WASHINGTON — President Bush has approved the demotion of Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the Army Reserve commander once in charge of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Army officials announced Thursday. The Army said she failed to properly supervise guards who in the fall of 2003 routinely abused and sexually humiliated Iraqi prisoners.
The disciplinary action came as the Army completed what it called an exhaustive internal review of top commanders in Iraq and their role in the prison abuse scandal, naming Karpinski as the sole high-ranking officer to merit punishment.
Allegations against the others, including Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the top ground commander in Iraq at the time, were found by the Army to be unsubstantiated.
For Karpinski, who has complained that she is a scapegoat, the demotion reduces her in rank to colonel in the Army Reserves. "I'm sure she will want to fight," said her lawyer, Neal A. Puckett.
Investigations of soldiers involved in detainee abuses continue. But the findings issued Thursday in effect close the Army's examination of the culpability of senior officials.
Four other top commanders came away unscathed Thursday, a development likely to anger Pentagon critics who believe high-ranking officials have escaped accountability while sergeants and privates who worked as prison guards have been court-martialed.
Last spring, the Army suspended Karpinski from her command of the 800th Military Police Brigade. Now Bush, acting on recommendations from Army officials, has demoted her because her "performance of duty was found to be seriously lacking," according to the Army.
Army officials added, however, that Karpinski did not personally order, approve or engage in the abuse. The investigation also did not find that she was aware of the abuse as it was occurring.
The Army found her guilty of two charges -- dereliction of duty and shoplifting. Karpinski was found derelict in what one Army official called "all the aspects of command responsibility." These included the training, readiness and standards of her soldiers.
The charge of shoplifting stemmed from an incident at a domestic Air Force base several years ago while she was still a colonel. She did not report the incident when she was being considered for her promotion to brigadier general, a requirement under military law, officials said.
