Abu Ghraib -- Not Your Family's Photo Album

Photographic evidence of our noble fight to bring democracy to Iraq here. Even I, cynic that I am, was shocked to see some of the photographs The Memory Hole -- a must-view website -- has collected.

Comments

[Tung Yin]

You know what else wouldn't belong in your family's photo album? Pictures of Saddam's torture chambers, his victims, etc. But I didn't see an entry for that in the Memory Hole's index.

[Chad]

We all have the things we concentrate on. Abu Ghraib is a disturbing example of how cruel human beings can be to one another without proper moral supervision. Not as disturbing as Saddam feeding prisoners feet first into chipper/shredders but disturbing nonetheless. I hope the military is doing a good job of tracking the responsibility up the chain of command so that those who knew and encouraged or did nothing are held accountable. I suspect the buck stops at some Colonel somewhere.

What is clear is that Rumsfeld and most of the senior military commanders in the theatre took immediate action upon learning of the activity.

[Brian]

Boo hoo. At least their heads are still attached. These aren't docile goat-herders we are dealing with here. And I am beyond upset that the actions of a few immature dopes are being used to smear the great work my fellow soldiers are doing.

If you really want to be shocked, go see the pictures and video of what Saddam used to do there.

Stop blaming America first and start looking at the real scum of the earth, people like Saddam.

[Chad]

I should also add, in support of Brian, that it is clear that the Abu Ghraib behavior was isolated. Physical and psychological pressure incident to interrogation, notwithstanding.

[Kevin Jon Heller]

Can someone please explain to me how 94 separate incidents of abuse, spread throughout Iraq and Afghanistan (to say nothing of GITMO) -- most of which did NOT involve Abu Ghraib -- constitutes "isolated" behavior?

[matts]

"Boo hoo. At least their heads are still attached."

Brian, that's appalling. I don’t care about your position on the war, your belief in the overall moral fitness of members of the US armed forces, or anything else, but to imply that as long as people aren’t dead at the end of the day (and it is not at all clear that there were no casualties of this abusive conduct) there’s nothing worth discussing—it’s just appalling. And if you didn’t find those pictures shocking, that says more about your moral code than it does about Kevin’s politics.

I hardly think that bringing to light instances of rape, threats against family members, severe psychological torture and culturally-specific humiliation in order to protect against further occurrences and to bring pressure to bear on the military to bring the perpetrators to justice constitutes a smear campaign. And nowhere do I see anyone blaming America, whatever that means. Nor do I see anyone cheerleading despotic and cruel behaviors like Saddam’s. I think we can all agree that Saddam and his wacko sons were a horrific bunch, and guilty of great atrocities. Why do you take it so personally when people condemn actions that, were they perpetrated by Saddam, would have sparked much fiery rhetoric and outrage?

[akola vandirya]

this photo of abu ghaib prison in irag is very very bad thing happened from a man supposed to a leader of the world, i am a mer person that cann`t write in english but what i have seen is something devel.