The Pentagon is considering replacing Army Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez as the top US military officer in Iraq, defence officials said today, but denied the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal was the reason. A senior defence official said Sanchez has served in Iraq for 13 months and that army and marine corps division commanders all have rotated out of the country during that time period. Asked if the prisoner abuse scandal, which took place on Sanchez's watch, was the reason for considering a replacement for the general, the official said, "Absolutely not."
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman refused to confirm or deny an ABC News report that General George Casey, vice chief of staff of the army, would take over as senior US military officer in Iraq.
Meanwhile, an American general in charge of US-run prisons in Iraq when the abuse of prisoners took place has been suspended as commander of the military police brigade at the heart of the scandal and removed from active duty, the army said.
Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who had commanded the 800th Military Police Brigade, was suspended from her duties, said Lieutenant Colonel Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman at the Pentagon. Karpinski previously was formally admonished on January 17 by Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top US commander in Iraq. The Army returned Karpinski today to the Army Reserve from active-duty status, said Al Schilf, an Army Reserve spokesman. In addition, Karpinski no longer serves as commander of her Uniondale, New York-based brigade, and was "temporarily attached" to the US Army Readiness Command at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Schilf said.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/25/1085442112772.html
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