Janis Karpinski

I had been hesitant to speak out before because this Administration is so vindictive. But now I will. Despite years of this pronouncement that it's an "army of one" -- [here Karpinski refers to the advertisements to join the Marines that carry the slogan "An Army of One"] -- we reservists were absolutely discriminated against. The people at the senior levels of the reserve components, the Chief of the Army Reserve, for example, a three-star, never made so much as one phone call, never exchanged one word with me in all of this. Twice, my lawyer requested a meeting with him face-to-face in Washington, DC, and he declined. He denied both of those requests. It's really a good old boys' network. Come hell or high water, they're going to maintain the status quo. They all live by each other in Fort Myers, or near Fort Myers. I'm sure that they have these cigar-smoking sessions where they're all patting each other on the back that they got another female out of the way... [interview posted at www.truthout.org, 3 August 2005] Show less «

There are sworn statements, not only from the interrogators and the FBI personnel down at Guantánamo Bay prior to even a thought of using Abu Ghraib for a prison location. These torture techniques were being implemented and used down at Guantánamo Bay and, of course, now we have lots of statements that say they were used in Afghanistan as well. ... Miller [Geoffrey Miller] comes to visit, then everything starts to change, to include transferring the responsibility for Abu Ghraib over to the Military Intelligence people altogether. And it's been substantiated through an investigation that these torture practices were developed and implemented down in Guantánamo Bay and then they were imported to Abu Ghraib. They're holding these soldiers responsible for one time on the night shift coming up with these pranks. Give me a break! It's so unfair to continue to blame those soldiers. You know, I would be the first one to say to anybody that [Charles] Graner and [Staff Sgt. Ivan] Fredericks, as noncommissioned officers - they crossed the line. [interview posted at www.truthout.org, 3 August 2005] Show less «

[asked what she means by the statement that "the techniques that were directed by the highest level of this Administration."] I mean all the way up to Cheney [Dick Cheney]. I don't know the workings of how it gets up there. But I would think that, very similar to any other big corporation or the military, that if you have a deputy - or a Vice President, in this case - and he is making decisions or approvals, then maybe by default you will say, "If I didn't know, I should have known, or "I did know. Because he's your Vice President. Or he is the Vice President. Or he is the Secretary of Defense. I don't know what they are telling the President [George W. Bush]. And I don't care. He's the President, and he's supposed to know what's going on in this Administration, and honestly, sometimes it doesn't seem like he does. [interview posted at www.truthout.org, 3 August 2005] Show less «