Head of Abu Ghraib Prison Speaks Out

"And at one point, when I was protesting that, I was told, 'I don't care if we're holding 15,000 innocent Iraqis. We're winning the war,'" she said. "And my response was, 'Not inside the wire, you're not.' Because every person that we're holding who is innocent becomes our enemy the minute they walk out of any prison."

The former commander said her lawyers are pursuing whether there is anything they can do legally about her punishment.

"Janis Karpinski will not be silenced. You can do anything you want to do. Whatever you have in your bag to take action against me that you feel is necessary, go ahead and do it, because you're going to anyway with or without my permission.

"But they can't change history," she said. "I was a brigadier general. I was in command of 17 prison facilities and Abu Ghraib. I did have 3,400-plus soldiers working for me. I was proud to serve with each and every one of them."