Abu Ghraib prison
Abu Ghraib prison, large prison complex in Abū Ghurayb, Baghdad governorate, Iraq. During the presidency of Saddam Hussein (1979–2003), it became notorious for the detention of a massive number of political prisoners and the use of torture. It was reopened by the U.S. military in August 2003 after the invasion of Iraq by U.S. and allied forces earlier that year, and in 2004 it became the subject of international outcry when reports—and photographs—surfaced detailing the abuse, torture, and deaths of its prisoners at the hands of members of the United States Army.
Reports on human rights abuses by the U.S. military began surfacing shortly after its ground invasion of Iraq. The first press report focusing specifically on the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison was published by the Associated Press in November 2003. The army’s internal investigation, conducted by U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, was carried out in early 2004. It finally became a public scandal when the U.S. television news program 60 Minutes II aired a segment in April 2004 that included several photographs of the prisoners undergoing abuse. Taguba’s report was leaked the following week, and its findings corroborated to the public the shocking practices depicted in the photographs. According to the investigation, factors contributing to the abuse included poor training, short staffing, dysfunctional leadership, and poor morale.
The worst offenses to come to light under the U.S. Army’s administration of the prison occurred in October and November of 2003. The prison was run by the 800th Military Police Brigade from Uniondale, New York, under the command of Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, although many of the interrogators and translators were private contractors. Taguba’s report found that members of the military police engaged in killing, abuse, torture, and other inhumane treatment.
Regarding the killing of inmates, evidence suggests that they were shot or beaten to death. In one well-publicized example, Manadel al-Jamadi died of asphyxiation after he was hooded, suffered broken ribs, and shackled such that his arms bore his body weight during interrogation. Jamadi’s body was then packed in ice, allegedly in an effort to hide the circumstances of his death. U.S. Army specialists, giving thumbs-ups, appeared in photographs with the body.
Sexual abuses committed by the military police ran the gamut. According to the report conducted under Taguba, at least one male guard raped a female detainee. Guards also forced male detainees to perform sex acts on each other or to sexually stimulate themselves while being photographed or videotaped. Photographs and videos of nude male and female detainees were taken for amusement, and many detainees were made to remain naked for days at a time.
Other acts of abuse alleged to have taken place included beating detainees, pouring phosphoric acid on them, and urinating on them. Sometimes interrogation became religious persecution, including at least one instance where a prisoner was coerced into thanking Jesus for his life.
Authorized forms of interrogation were often no less abusive. Prisoners could be shackled in painful positions, refused sleep, or isolated for prolonged periods of time, as well as subjected to extreme temperatures or confronted with their personal phobias. The UN Committee against Torture later declared many of these methods to be in violation of international law.
In their responses to the scandal, U.S. Pres. George W. Bush and other administration officials portrayed the crimes committed at Abu Ghraib as a unique exception to otherwise humane treatment of prisoners by the U.S. military. However, human rights organizations contended that similar—and in some cases even more extreme—behaviour by members of the military had been documented as early as 2002 in Afghanistan, as well as in multiple other sites in Iraq. According to a report by Human Rights Watch in June of 2004, “the only exceptional aspect of the abuse at Abu Ghraib may have been that it was photographed.”