Abu Ghraib’s history goes back to the time of Saddam’s Reign and dictatorship over Iraq, a prison where the foes of the regime – especially Shiites- were imprisoned and tortured. But after the US military invasion on Iraq in 2004, the prison was handed over to the Americans; The Iraqis and their commanders were imprisoned there for a long time and endured severe and unbearable tortures.
In the summer of 2003, some attacks took place on the United Nations Office, the Jordanian Embassy, the Turkish Embassy and the Rashid Hotel in Iraq. The Rashid Hotel was an American residency, so this came to be an excuse for arresting innocent people as a plea for searching and punishing the perpetrators and the ones responsible for these attacks. Thus, a number of ordinary people and some Iraqi religious, political, scientific and military figures were sent to Abu Ghraib. At the time, the Defense minister of US, Donald Rumsfeld personally ordered the continued detention and torture of detainees. With the case of interrogation, despite the uncertainty as to whether or not they were guilty, people were subjected to severe and new forms of torture.
Later, Abu Ghraib prisoners admitted that if one was tortured one day, one was to be interrogated the next day, because one would be forced to disclose information by being in such physical and mental conditions; Although one wasn’t even guilty. Some prisoners were not even issued a Red Cross number, so they might have been living in these dungeons for a long period or die during a severe and inhuman torture without anyone even noticing their existence.
Among the detainees were also children who did not exactly know how they might have ever played any part in a strike against Americans or murdering them. According to the UN convention, no child should be imprisoned or tortured, although it happened in several occasions in Iraq those times. It’s worth noting that the US have not signed this convention from the very beginning!
On October 13, 2004, a soldier named Joseph Darby published some photos and videos of the prisoners being tortured. The release of this information once again showed the real face of human rights claimants to the world. To get rid of the scandal, the United States held a trial for several soldiers present in Abu Ghraib; Some were sentenced to several months’ imprisonment, and some other were sentenced to a maximum of ten years behind bars. But none of the top officers were penalized, and the trial was merely a political show to appease the public.
Interviews with some of the soldiers present in Abu Ghraib also indicate that the mission there was not limited to US Army soldiers, and that some individuals from other organizations, such as the CIA, had missions too. However, even if they did violate international law, they were less likely to be trialled and could return to the United States and re-enter Iraq under a warrant from another organization or institution.
Evidences suggests that the present forces there did not receive any special training in torture, and were allowed to torture prisoners in accordance with their own tastes and preferences. Other than physical harassment, some of the types of these tortures targeted the mentality of detainees; Raping them, waterboarding, stripping and making sneer figures for photographs from them, preventing them from sleeping or making them sleep in harsh conditions, deprivations of water and food, electric shock, prolonged hanging, threatening them to be attacked by wild dogs, etc.
This is just a very small piece of the puzzle of the US military presence in Iraq and an overview of Abu Ghraib, a prison which it’s prisoner’s tales shall be heard; a tale of an everlasting dishonor for US.
This story remains to be continued…
References:
- Risen, J. (2007). Chapter 3: WHO AUTHORIZED PUTTING HIM ON PAIN MEDICATIONS. In State of war: The secret history of the CIA and the Bush administration. New York: Free Press.
- Roth, K., Worden, M., & Bernstein, A. D. (2005). Torture: Does it make us safer? Is it ever OK?: A human rights perspective. New York: The New Press.
- Fazelian, S. (Director). (n.d.). Everlasting Dishonor [Video file]. Iran. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQaO4fA4y1U
Keywords: Torture/ Prison/ Abu Ghraib/ CIA
۱st Category: Criminal/ Building dreadful Prisons/ Iraqi Prison/ Year 2003
۲nd Category: Criminal/ Torture
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