Posted on 10/12/2005 6:14:26 AM PDT by pabianice
Former Iraq prisons chief denies responsibility for Abu Ghraib
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — The former commanding general of prisons in Iraq says she was not in charge of the Abu Ghraib detention facility at the time of the detainee abuse scandal there.
“How could (the military) hold me accountable when I had no direct access?” Col. Janis Karpinski told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet. “How come they didn’t hold (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld accountable? How is that possible?”
Karpinski was relieved of command and demoted from brigadier general to colonel after allegations that dereliction of duty led to prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib.
Karpinski said she was the commanding general of the reserve unit responsible for overseeing Iraq’s prisons, but that she was not in charge of Abu Ghraib. Instead, Gen. Geoffrey Miller, commander of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, was in charge. She said that change in command was ordered by Rumsfeld to facilitate interrogation of “security detainees” there.
Abu Ghraib was intended to be a clearinghouse to process and transport prisoners, not a prison itself, she said.
The summer before photographs of prisoner abuse became public, Abu Ghraib was transformed into the center of interrogation in Iraq at Miller’s behest, she told the newspaper from her home on Hilton Head Island.
“He told me he wanted control,” she said. “I told him it wasn’t mine to give. He’d have to ask (Ambassador Paul) Bremer,” former administrator of the U.S.-led occupation.
Karpinski said she has never spoken with the seven soldiers of the 372nd military police company who were charged in the abuse investigation. She was formally relieved of command of the 800th Military Police Brigade on April 8.
The 52-year-old Karpinski has written a book: “One Woman’s Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story,” that she hopes will help clear her name.
“Look how they’ve tormented me, what they’ve taken away from me,” Karpinski said.
Janice Karpinski, Army affirmative action former-BGEN, who says she was unfairly punished for the actions of subordinates 'over whom she had no control.'
I don't know how the Army runs things, but in the Navy, a commander crying that he or she was done-in by evil male subordinates under her command would first be relieved of command and then perhaps court-martialed.
"The 52-year-old Karpinski has written a book: “One Woman’s Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story,” "
I thought she wasn't in charge? Oh, I guess the title "A Wannabe Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story to Anyone Who Wants to Listen," wouldn't sell too many books. I love self-clarification.
And this whiner was a general? She is doing more to tarnish women in the military with every whine.
Thankfully, this whiney, bitchen hag is no longer in charge of anyone in the military.
Another fine example of affirmitive action doing what it does best. Along the line of G.I. Jane with politicians selecting who they want.
That's basically what happened. She got cashiered and forced to retire at a lower rank.
I didn't know she was demoted! Fantastic!
She says she wasn't in control. THAT was what she did wrong.
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