, both against his wife and against prison inmates. Graner faces the most serious charges of all the Abu Ghraib guards.

In a May 4th article, the New York Times noted that, "inmates and advocates for prisoner rights asserted in 1998 that guards at the prison routinely beat and humiliated prisoners, including through a sadistic game of Simon Says in which guards struck prisoners who failed to comply with barked instructions." The Times also cited allegations of physical abuse by Graner against his ex-wife who received at least three restraining orders against him.

Jeremy Sivits, another former Abu Ghraib prison guard who is cooperating with the investigation, reported:

Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick II, the highest ranking reserve officer involved in the Abu Ghraib Iraq prison abuse scandal has announced he will plead guilty to some of the charges against him.

"I have accepted responsibility for my actions at Abu Ghraib prison. I will be pleading guilty to certain charges because I have concluded that what I did was a violation of law."

Frederick is a W. Va. state prison guard in his civilian life. The allegations against him were very serious:

Frederick is accused of having helped force a prisoner to stand on a box with wires placed on his hands, a scene displayed in one of the photos from the prison. Frederick's charge sheet says the prisoner was told he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box, although the wires were not connected to a power source.

Frederick also is accused of forcing naked detainees into a pyramid position and photographing the scene. He also allegedly ordered detainees to masturbate in front of other prisoners and guards, posing two detainees to simulate oral sex while photographing them. One photo from the prison shows Frederick standing behind a naked prisoner smeared with feces. Frederick's mother, Jo Ann Frederick, has said the inmate spread the feces on himself.

Frederickson initially claimed the abuse was directed by higher-ups. He now says he will accept responsibility:

Bump and Update: Kidnapping hostage Micah Garen has been released, according to MSNBC (on tv.)

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Original Post: Iraqi Militants Threaten to Kill U.S. Journalist
8/18/04

Iraqi militants are threatening to kill a U.S. journalist.

A group calling itself the Martyrs Brigades said they are holding the American journalist Micah Garen. The group threatened to kill the hostage after 48 hours if U.S. forces do not withdraw from Najaf," Al Jazeera said. Garen was kidnapped last week in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya. Garen works for New York-based media production company Four Corners Media.

The kidnapping may have been related to Garen's efforts to save cultural relics from being looted:

Reporters Without Borders said in a statement that Garen's disappearance "may have been a kidnapping for ransom, or that certain circles worried about looters of ancient relics may have been troubled by the journalist's work."

Garen's photographs and written accounts of the looting of Iraq's treasures have appeared in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," The New York Times and U.S. News and World Report. It was his determination to preserve history that kept Garen returning to Iraq and the Middle East for independent photography and writing assignments, said Marie-Helene Carleton, his fiancee and partner in Four Corners Media, the company he founded. "He has a passion for Sumerian archaeology," said Carleton, of the West Village. "That's why he spent a year of his life working to make sure it was safeguarded."

Reporters Without Borders has more, inlcuding a plea from the 36 year old's fiance for a safe return.

This is just great. Pretty soon Bush will have us at war with the whole world.

Iran says it is considering a pre-emptive strike against U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani warned that Iran might launch a preemptive strike against US forces in the region to prevent an attack on its nuclear facilities.....We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will do to us. Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not their monopoly," Shamkhani told Al-Jazeera TV when asked if Iran would respond to an American attack on its nuclear facilities.

"America is not the only one present in the region. We are also present, from Khost to Kandahar in Afghanistan; we are present in the Gulf and we can be present in Iraq." said Shamkhani, speaking in Farsi to the Arabic-language news channel through an interpreter.

Update: Salon's Mark Follman has more on Iran and the possibility of war.

The Army investigation report on the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison is about to be released. It finds that 24 senior commanders are at fault for negligently supervision--but that they did not order the abuse.

In addition to the military intelligence personnel who are a key focus of the investigation report, the Army found that military medical personnel became aware of abuse at Abu Ghraib while treating injured prisoners but failed to report it to their command superiors....The New York Times, which first reported the finding on the medical personnel, said in its Thursday editions that it obtained medical records showing that medics had been in the area of the prison where the abuse occurred several times to treat suspicious wounds.

Fox News is reporting that U.S. warplanes are bombing Najaf according to Fox ews, after al-Sadr rejected a final appeal to disarm. He is vowing to seek martyrdom or victory.

The Bush Administration's unprecedented call-up of reservists continues. Some of those being called are almost 60 years old--the cut-off age. Jamie Trevino is 57 and suffering from skin cancer and the Army wants him. [link via Cursor.]