Janis Karpinski

Former Brigadier General Karpinski is passionate about justice and her country. A critic of the lack of oversight in Iraq, Karpinski was stationed at Abu Ghraib Prison during the infamous torture of prisoners there.

When photographs of the torture were shown to her, picturing plain clothed interrogators, Karpinski began to put the pieces of the puzzle together: “I became aware of this, these CACI interrogators on the 23rd of January 2004 when I saw the photographs for the first time. And I said to the commander of the criminal investigation division, who was showing them to me, I said, ‘Why are the translators around the prisoners? Why are the translators in the cell block?’ And he said, ‘Ma'am, those aren't translators. Those are CACI interrogators.’ I said, ‘Translators?’ He said, ‘No, interrogators.’”

Karpinski recently published a book One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story and speaks around the country about her experiences.