General's name arises in Iraq abuse inquiry

10:59 AM MST on Saturday, May 8, 2004

By Carol Ann Alaimo / Arizona Daily Star

Fort Huachuca is getting a new boss later this year - a two-star general who is the subject of finger-pointing in an Army report on the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.

Maj. Gen. Barbara G. Fast, who is now the fort's deputy commander and is serving in Baghdad, will take over as head of the Sierra Vista Army post and its military intelligence school in late summer or early fall.

Fort Huachuca, about 75 miles southeast of Tucson, is the home of Army interrogation training and produced virtually all the Army interrogators now working in Iraq.

The Pentagon approved Fast's new post several weeks ago, according to a Defense Department Web site.

In a recent Army report on the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the commander of several Military Police officers facing criminal charges, blamed Fast as the person largely responsible for causing overcrowding at Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison, where many abuses took place.

Fast has been serving since last summer as intelligence chief for the U.S. military command in Baghdad. In that role, she was the person responsible for approving the release of prisoners who were "of no intelligence value and no longer pose a significant threat" to American forces and allies.

Karpinski told Army investigators that Fast routinely refused to approve the release of such prisoners even after a military review panel in Iraq had recommended that they be released.

"According to … Karpinski, the extremely slow and ineffective release process has significantly contributed to the overcrowding" at Abu Ghraib, the Army report said.

Prison overcrowding, inadequate soldier training and lack of proper supervision have all been identified as factors that helped foster a climate that allowed prisoner abuse to occur.

The Army investigation also found that an ambiguous relationship existed between military interrogators in charge of questioning Iraq prisoners and Military Police, who run the prisons but are not supposed to be involved in questioning.

Karpinski was identified in the report as the main contributor to the abuse problem, which was documented in photos of prisoners being sexually humiliated and mistreated.

The report said Karpinski displayed "a complete unwillingness to either understand or accept" that many of the prison problems in Iraq were caused by or made worse by her own failings as a leader.

Fast couldn't be reached for comment about the allegations Karpinski made against her.

Fast is the second person with ties to Fort Huachuca to be named in the Army investigative report on Iraqi prisoner abuse.

The other was Col. Thomas M. Pappas, a former division chief in the Army Futures Directorate at Fort Huachuca. Pappas later became the head of the Germany-based 205th Military Intelligence Battalion, whose interrogators have been implicated in the Iraq prison scandal.

Pappas was faulted for inadequate leadership and was recommended for a severe reprimand that could end his military career. Fast was not recommended for discipline in the Army report.

°Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo 573-4138 or caalaimo@azstarnet.com.