The Context of the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal

In 2003, the state of Iraq was absolute chaos. Civilians began rioting violently against the American occupation. The release of grenades, civilian snipers shooting American troops, and other uses of weaponry became a daily event in Iraq. Then, in August 2003 two back-to-back events defined the War on Terror and began to form the idea and vision we hold of the war today. The bombing of the Jordanian Embassy, and a few days later the United Nations building in Iraq, spurred the United States to retaliate with full force.

The first step was to find intelligence related to the incidents. Unfortunately, the United States military had no idea who they were targeting and what kind of weapons or strategies the perpetrators were going to use. This led to a scramble for intelligence in an extremely unorganized manner. The proposed location to hold detainees, Abu Ghraib, became overcrowded within a matter of days. Detainees, with approximately 85% of them having no relation to the intelligence needed whatsoever, who would eventually be tortured and scrutinized violently in order to extract said intelligence. Abu Ghraib was now an experimental location for new torture techniques that would be executed in Guantanamo Bay. Retired Army Colonel Stuart Herrington, a man who had a key role in the Phoenix Program during the Vietnam War, was horrified by the conditions he saw when he first investigated the prison. He immediately called for a revolution in the way the military was extracting information. However, the warning went unnoticed, and the military continued with their extraction methods.

There were 29 methods of torture used by General Sanchez and his troops by order of Donald Rumsfeld. Most of these went against the Geneva Conventions, a fact that did not escape the observations of Colonel Herrington. The passing of this approval went under the nose of President George W. Bush.

Here's my question: If one of the key players in the Phoenix Program from the Vietnam War is telling you that you're being cruel, how do you not wake up to the reality of your actions?

Unfortunately for the American occupation and troops, the consequences of their actions would come to light soon enough.