I.

Introduction

Abu Ghraib Scandal, incidents involving acts of torture and abuse committed by United States military personnel against Iraqi prisoners held in Abu Ghraib prison, just west of Baghdād, Iraq, during the U.S.-Iraq War. The public phase of the scandal began in late April 2004 when the CBS News program 60 Minutes II broadcast photographs on television depicting some of these acts of torture. Several days later The New Yorker magazine published several of the photographs accompanying an article on torture at Abu Ghraib by investigative journalist Seymour M. Hersh. These images and others subsequently made public—such as those of a naked prisoner lying on the floor with a leash around his neck, a hooded prisoner standing on a box with wires attached to his hands and genitals, and naked prisoners forced to simulate acts of sexual intercourse—became infamous throughout the world.

The photographs and investigative reports sparked demands for an accounting of U.S. treatment of prisoners captured in the war on terror, which included the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and of Iraq in 2003. These military expeditions, which followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, led to the detention of prisoners in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other nations, and at a U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The demands for a full accounting of prisoner treatment quickly led to the official and unofficial release of many documents. The most notable documents originated from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the U.S. military. Among the U.S. military documents was the Taguba Report, named for U.S. Army Major General Antonio M. Taguba. The Taguba Report was the first internal military investigation into the wrongdoings at Abu Ghraib. The Red Cross report, first revealed in the Wall Street Journal, described abuses witnessed by Red Cross investigators.

Subsequent reports explored general government policy on the treatment and interrogation of detainees taken in the war on terror. Still other documents offered a picture of how officials in the administration of U.S. president George W. Bush, notably those in the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and within the White House itself, had made decisions that altered U.S. policies regarding the interrogation of wartime prisoners.

Thus the Abu Ghraib scandal came to involve the legality, morality, and consequences of the use of “extreme interrogation techniques” on detainees during the U.S. war on terror. These techniques were used not only at Abu Ghraib but also at U.S. military bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo, among other places. Many observers believe the scandal encompassed not only the acts of abuse and torture depicted but also the ways in which the U.S. government investigated and assigned responsibility for those acts. Altogether 11 enlisted soldiers and 1 officer faced criminal charges and were convicted at trial. One military intelligence officer received an administrative punishment and was fined for authorizing the use of dogs in interrogations. No senior administration officials responsible for setting a policy that led to torture were charged with crimes, removed from their position, or reprimanded.

Torture is illegal under both international and U.S. law. As it relates to the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs), the most significant body of applicable law is the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions represent agreements on military conduct signed by a majority of the world’s nations, including the United States, which was a founding signatory. The latest of these agreements, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, followed the aftermath of World War II (1939-1945). The 1949 conventions explicitly outlaw torture or otherwise cruel and inhumane treatment.