The war was declared over - the end of major combat operations - in May 2003. Release procedures got under way immediately; reducing the population from 8,000 to just over 300, of course, requires fewer military police soldiers.

2006 - Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers. In April 2004 CBS' 60 Minutes II broadcast photographs of Iraqi prisoners being tortured and humiliated at Abu Ghraib which had been taken by military personnel. An investigation was started into the abuse.

On May 5 2005 President George W. Bush approved Karpinski's demotion to Colonel from the rank of Brigadier General. She commanded three prisons in Iraq and the forces that ran them.