"And shortly after that, when I try to get access to those soldiers, to ask them what in the world was going on, I was told that they did not work for me and I had no right to have access to any one of them"
About this Quote
Power leaks are loudest when someone in uniform says, plainly, that the chain of command no longer applies to them. Janis Karpinski's line lands like a door slammed in a corridor: not just denial of access, but denial of legitimacy. "They did not work for me" isn't a bureaucratic quibble; it's a declaration that authority has been rerouted around her, with consequences. The second half, "I had no right", tightens the vise. Rights are supposed to be structural, not granted on a whim. Here, they're treated as permissions, revocable and tactical.
Karpinski, best known for her connection to Abu Ghraib-era Iraq as a senior officer overseeing military police, is describing the moment oversight evaporates. The phrasing "what in the world was going on" carries a soldier's incredulity, the instinct that something is off-protocol, maybe illegal, definitely hidden. It's also a rhetorical move: she positions herself as both responsible and excluded, a commander rendered helpless by a parallel system.
The subtext is institutional self-protection. When access is blocked, accountability is blocked. Her quote sketches how scandals aren't just committed; they're engineered through administrative compartmentalization, contractor-like ambiguity, and selective obedience. The most damning detail is its banality: no gunfire, no dramatic confrontation, just a verbal rebuke that signals a deeper breakdown. In that small exchange, you can hear the machinery of plausible deniability being assembled in real time.
Karpinski, best known for her connection to Abu Ghraib-era Iraq as a senior officer overseeing military police, is describing the moment oversight evaporates. The phrasing "what in the world was going on" carries a soldier's incredulity, the instinct that something is off-protocol, maybe illegal, definitely hidden. It's also a rhetorical move: she positions herself as both responsible and excluded, a commander rendered helpless by a parallel system.
The subtext is institutional self-protection. When access is blocked, accountability is blocked. Her quote sketches how scandals aren't just committed; they're engineered through administrative compartmentalization, contractor-like ambiguity, and selective obedience. The most damning detail is its banality: no gunfire, no dramatic confrontation, just a verbal rebuke that signals a deeper breakdown. In that small exchange, you can hear the machinery of plausible deniability being assembled in real time.
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| Topic | Military & Soldier |
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